LAFCO will hear incorporation proposal this week.

A rebellion is afoot in Carmel Valley. The community (or at least a good part of it) wants to secede from the County. In all likelihood, local residents will soon vote on whether to incorporate, and Carmel Valley may become its own town, with its own Town Council and policies and codes. This decision will change the face Monterey County. Ultimately, it’s about land use, and a referendum of sorts on County Supervisors’ pro-development votes.

For example: Next month, County Supervisors will vote on the September Ranch project, a 109-home project on 891 hilly acres near the mouth of Carmel Valley. There are questions about the project’s water supply and concerns about its traffic impacts. It’s a fight that’s gone on for a decade, with some Carmel Valley residents accusing the County of hiding documents and cutting the public out of the process.

Attorney Tony Lombardo routinely tells the Supes that September Ranch is a good, responsible development with plenty of water. Developer Jim Morgens likes to say that it’s really a conservation project, preserving 91 percent of the property and saving 95 percent of the trees. (He doesn’t mention that the homes would be scattered throughout the entire property with no large, contiguous parcel of land set aside for preservation.)

In November, the Supes will vote on September Ranch. And it’s a safe bet that the board will approve the development—4-1, with Supervisor Dave Potter, who represents Carmel Valley, dissenting. Possibly Supervisor Lou Calcagno will join Potter for a 3-2 vote. Regardless, the project will get the green light.

So it goes with land-use decisions in Carmel Valley. It’s an unincorporated area, which means that the County Board of Supervisors makes the decisions to approve or deny planned developments. But despite the area’s chronic water shortage, traffic congestion and limited infrastructure, the board never votes to deny. More expensive homes and hotel units continue to be built.