07-02-20 Minutes - GPAC
110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● 408-354-6832
www.losgatosca.gov
TOWN OF LOS GATOS
GENERAL PLAN UPDATE
ADVISORY COMMITTEE REPORT
MINUTES OF THE GENERAL PLAN UPDATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
JULY 2, 2020
The General Plan Update Advisory Committee of the Town of Los Gatos conducted a Regular
Meeting on July 2, 2020, at 7:00 p.m., via teleconference.
This meeting was conducted utilizing teleconferencing and electronic means consistent with
State of California Executive Order N-29-20 dated March 17, 2020, regarding the COVID-19
pandemic and was conducted via Zoom. All committee members and staff participated from
remote locations and all voting was conducted via roll call vote.
MEETING CALLED TO ORDER AT 7:00 P.M.
ROLL CALL
Present: Chair Melanie Hanssen, Vice Chair Kathryn Janoff, Vice Mayor Barbara Spector,
Committee Member Kendra Burch, Committee Member Todd Jarvis, Committee Member
Steven Piasecki, Committee Member Ryan Rosenberg, and Committee Member Lee Quintana.
Absent: Mayor Marcia Jensen, Committee Member Susan Moore Brown, and Committee
Member Carol Elias Zolla.
Staff present: Jennifer Armer, Joel Paulson, Laurel Prevetti, Robert Schultz, Lynne Lampros, and
Sally Zarnowitz.
VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS
None.
CONSENT ITEMS (TO BE ACTED UPON BY A SINGLE MOTION)
None.
DISCUSSION ITEMS
1. Review and Discussion of the Initial Draft of the Environment and Sustainability Element
Jennifer Armer, Senior Planner, presented the staff report.
Open Public Comment.
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Matthew Hudes
- Comment on assumptions made based on housing growth.
Closed Public Comment.
Committee further discussed the matter and provided the following comments and
direction:
- Implement comments included in the Desk Item.
- Consider State Scenic Highway designation for eligible highways in Town.
- Ensure that introductory paragraphs are consistent with language at the beginning
of the General Plan.
- Increase objectivity/strength of language where possible.
- Add objective standards in regard to scenic resources.
- Remove the reference to North 40 in the agricultural section (Page 7-6).
- Reconsider emphasis on the Williamson Act (Page 7-6), confirm consistency with
Town Council direction.
- Policies ENV-3.1 and ENV-3.2 are not preserving biological resources as stated in
Goal 3, relocate or reword.
- Policy ENV-4.2 – Take out the word carefully.
- Should there be more Implementation Programs under Goal 7.
- Revise Implementation Program U to use “movement” rather than “migration .”
- Revise language of Goal ENV-8 to strengthen language and clarify what our role is in
regional air quality – Possibly “Minimize or reduce Los Gatos impact on air quality.”
- Clarify language in Goal ENV-9 to emphasize that the Goal is to reduce the Town’s
contribution to climate change, see suggested language in Desk Item.
- Policy ENV-9.1 has a typo - 2040 should be 2030.
- Ensure coordination between the General Plan and the Sustainability Plan.
- Add a new Implementation Program for Green Building & Energy Conservation –
Houses should be kept smaller to reduce energy use, so a Program could be
encouraging or requiring greater energy efficiency (exceed Title 24 by a certain
amount when houses are over a certain size).
- Include information about the responsibilities for residents in Town (purchase
choices, recycling, reuse, composting, walk more and drive less) toward
sustainability.
- Add a policy to increase recycling, and what can be recycled, as appropriate.
- Historical Resources on page 7-21 – Doesn’t mention historic homes, which should
be mentioned, as well as formally recognized historic districts.
- Delete the word “various” museums, we only have one.
- The importance of historic resources should be more strongly stated upfront.
- Corrections on page 7-29 – Ground water management and references to SCVWD
which is now called Valley Water.
- Implementation Programs section is too long and should be shortened.
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- Implementation Program T should be ongoing – But also consider removing to allow
trails on both sides of the creek. Consult with Parks and Public Works.
- Implementation Program O – Because there isn’t a policy that really associates with
this maybe this should be a policy, rather than an Implementation Program. Possibly
just the second and third bullet points. Consult with Parks and Public Works.
- Consider relocating noise to this element, associated with air quality.
- Adjacent facilities, groundwater recharge ponds and Lexington reservoir, should be
shown.
- Consider deleting some of the ongoing Implementation Programs, like maintaining
trees in parks.
The next GPAC meeting will be on Thursday, July 16, 2020.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 9:32 p.m.
This is to certify that the foregoing is a true
and correct copy of the minutes of the
July 2, 2020 meeting as approved by the
General Plan Update Advisory Committee.
/S/Joel Paulson, Director of Community Development