General Issues – Carmel

Carmel faces variety of land use planning from residential and commercial development to water availability. LandWatch remains engaged in this geography.

Housing Element Update

  • Letter: LandWatch Comments on Design Guidelines and the Housing Element Update
    LandWatch makes recommendations to Carmel, noting that since the Housing Element is part of the General Plan, its provisions take priority over the design guidelines and zoning code. That is, both the design guidelines and the zoning code must conform to the Housing Element update, which in turn must conform to the City’s 6th Cycle RHNA and to the state law mandates for housing elements and for affirmatively furthering fair housing (AB 686). (02.28.22)

Climate Action Plan

  • Letter: LandWatch Comments on Carmel GHG Inventory (106K PDF)
    LandWatch supports the proposed adoption of a Climate Adaptation and Action Plan, while noting that the plan is still a work-in-progress. LandWatch also supports the proposal to create a new grant writer/climate coordinator position (Action 1.4.4 in the Climate Adaptation Plan) tasked with the implementing, coordinating, and tracking the plan. Development of this institutional competence is a critical step in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adapting to climate change. (03.15.22)
  • Letter: LandWatch Comments Meaningful Climate Mitigations
    LandWatch provides comments to the City of Carmel to reduce climate impacts with meaningful mitigation measures such as building electrification, transitioning to electric vehicles, providing affordable housing, eliminating gas in new buildings, adding electric vehicle chargers, supporting bike lanes and bus lanes, and promoting the creation of more apartments. (11.18.21)

Carmel River Floodplain Restoration Plan

  • Letter: LandWatch Supports Floodplain Restoration Plan (132K PDF)
    LandWatch Monterey County concurs with Coastal Commission staff report to support the Carmel River Floodplain Restoration project (CRFREE). We urge you to approve this project, which has been under development for decades. The project is one of the most important hazard mitigation, coastal resilience and habitat restoration projects along California’s coast. This project will achieve multiple flood control benefits through floodplain restoration in a coastal area of Monterey County that provides public access to all. Moreover, the project not only restores a long-over drafted coastal watershed, it also seeks to get ahead of climate-induced extreme weather events to improve flood plain hydrology. (06.04.22)

Monterey Peninsula
Issues & Actions