CAR WEEK EVENTS

Since the end of Car Week 2023 staff have been working with event organizers, most of them returning from last year, on Car Week 2024.  

The following events are confirmed (permit applications are either complete or substantially complete):

• Tuesday, August 13 Concours for a Cause 

• Thursday, August 15 Prancing Ponies on Ocean Avenue

• Thursday, August 15 Ferrari Owners Club Concours Carmel 

Concours for a Cause and the Ferrari Owners Club Concours Carmel will be expanding their footprints, and Prancing Ponies will keep its same footprint. These permits are works in progress and event details and dates are subject to change. Staff and event organizers are working hard to get everything nailed down as quickly as possible to provide notice to the community. 

Acura, a legacy participant and sponsor of the previous annual Concours on the Avenue event, will be returning either Tuesday and partnering with Concours for a Cause, or setting up on Wednesday solo in Devendorf Park. Staff are just waiting for confirmation one way or another. 

Staff is also reviewing an application for a small one block event on Ocean Avenue between Lincoln and Monte Verde featuring Aston Martins on Wednesday, and another application for a Concours sized event that would also potentially be for Wednesday. 

Since Car Week 2022 staff have been having conversations with individuals and groups interested in reviving the COTA event, however nothing has come to fruition. COTA was a well organized, well executed event, but it was also a full-time job and only a break even event in terms of finances. At this point in time there is no plan for a COTA scale event in town for Car Week 2024. This does not mean that this type of event will not ever return to Carmel, it just means that the groups interested in working on an event of that magnitude need more time to develop their plans, raise funds, and build their teams. 

Consistent with the Council-adopted Special Events Policy, approval of special events occurs at the staff level.  However, because of the nature and popularity of Car Week, this report seeks feedback from Council on the proposed plan and slate of events. 

PARKING STALL PERMITS

The City rents downtown parking stalls for non-construction purposes or special events, allowing businesses to offer valet services or showcase vehicles during Car Week. To rent a stall, applicants must complete a permit application and, if needed, an Encroachment Permit. Demand for parking stall rentals is highest during Car Week, with few applications throughout the rest of the year. 

With the challenges presented by the exotics and illegal street racing car clubs and some of the chaos that surrounds their being parked in rented stalls, staff proposed some options to the Council during the 2023 Car Week After Action report out which the Council recommended moving forward with as follows: 

• Requiring that vehicles placed in the rented parking stalls remain in that stall for the entire day unless the spaces are actually being used for valet services. 

• Communicating to businesses who rent the parking stalls that they are responsible for whatever happens as a result of that parking stall rental regardless of who owns the vehicle - including providing security to keep onlookers out of the streets. Failure to do so could result in revocation of their permit and potentially a restriction on the rental of stalls for the following year. 

• Prohibiting the rental of the green zone 30 minute parking stalls at the corners of blocks, as this contributes to congestion around intersections which can be hazardous to onlookers, as well as through traffic. 

MITIGATING TRAFFIC, NOISE, AND SAFETY IMPACTS

Currently, staff is working on the following for this year’s Car Week to try mitigate the some negative effects of the influx of visitors: 

• Continuing to refine traffic calming measures in the downtown business district to seriously deter the cruising behavior that draws the exotics or similarly-minded car enthusiasts who come to Carmel to view and film the cars in the evenings.

• Continuing to work with event organizers to ensure security and non-police staffing for their events so that the Police Department can reserve resources for the evenings or other times to ensure Village security and to ensure a timely emergency response. 

• Continuing to work with regional and state law enforcement assets to monitor car events and social media for information on illegal car activities.    

• Continuing to enforce the “No Tolerance” approach to dangerous or illegal street activity.

• Continuing to work with Peninsula L.E. partners in developing mutual aid responses for partner cities, including more planned resource sharing in the City. 

• Continuing to improve signage and messaging through press, media, and social media to directly educate the public and potential visitors on Carmel-by-the-Sea event events and plans for road closures and police enforcement of traffic and parking rules. 

• Deploying speed bumps throughout the village in strategic locations.