Carmel Valley planning board considers options to consolidate seats

The Carmel Valley Community Planning Board is considering reducing the number of residential seats on the board.

With new bylaws in the works to add a seat representing the unrepresented areas in the San Dieguito River Valley (neighborhoods along Via de la Valle), the board will swell to 18 members. And once Pacific Highlands Ranch grows, they will probably add a business representative that could bring the board to 19.

The board has 10 Carmel Valley neighborhood seats, two Pacific Highlands Ranch seats, two business seats, two investor seats and one developer representative seat.

“We’re getting too big,” said Chair Frisco White, who has crafted two possible options to combine neighborhoods.

One option combines Neighborhoods 3 and 7, encompassing the area north of Del Mar Heights Road from High Bluff Drive to Lansdale Drive. Neighborhoods 8 and 8a, south of SR-56, would join, and Neighborhood 9 and 1 would also combine, bringing together communities south of Del Mar Heights and west of Carmel Canyon all the way out to residences around Townsgate Drive, east of El Camino Real.

In option two, Neighborhood 9 would combine with Neighborhood 6, which includes communities west of Carmel Creek, around Valley Centre and Carmel Vista.

In White’s consolidation options, a vacant business seat will be deleted.

The board will consider the options and how the neighborhoods’ characteristics, such as density and schools, match up before they make a recommendation at the June meeting.