Item 2 - Desk Item and Attachments
PREPARED BY: JENNIFER ARMER, AICP
Senior Planner
110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● 408-354-6832
www.losgatosca.gov
MEETING DATE: 03/18/2021 ITEM: 2 DESK ITEM
TOWN OF LOS GATOS
GENERAL PLAN UPDATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
REPORT
DATE: March 18, 2021
TO: General Plan Update Advisory Committee
FROM: Joel Paulson, Community Development Director
SUBJECT: Review and Discussion of the Revised Initial Draft of the Community Design
Element.
REMARKS:
Attachment 33 contains comments from a Committee Member.
Attachment 34 includes a letter from the GPAC Chair with comments and direction for the
meeting.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachments previously received with the November 5, 2020 Staff Report:
1. June 11, 2020 Community Workshop and Online Survey Summary
2. Initial Draft of Land Use Element
3. Initial Draft of Community Design Element
4. Public Comment received by 11:00 a.m., Friday, October 30, 2020
Attachments previously received with November 5, 2020 Addendum:
5. Committee Member Comments
6. Public Comments received between 11:01 a.m., Friday, October 30, 2020 and 11:00 a.m.,
Wednesday, November 4, 2020
Attachment previously received with the November 5, 2020 Desk Item:
7. Committee Member Comments
Attachments previously received with the November 19, 2020 Staff Report:
8. November 17, 2020 Town Council Staff Report with Attachments 1-7
9. Committee Member Comments
PAGE 2 OF 3 SUBJECT: Revised Initial Draft of the Community Design Element March 18, 2021
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ATTACHMENTS (continued):
Attachments previously received with the November 19, 2020 Desk Item Report:
10. Committee Member Comments
11. Public Comment
Attachments previously received with the January 7, 2021 Staff Report:
12. Revised Initial Draft of Land Use Element
13. Comment Response Summary Table – Land Use
14. Revised Initial Draft of Community Design Element
15. Comment Response Summary Table – Community Design
16. Updated Potential Housing Production Table
Attachments previously received with the January 7, 2021 Addendum Report:
17. Committee Member Comments
18. Public Comment
Attachments previously received with the January 21, 2021 Staff Report:
19. Maps of the Area Described in a Public Comment
20. Committee Member Comments
Attachment previously received with the January 21, 2021 Addendum Report:
21. Historic Preservation Committee Comments
Attachment previously received with the January 21, 2021 Desk Item Report:
22. Committee Member Comments
Attachments previously received with the February 4, 2021 Staff Report:
23. Updated Comment Response Summary Table – Community Design Element
24. Committee Member Comments
Attachment previously received with the February 4, 2021 Addendum Report:
25. Committee Member Comments
Attachments previously received with the February 18, 2021 Addendum Report:
26. Committee Member Comments
27. Public Comment
Attachment previously received with the March 4, 2021 Addendum Report:
28. Committee Member Comments
Attachment previously received with the March 4, 2021 Desk Item:
29. Public Comment
PAGE 3 OF 3 SUBJECT: Revised Initial Draft of the Community Design Element March 18, 2021
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ATTACHMENTS (continued):
Attachments previously received with the March 18, 2021 Staff Report:
30. Community Place Districts Introduction
31. Committee Member Comments
Attachment previously received with the March 18, 2021 Addendum Report:
32. Committee Member Comments
Attachments received with this Desk Item:
33. Committee Member Comments
34. Letter from the Chair
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4. Community Design Element
4.5 Community Place Districts
CD-7 Goal
Enhance specific districts and areas to guide redevelopment of unique places in the community to
promote sustainable growth of livable, walkable neighborhoods.
Add policy specific to promote sustainable residential growth through the use of mixed-use and plexes.
Downtown District
CD-8 Goal
Change preserve to another verb - see notes from Chair
CD-8.2 Exterior Building Materials -Encourage the use of sustainable building materials that
compliment and blend with surrounding buildings.
CD-8.4 Decorative Bollards - Downtown District - Encourage the use of decorative bollards at all
pedestrian crossings at street intersections to improve pedestrian and bike safety in the Downtown
District.
CD-8.5 Add picture of one of our parklets in Downtown
CD-8.7 Maintain Existing Downtown Buildings - Can we require consideration of
restoration/rehabilitation/reuse before approval of demolition?
Lark Avenue District
CD-9 Goal
Encourage the development of a diverse lark Avenue District that supports updated office and industrial
complexes and buildings,access to multimodal transportation, and creates a connection to the Los
Gatos Creek Trail.
CD-9.2 Subterranean Parking - change from encourage to require
CD-9.3 Connection to Los Gatos Creek Trail - change language to specifically require planning for
support of multimodal transportation in conjunction with the use of the Creek Trail
CD-9.4 Linkage - add to reduce vehicle use and promote walking and biking.
North Santa Cruz Ave District
ATTACHMENT 33
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ATTACHMENT 34
GPAC Chair Additional Comments and Direction for tonight’s (March 18) meeting
I would like to thank GPAC members for continuing to make positive contributions to our
General Plan 2040 update. With that in mind, as Chair, I would like to provide some additional
direction for tonight’s meeting.
(1) Urgency to complete review of Community Design Element at tonight’s meeting (March
18)
As GPAC members well know, we have been meeting for over 2 years to prepare and review
the update to the General Plan that will guide our Town direction to 2040. The GPAC has been
working on reviewing the Land Use and Community Design Elements starting in November
2020 and continuing to tonight’s meeting. We are in a situation now where there is urgency to
finish our review of the Community Design Element tonight. Staff will share the overall schedule
to complete the General Plan update work of the GPAC but suffice it to say that we must finish
our review of Community tonight even if it means we need to extend the meeting until 10 pm or
later to do so.
In addition to getting comments from a majority of GPAC members since November, we have
also completed review of the Community Design Element through section 4.4. As of tonight’s,
meeting, all that is left to review is 4.5 Community Place Districts and the Element’s
Implementation programs. So, it does seem realistic that the review of this Element can be
completed at this meeting.
To expedite this process, the Vice Chair and I did spend time over the past two weeks since our
March 4 meeting, editing the existing conditions and the Vision 2040 sections of each of the
eight Community Place districts, incorporating previously submitted comments from committee
members. This was included as part of the GPAC agenda packet that was distributed on Friday
March 12. We did receive comments from Committee Member Zolla in the addendum that was
distributed yesterday that included recommended edits to the document that the Vice Chair
and I submitted. The Vice Chair and I reviewed the addendum and we believe these are quite
valuable comments. We are asking GPAC members to focus their review on the edits submitted
by the Vice Chair and Chair as well as Committee member Zolla to determine if the GPAC can
accept this as sufficient input to staff to prepare the next draft of the Community Design
Element rather than working from the original draft received in November. Then the focus can
be on the Goals and Policies of the eight districts as well as the Element’s implementation
program. For the Goals and Policies and Implementation Programs, the GPAC should use the
original draft received in November with the except of the Downtown District, which goal and
policies had a suggested re-write from Committee Member Quintana, which the Vice Chair and
I are recommending the GPAC consider accepting. This new goal and recommended policies
were incorporated into the comments that the Vice Chair and I submitted as part of the agenda
packet distributed March 12.
(2)Suggested streamlining of Goals and Policies of 4.5 Community Place Districts
To further expedite the review of 4.5 Community Place Districts, the Vice Chair and Chair, along
with staff, discussed the potential of streamlining the Goals and Policies of the eight community
place districts. Amongst the eight districts, there some commonalities amongst some of the
districts that can enable combining of goals and policies for a group of districts.
For example:
(1)Union, Harwood and Pollard—these three districts are very similar in that they are
anchored by a large neighborhood shopping center and have single and multi-family
residential nearby and each is very close to a public elementary or middle school.
Because these three districts are similar today and the proposed vision for each area is
similar, we believe it is possible to create one goal and one set of policies for these three
districts. We are asking the GPAC members to consider whether this is possible and
come to a resolution during tonight’s meeting.
(2)Winchester and Lark—these two districts are very similar in that they are dominated by
office uses with nearby residential and both border the Los Gatos Creek Trail. There may
be an opportunity to create one goal and one set of policies for these two districts.
(3)Downtown District and North Santa Cruz—There are likely arguments for keeping these
separate but there are also similarities in these two districts, not just because of their
proximity to each other. Here again, there may be an opportunity to create one goal and
one set of policies for these two districts.
(4)Los Gatos Boulevard—This district seems quite different from any of the others, so
needs its own set of goal(s) or policies so we are asking the GPAC members to review
the proposed goal and policies in the draft of the Community Design Element provided
by staff back in November.
Once again, I want to thank GPAC members for their contributions and patience during this
lengthy process of reviewing the Land Use and Community Design Elements. With your
continued contributions and patience, the GPAC will be successful in completing its work in the
near future.