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Driving School Avoids Roadblock: Supervisors Decline to Rule on Resort's Use Permit

Posted on: Wednesday, 10 May 2006, 09:09 CDT

By Larry Parsons, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.

May 10--A four-wheel-drive instructional school operating above Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley without a county permit received a fairly smooth ride Tuesday from Monterey County supervisors.

Saying they didn't want to leave the Land Rover Driving Experience school out of gear, supervisors declined to rule whether the Carmel Valley resort needs a county use permit to keep running. They instead left open options of not requiring a permit or waiving expensive permit fees.

"This seems like it should be a slam dunk," said Supervisor Butch Lindley, a veteran four-wheel driver, who admitted he often takes it faster than the 3 mph limit for novice drivers at the Quail Lodge school.

But county planners and code enforcers contend the driving school, which uses old quarry and ranch roads on about 185 acres that Quail Lodge bought in 2000, requires a county use permit because it represents an intensified use.

The county has allowed the driving school, which uses up to five Land Rovers, to operate while the permit issue is addressed. In March, the county Planning Commission voted 10-0 that a permit was needed. Quail Lodge appealed to supervisors.

Anthony Lombardo, an attorney for Quail Lodge, said the cost of processing a use permit could run into tens of thousands of dollars and make the school uneconomical.

He said the driving school involves fewer vehicles than were used in the old quarry and dairy operations, and far fewer than some uses -- such as homes, Christmas tree farms or vineyards -- that would be allowed without a use permit.

He said Quail Lodge is "a victim of the idea that in this society the only thing you can do is what the government gives you a permit for."

Representatives of two neighboring Carmel Valley businesses said the driving school doesn't bother them, and one said he didn't know it existed until he received a county notice.

Supervisor Dave Potter, whose district includes Carmel Valley, expressed bemusement that no one appeared to testify against the driving school. Typically, land-use issues stir fierce passions in Carmel Valley, where some residents are seeking to create a new town to take away such decisions from the Board of Supervisors.

Supervisor Fernando Armenta, who said he had a chance to try the Quail Lodge driving school, expressed strong support for the operation. He said he hoped the supervisors' move "will get the program OK'd."

At Supervisor Lou Calcagno's suggestion, supervisors held off a vote until June 6 to give county planners time to firm up cost estimates of processing a use permit for the school.

Lombardo said the process could cost $70,000 to $80,000 because of traffic and environmental studies.

Calcagno said supervisors should consider waiving the fees because those kinds of costs "are not going to be fair."

"I don't see any major environmental impacts," Calcagno said of the driving school.

Larry Parsons can be reached at 646-4379 or lparsons@montereyherald.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Monterey County Herald, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Monterey County Herald (Monterey, Calif.)

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