08-06-20 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
AUGUST 6, 2020
The General Plan Update Advisory Committee of the Town of Los Gatos conducted a Regular
Meeting on August 6, 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: Vice Chair Kathryn Janoff, Mayor Marcia Jensen, Vice Mayor Barbara Spector,
Committee Member Kendra Burch, Committee Member Todd Jarvis, Committee Member
Steven Piasecki, Committee Member Ryan Rosenberg, Committee Member Lee Quintana, and
Committee Member Carol Elias Zolla.
Absent: Chair Melanie Hanssen and Committee Member Susan Moore Brown.
Staff present: Jennifer Armer, Joel Paulson, Laurel Prevetti, Robert Schultz, and Sally Zarnowitz.
VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS
Jeffrey Suzuki, founder of Los Gatos Anti-Racism Coalition
- Commented on the importance of redacting addresses from the public record for those
who spoke as part of the public comments at the July 30, 2020 GPAC meeting.
Kinsey Lee, founder of Los Gatos Anti-Racism Coalition
- Commented in favor of an independent police oversight board, and in support of
redacting home addresses of speakers, especially minors.
Ali Miano
- Commented in agreement with previous speakers about redacting addresses and a
police oversight board. Commented that affordable housing is needed and the Town
should be welcoming people of different social and economic backgrounds.
Alicia
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- Commented that at past meetings it seemed like it was a requirement to state an
address to participate, but it shouldn’t be. Commented that affordable housing is
needed and the GPAC member statement that Los Gatos will always be an expensive
Town, should be discussed and reconsidered.
CONSENT ITEMS (TO BE ACTED UPON BY A SINGLE MOTION)
1. Approval of Minutes – June 18, 2020
2. Approval of Minutes – July 2, 2020
MOTION: Motion by Mayor Marcia Jensen to approve Consent Items (with
additional details of Committee Member Quintana’s objection on Item 3
of the June 18, 2020 minutes be added). Seconded by Committee
Member Rosenburg.
VOTE: Motion passed 8-1-0 with Committee Member Quintana voting no.
Committee Members Hanssen and Moore Brown absent.
DISCUSSION ITEMS
1. Review and Discussion of the Initial Draft of the Hazards and Safety Element
Jennifer Armer, Senior Planner, presented the staff report.
Open and Closed Public Comment.
Committee discussed the matter.
MOTION: Motion by Committee Member Piasecki to put the noise section in the
Environment and Sustainability Element. Seconded by Vice Mayor
Spector.
VOTE: Motion passed unanimously, Committee Members Hanssen and Moore
Brown absent.
Committee further discussed the matter and provided the following comments and
direction:
- The use of “unacceptable noise levels” in HAZ-10 is not clear, what is unacceptable?
- “Clearly unacceptable” number for multi-family residential in Table 8-1 should go up
to 85, to be consistent with others.
- Clarification is needed to explain the difference between Tables 8-1 and 8-2.
- Consider regulations that differentiate between areas that already exceed the
standards.
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- Should there be indoor noise standards.
- Consider policies for residents to use low noise equipment, including yard
equipment, air conditioners, and pool equipment.
MOTION: Motion by Mayor Jensen to include health emergencies in the Hazards
and Safety Element. Seconded by Committee Member Piasecki.
VOTE: Motion passed unanimously, Committee Members Hanssen and Moore
Brown absent.
Committee further discussed the matter and provided the following comments and
direction:
- Where the element references essential facilities it should include grocery stores or
food supply.
- An additional map should be added showing the regional faults in Figure 8-1 but just
for Los Gatos.
- Combine HAZ-2.6 and HAZ-2.9.
- FEMA Flood Zones Map (Figure 8-4) should use other colors, maybe lighter and
darker blues to emphasize the 100-year flood over the 500-year flood.
- Additional language about dams, as proposed in committee member comments
should be added.
- Figure 8-2, Projected Groundshaking, is strongly correlated with soil types, which
should be more explicitly stated.
- Delete “that will not increase traffic” from HAZ-4.4.
- The Town should have a community readiness report , add this as an implementation
program. Could also include adequacy of roadways for fire access.
- Use more hard verbs to replace passive “encourage,” “consider,” and “minimize.”
- Consider a buffer zone or sprinklers to lower fire risk for the Town.
- Add a policy to create a buffer around individual homes to increase safety from
wildfires.
- Move fire section to earlier in the element.
- Should hazardous materials include drycleaners and materials used at homes?
- HAZ-11.5 – Delete “Town shall continue to.”
- The Town and County already have household hazardous waste programs, so
Implementation Programs GG and HH can be deleted.
The next GPAC meeting will be on Thursday, August 20, 2020.
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ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
This is to certify that the foregoing is a true
and correct copy of the minutes of the
August 6, 2020 meeting as approved by the
General Plan Update Advisory Committee.
/s/Joel Paulson, Director of Community Development