Carmel-by-the-Sea planning commission reviews amended housing element aimed at dispersing required housing across village

The Carmel-by-the-Sea Planning Commission on Oct. 21 reviewed a draft amendment to the city's sixth-cycle housing element that would remove two city-owned sites from the inventory and replace them with five strategies intended to disperse housing opportunities across the village.

The amendment, presented by city staff, aims to meet Carmel's Regional Housing Needs Allocation of 349 units (231 of which the state classified as lower-income need) by relying on programs such as a hotel-to-residential conversion, a downtown mixed-income incentive, a new downtown live-work land use, expanded accessory dwelling unit (ADU) projections and partnerships with religious facilities. "We've turned constraints into opportunities," Brandon said, summarizing feedback from the State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).

The proposal matters because the city must demonstrate to HCD that it has identified sites and programs sufficient to meet state-required housing targets for the 2023'2031 planning period. Removing the two city-owned properties from the housing element — sites discussed since the 1990s — would free the city from some state-prescribed timelines and allow the city and community more control over future uses for those properties, staff said.

Staff described five core strategies in the amendment. The hotel-to-residential program targets underperforming hotels and proposes converting them to multifamily housing with a proposed conversion rate and a requirement that 75% of converted units be affordable for RHNA credit; converted hotels would be allowed to transfer "hotel development rights" (referred to as hotel keys) to…