Angry Standing Room Only Crowd
Angry outbursts punctuated a parade of opposition at a Carmel Valley Town Hall about a Developer’s proposal to build 70 “Starter mansions” and 20 “affordable units” at the Village Airfield.
Two Carmel Valley public interest community protection groups (Friends of Valley Airfield-FOVA and Carmel Valley Association-CVA) organized the gathering at Tularcitos School March 18, 2026
Well, it was standing room only. More than 250 residents attended and gave the developer non-stop Blast after blast. Long-time residents (“I’ve lived here 70 years“), respected community leaders, and experts including Planners and Architects (“Blindingly Inappropriate“) ripped into his proposal for its huge unacceptable impacts to Carmel Valley’s sleepy Village.
One woman courteously asked those in the audience to stand if they oppose this project. Local gentleman Warren Haber observed – “It was a sea of opposition. I didn’t see anyone sitting.”
Supervisor Kate Daniels Not Happy with Oversized Proposal
Only one person feebly tried to support the project, while an avalanche of often angry and sometimes scared neighbors calmly explained how awful this would be: Increased Fire Danger, Even Worse Water Moratoriums, Severe Increase in Sewage and Storm Runoff, Emergency Traffic Jam Danger, Traffic Lockups, how Fire Insurance is already hideously expensive (four and five times pre-covid rates)
And that’s when you can actually buy it because most residents are shut out of buying any Fire Insurance as it is getting cancelled all over the Valley, Tularcitos School Overcrowding, Excluding Fire Fighting Aircraft staging for wildfires, and more, including “Only 24 units are allowed by Carmel Valley’s Master Plan“, “Are you going to pay for impacts to schools?”, and “Can you show us a Bank Statement with money in the bank to do this?“
(dd: Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, How did you like the play?)
Many noted his courage to show up at all, but even County Supervisor Kate Daniels while correcting some of the developer’s faulty information, was clearly upset by the project.
The developer, Patrick Orosco, lives in the similarly firecely battled Carmel Valley Mansion development at Rancho San Carlos (30 years later they’re still using Doublespeak absurdly calling it “The Preserve”). He admitted his family hates “being in the spotlight.”
With his 20 minute presentation he started off with some demonstrably false truthiness that ignited several outbursts of “That’s Wrong.” Then he spent at least half of his time trying to pretend he cares about our community. “We live here. We grew up here. Its going to have a park. Its good for you.”
Developer Patrick Orosco trying to Sell Ice Cubes to Eskimos
Orosco actually ran 5 minutes over his time limit trying to ingratiate himself – illustrating how he can’t even follow simple clear rules. Imagine how carefully he’ll disobey County Restrictions ! (dd: Make sure he pays for a bond for every absurd promise.)
One long-time resident pointed out “If a fire starts at the mouth of Carmel Valley with a 25 mph wind – ther would be no stopping it. It’d be all over for our Village.”
Yours truly, reporter David Dilworth, observed “As a professional who has fought and stopped giant developments for 35 years, those audience remarks last evening were the most eloquent, poignant and persuasive comments I’ve ever heard at a community evening. Stunningly high quality, non-stop excellent comments. I can’t imagine saying anything better than they did. T’was music to my ears.”
So many showed up in strong opposition, the Carmel Valley community as a large neighborhood realized they are no longer just individuals with serious concerns, they collectively have the will and the power to stop this dangerous project.
My Guess: He’s going to try to sell the project to another developer as quickly as possible. Or maybe a Conservancy group will raise the money to buy his error and turn it into a real community park.
Or he could donate it to the village and have his name on it and get some large tax breaks. Much nicer legacy and far happier solutions.
