Item 1 - 03-18-21 DRAFT Minutes
110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● 408-354-6832
www.losgatosca.gov
TOWN OF LOS GATOS
GENERAL PLAN UPDATE
ADVISORY COMMITTEE REPORT
MEETING DATE: 05/06/2021 ITEM: 1
DRAFT
MINUTES OF THE GENERAL PLAN UPDATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MARCH 18, 2021
The General Plan Update Advisory Committee of the Town of Los Gatos conducted a Regular
Meeting on March 18, 2021, 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. In accordance with Executive
Order N-29-20, the public could only view the meeting online and not in the Council Chamber.
MEETING CALLED TO ORDER AT 7:00 P.M.
ROLL CALL
Present: Chair Melanie Hanssen, Vice Chair Kathryn Janoff, Council Member Mary Badame,
Council Member Maria Ristow, Committee Member Todd Jarvis, Committee Member Joseph
Mannina, Committee Member Steven Piasecki, Committee Member Ryan Rosenberg,
Committee Member Emily Thomas, Committee Member Lee Quintana, and Committee
Member Carol Elias Zolla.
Absent: Committee Member Susan Moore Brown.
Staff present: Jennifer Armer, Joel Paulson, Laurel Prevetti, and Sally Zarnowitz.
VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS
Giulianna Pendleton
- Commented on the importance of dark sky and bird safe design programs.
CONSENT ITEMS (TO BE ACTED UPON BY A SINGLE MOTION)
1. Approval of Minutes – March 4, 2021
MOTION: Motion by Committee Member Rosenberg to approve Consent Item.
Seconded by Committee Member Piasecki.
VOTE: Motion passed unanimously.
PAGE 2 OF 3 MINUTES OF GENERAL PLAN UPDATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON MARCH 18, 2021
N:\DEV\GPAC\GPAC Staff Reports\2021\05-06-21\Item 1 to 3 - Minutes\Item 1 - 03-18-21 DRAFT Minutes.docx
DISCUSSION ITEMS
2. Continued Review of the Revised Initial Draft of the Community Design Element.
Jennifer Armer, Senior Planner, presented the staff report.
Open and Closed Public Comment.
Committee discussed the matter and provided the following comments and direction:
- Use revised introduction language provided with the Staff Report with a few
modifications, including additional text to show how desirable these places will be.
- Use a generic term like “major grocery chain” rather than the name of the store.
- Use “automobile oriented” rather than “auto oriented.”
- In the Los Gatos Boulevard District, North Santa Cruz District, and Winchester
District consider adding the names of the major shopping centers in the description
of existing conditions.
- Address written comments from Committee Member Zolla.
- Replace photos for Downtown to include some older buildings, and photos of Los
Gatos Boulevard to include some areas that are less focused on car-oriented
intersections.
- Correct area shown as Albright Specific plan on all maps throughout the General
Plan.
- Keep these goals and policies more general, leaving more objective standards to
other guideline documents, as recommended by Committee Member Quintana’s
written comments.
- Use “Downtown District” instead of “Central Business District.”
- Adopt Committee Member Quintana’s recommendations for Downtown.
- Group Harwood, Pollard, and Union Districts into a single grouping, with Goal CD-12
and policies under it applying to all three, and update goals and policies to reflect
vision described for these districts.
- Group Lark and Winchester Districts into a single grouping and combine the goals
and policies to apply to both.
- Add bird safe and dark sky policies here or in the Environment and Sustainability
Element.
- Add language about residential growth in the Lark and Winchester Districts.
- Goal CD-10 and associated policies for the Los Gatos Boulevard District should
encapsulate the vision for the district including interconnectedness and
cohesiveness, new living opportunities in mixed use developments, and design that
is bike and pedestrian friendly.
- Modify policies to be higher level and less specific, remove specific numbers.
- Los Gatos Boulevard should have more gathering spaces.
PAGE 3 OF 3 MINUTES OF GENERAL PLAN UPDATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON MARCH 18, 2021
N:\DEV\GPAC\GPAC Staff Reports\2021\05-06-21\Item 1 to 3 - Minutes\Item 1 - 03-18-21 DRAFT Minutes.docx
- Remove decorative bollards policy.
- Delete Policy CD-11.2
- Encouraging a variety of non-conflicting architectural styles.
- Merge Policies CD-11.3 and 11.4.
- Parklets should be encouraged in all commercial districts.
- Delete Implementation Program G and signage programs for individual districts.
- Remove references to primary and secondary gateways from Implementation
Program G, and make it broader to include art.
The next GPAC meeting will be on Thursday, April 1, 2021.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 10:24 p.m.
This is to certify that the foregoing is a true
and correct copy of the minutes of the
March 18, 2021 meeting as approved by the
General Plan Update Advisory Committee.
Joel Paulson, Director of Community Development
This Page
Intentionally
Left Blank