Item2.Staff Report with Attachment
PREPARED BY: ERIN WALTERS AND JOCELYN SHOOPMAN
Associate Planner and Associate Planner
110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● 408-354-6832
www.losgatosca.gov
MEETING DATE: 05/05/2022
ITEM NO: 2 TOWN OF LOS GATOS
HOUSING ELEMENT ADVISORY BOARD REPORT
DATE: April 29, 2022
TO: Housing Element Advisory Board
FROM: Joel Paulson, Community Development Director
SUBJECT: Review and Discussion of the Housing Element Site Inventory
REMARKS:
On April 21, 2022, the Housing Element Advisory Board (HEAB) received public comments and
began the review of identifying sites for potential inclusion in the Initial Draft Site Inventory
(Attachment 2). At the April 21, 2022, meeting the HEAB considered the following districts:
A. Downtown District
B. North Santa Cruz Avenue District
C. Los Gatos Lodge District
D. Los Gatos Boulevard District
E. North Forty District
At this meeting, the HEAB will continue their review and consideration of the following districts:
F. Lark Avenue District
G. Winchester Boulevard District
H. Pollard Road District
I. Union Avenue District
J. Harwood Road District
The following questions are provided to guide the HEAB in their continued discussion of whether
the sites identified in the Initial Draft Site Inventory are appropriate:
1. Which sites, if any, should be removed from the Initial Draft Site Inventory?
2. Are there additional sites that should be added to the Initial Draft Site Inventory?
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SUBJECT: Review and Discussion of the Housing Element Site Inventory
April 29, 2022
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NEXT STEPS:
A compressive list of the Initial Draft Site Inventory will be provided to the HEAB for their
consideration at the May 19, 2022, meeting with the following information provided for each
site:
1. Address;
2. Assessor’s Parcel Number;
3. Parcel size;
4. Existing and proposed Draft 2040 General Plan density;
5. Number of potential housing units based on the existing and proposed General Plan density;
and
6. Draft income category distribution of units for each site.
At the May 19, 2022 meeting, the HEAB will review the draft site inventory information and
determine which sites should be included to meet the Regional Housing Needs Allocation
(RHNA) requirements. Following the HEAB’s selection of sites to be included in the Draft Site
Inventory, the Town Council will discuss and consider the draft site inventory and determine
which sites should be included.
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
Attachment 10 includes public comments received between 11:01 a.m., Thursday, April 21,
2022, and 11:00 a.m. on Friday, April 29, 2022.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachments Previously received with the April 21, 2022 Staff Report:
1. March 31, 2022, Housing Element Community Meeting Slides
2. Initial Draft Site Inventory
3. Results from the Balancing Act Tool Submittals
4. Results from the Housing Element Update Website Site Surveys
5. Individual Results from the Housing Element Update Website Site Surveys
6. Property Owner Interest Form
7. Board Member Comments
8. Public Comments Received by 11:00 a.m., Friday, April 15, 2022
Attachments Previously received with the April 21, 2022, Desk Item:
9. Public Comments received between 11:01 a.m., Wednesday, April 20, 2022, and 11:00 a.m.,
Thursday, April 21, 2022
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SUBJECT: Review and Discussion of the Housing Element Site Inventory
April 29, 2022
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ATTACHMENTS (Continued):
Attachments Received with this Staff Report:
10. Public Comments received between 11:01 a.m., Thursday, April 21, 2022, and 11:00 a.m. on
Friday, April 29, 2022
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1. Identify additional locations for mixed use Neighborhood Commercial for mixed use housing
and commercial and add those sites to the Inventory. Amend the General Plan Land Use
Map, the Zoning Designation Map and the Zoning Code concurrently with the General Plan
and Housing Element Updates. Two potential locations to consider:
1. Southwest corner of University and Lark,
2. or the Northeast corner of Lark and Winchester
Thank you for your consideration,
Lee Quintana
April 21, 2022
Dear Los Gatos City Council:
We are writing on behalf of YIMBY Law and Greenbelt Alliance regarding Los Gatos’s 6th Cycle
Housing Element Update. YIMBY Law is a legal nonprofit working to make housing in California more
accessible and affordable through enforcement of state law. Greenbelt Alliance is an environmental
nonprofit working to ensure that the Bay Area’s lands and communities are resilient to a changing
climate.
We are writing to remind you of Los Gatos's obligation to include sufficient sites in your upcoming
Housing Element to accommodate your Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) of 1,993 units.
In the Annual Progress Reports that Los Gatos submitted to HCD, we observe the following trend of
housing units permitted in the last four years:
Year Housing units
permitted
2018 25
2019 31
2020 180
2021 225
Average, 2018-
2021
115
To meet the 6th cycle RHNA target, the rate of new housing permits in Los Gatos would need to
increase from 115 units per year in 2018-2021 to 249 units per year in the next 8 years. This is a
116% increase from re‐ cent years. If the current pace were to continue, Los Gatos would meet only
46% of its new housing target.
Based on these trends, it is unlikely that Los Gatos’s existing realistic zoning capacity is sufficient to
meet its 6th cycle RHNA target. According to HCD’s Housing Element Site Inventory Guidebook,
housing elements must analyze the realistic capacity of their sites, which may include considerations
of “[l]ocal or regional track records”, “past production trends”, and “the rate at which similar parcels
were developed during the previous planning period”. A housing element that does not include a
significant rezoning component is therefore un‐ likely to be compliant with state law.
We urge Los Gatos to include a major rezoning component in its Housing Element—a rezoning large
enough to close the gap between recent housing production trends and the RHNA target. The
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