Carmel planning commission reviews draft housing element amendment aiming to disperse affordable units across town

The Carmel‑by‑the‑Sea Planning Commission on May 14 received a detailed staff presentation and community‑led proposal to amend the city’s recently adopted 6th‑cycle housing element with programs designed to distribute affordable housing more broadly through the village.

The amendment draft, presented by city planning staffer Marnie, lays out five strategies — hotel‑to‑residential conversions, a downtown mixed‑income incentive program, a downtown live‑work conversion program, expanded accessory dwelling unit (ADU) actions, and housing on religious‑facility property under Senate Bill 4 — and a revised sites inventory that excludes the city‑owned Sunset Center and Vista Lobos parcels. “Tonight represents a large milestone amendment,” Marnie told commissioners as she introduced the draft and the community group’s work.

Why it matters: Carmel’s Regional Housing Need Allocation (RHNA) for this cycle is 349 units, with a statutory obligation to show sites that can accommodate a required share of affordable units. The city’s adopted element met that obligation in April 2024 but relied heavily on two city‑owned sites; the amendment aims to demonstrate a credible alternative pathway that scatters affordable units across private sites and incentivized conversions so the community is not reliant on concentrated, city‑owned redevelopment.

What was proposed - Hotel‑to‑residential conversions: Consultant and volunteers modeled a program in which an underperforming hotel is bought and converted to mixed housing, and the developer can sell hotel “keys” (rights to hotel room capacity) to third‑party hotel developers. Presenters estimated an illustrative yield of up to 61 units from this…