Carmel Pine Cone, January 10, 2020
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VolumeThe 106 No. 2 Carmelwww.carmelpinecone.com Pine ConeJanuary 10-16, 2020 T RUS T ED BY LOCALS AND LOVED BY VISI T ORS SINCE 1 9 1 5 25 YEARS AFTER MAJOR FLOOD, CARMEL RIVER Resort Inn may be CONTROL PROJECT IS NOWHERE NEAR COMPLETION demolished to make By CHRIS COUNTS ing forward because it offers the best chance for protecting their neighborhoods. way for hotel, homes MORE THAN two decades after they were chased “It’s not a happy anniversary,” resident Margaret Rob- out of their homes in the middle of the night by unexpected bins told the supervisors. By MARY SCHLEY flooding near the mouth of Carmel Valley, residents shared The same evening at a Monterey Peninsula Regional their memories of that fateful evening with the Monterey Park District board meeting in Carmel Valley, county offi- TWO YEARS after a pair of brothers and their busi- County Board of Supervisors Jan. 7 in Salinas — and cial Melanie Beretti gave a cautiously optimistic progress ness partners took over the dilapidated Carmel Resort Inn urged supervisors to do everything possible to keep the report on the flood control project, which would signifi- on Carpenter Street and fixed it up so it could reopen, the ambitious and expensive Carmel River Free project mov- cantly reduce the risk for Robbins and many of her neigh- group is proposing to tear down the inn’s 22 buildings bors by building a causeway under High- and replace them with upscale hotel units along Carpen- way 1 and removing levees south of the ter Street and single-family homes along the Guadalupe river. Street side. The large property is bordered by First Avenue and almost reaches to Second. Storms ‘staggers’ neighborhood “I don’t want to say too much about it, other than that Another resident, Larry Levine, told we’re talking about creating several units — fewer than are supervisors that the severity of the storm currently there — and would like to make a beautiful re- of Jan. 10, 1995, caught everyone by sur- sort that would, of course, include parking and new units,” prise. “We had no advance notice before said architect Eric Miller, representing the property owner, our area was flooded,” he said. a company called CRI on Carpenter. Although heavy rain was forecast, “We’re keeping everything two stories or lower and Levine and his neighbors had little idea taking out very few trees. That’s on the Carpenter side,” what was in store until they learned that he continued. “And then on the Guadalupe side would be night there had been flooding at Camp single-family-residential properties on standard 40-by- Stefani, which is located 12 miles up Car- mel Valley. Concerned, Levine contacted emergency services, but was told he had nothing to worry about. “You can go to bed,” the dispatcher PINE CONE FILE told Levine. “You’re safe.” Flooding in January 1995 caused millions of dollars of damage to neighborhoods near the mouth of the Carmel River, inundating homes, ruining vehicles and displacing residents. See FLOODS page 14A Council looks for ways to curtail mail delivery By MARY SCHLEY Messenger Service, which has been delivering mail for the city for years and in 2019 received $67,899. WITH THE number of people opting to having mail “The city does not have addresses, and the post office delivered to their homes growing, and the cost per deliv- does not deliver to homes that don’t have them,” budgets ery rising, the city council is considering ways to make it and contracts director Sharon Friedrichsen explained. For PHOTO/KERRY BELSER harder for people to qualify for the service. On Tuesday, it decades, everyone went to the post office to pick up their also approved a $72,000 contract extension with Peninsula mail, but after complaints from an activist 20 years ago, The Carmel Resort Inn on Carpenter Street might be bulldozed to the city started paying a courier service to take mail to make way for new hotel units and eight houses. people who are physically unable to get to the post office or otherwise choose not to go there. 100-foot lots.” Reclamation plant There are no criteria for eligibility for the taxpay- The property contains 16 legal lots of record and was er-funded service, though, and councilman Jeff Baron tied up in court for years in a dispute involving the prior almost ready to pulled the item off the consent calendar at Tuesday’s meet- owners. One of the guest cottages caught fire in 2016, and ing in order to “light a bit of a fire” that would reignite the conditions throughout the property deteriorated so badly produce water discussion about ways to cut costs by keeping people from that in spring 2017, the city’s code enforcement officer de- asking for delivery when they don’t really need it. clared it a health and safety hazard. The brothers, Hitesh By KELLY NIX and Jayesh Desai, took over the inn in late 2017 and got Police, ambulance, city hall on list to work bringing it back up to operating conditions. (The THE PUBLIC agency behind the Monterey Peninsu- Carmel’s population is just under 4,000, and since the men are also partners in several other ventures, including la’s reclamation project has completed a two-week water mail delivery service began, the average number of peo- Village Corner Restaurant and Villa Sombreros.) quality test and is awaiting lab results before the purified ple who subscribed to it was around 125, Friedrichsen Now, according to Miller’s drawings, they are plan- H20 can be stored underground and eventually distributed said, but that number increased to 140 in 2018 and 145 ning on demolishing the inn’s approximately two dozen to customers, a spokesman told The Pine Cone this week. in 2019, hitting a high of 152 last July and August. The cottages and accessory buildings, and constructing 16 Mike McCullough, an official with Monterey One Wa- previous contract expired at the end of last year, and the new 900-square-foot hotel units on half the land and six ter, said the sewer district on Dec. 29 finished a 14-day wa- new agreement includes a per-address increase from $39 1,800-square-foot homes on the other half. ter test at its purification facility near Marina. That water to $41 when the new fiscal year begins July 1. Based on The hotel proposal also calls for a reception area and See MAIL page 16A See RESORT page 16A See WATER page 17A Adams names former aide to planning commission By CHRIS COUNTS the county. Land use is followed closely in her dis- KICKING OFF the New Year with trict, where real estate is expensive, envi- a critical appointment, 5th District Mon- ronmental regulations are tough, and new terey County Supervisor Mary Adams construction is almost nonexistent. named former chief-of-staff Kate Daniels Adams received four applications for to the Monterey County Planning Com- the position, and in late December, she met mission. Daniels was sworn in this week with Vandevere to review the candidates. and promptly voted to endorse a project to She also consulted with county counsel build housing for farmworkers in Salinas. about potential conflicts. Ultimately, she Daniels replaces longtime planning picked Daniels to join Martha Diehl of Big commissioner Keith Vandevere, who Sur as 5th District representatives on the stepped down in November after serving 10-member commission. for 16 years. “The decision was not an easy one, PHOTO/COURTESY MONTEREY ONE WATER As a planning commissioner in the 5th as there were such well qualified appli- This complicated looking apparatus at a facility near Marina will District, Daniels is charged with making treat wastewater so it can be consumed by people. important land use decisions throughout Kate Daniels See DANIELS page 17A Attention readers: Don’t forget that you can have the complete Carmel Pine Cone delivered every Thursday evening to your tablet, laptop, PC or phone — with no banner ads, popups, click bait or paywalls. We also don’t harvest your data or make you create an account or password. Free subscriptions available at www.carmelpinecone.com. 2A The Carmel Pine Cone January 10, 2020 Sandy Claws By Lisa Crawford Watson On his own terms Januaryry HER HUSBAND absolutely loves tacos, which is the only reason their giant 7-month-old French Clearanceance mastiff, or “Dogue de Bordeaux,” is named Taco Supreme. She thinks he should have been called sport coats Jacques, Pierre, Beau, or any other French name of substance. soft jackets “Taco knows his name,” his person said, “but he outerwear decides whether he actually wants to come when he’s called. He’s very stubborn. We’re working on sweaters that.” shirts Some people think the dog should be called “Hooch” after the mastiff in the 1989 Tom Hanks pants movie, “Turner & Hooch,” filmed on the Peninsula. shoes Before meeting Taco, the only thing his person knew about mastiffs she gathered from watching & more the movie. She was, understandably, a little ner- vous about the knock-down slobberfest scene in the film. The couple had already had a drooly dog in Floyd, a boxer they lost last year, at age 8. “It would have been better to get a less drooly dog this time, Taco’s person admitted, “but we’re used to it.” plus, new arrivals in Sometimes Taco does that movie-style run-and- jump action, landing on his people with his front every department paws. They’re still not used to that.