Item2.Desk Item with Attachments 5 and 6
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: 08/04/2022
ITEM NO: 2
DESK ITEM TOWN OF LOS GATOS
HOUSING ELEMENT ADVISORY BOARD REPORT
DATE: August 4, 2022
TO: Housing Element Advisory Board
FROM: Joel Paulson, Community Development Director
SUBJECT: Continue the Review and Discussion of the Draft Goals, Policies, and Programs.
REMARKS:
Attachment 5 contains Board Member comments. Attachment 6 contains public comments
received between 11:01 a.m., Wednesday, August 3, 2022, and 11:00 a.m., Thursday, August 4,
2022.
ATTACHMENTS:
Previously received with the August 4, 2022, Staff Report:
1. Draft Goals, Policies, and Implementation Programs
2. Public Comments received between 11:01 a.m., Thursday, July 7, 2022, and 11:00 a.m. on
Friday, July 29, 2022
Received with the August 4, 2022, Addendum Report:
3. Board Member Comments
4. Public Comments received between 11:01 a.m., Friday, July 29, 2022, and 11:00 a.m.,
Wednesday, August 3, 2022
Received with this Desk Item Report:
5. Board Member Comments
6. Public Comments received between 11:01 a.m., Wednesday, August 3, 2022, and 11:00
a.m., Thursday, August 4, 2022
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Subject: Los Gatos 2023-2031 Housing Element
Thursday, August 4, 2022
Dear fellow Los Gatos Housing Element Advisory Board members,
First, I apologize for missing the last meeting (I was traveling back from Europe). On reading
the current draft I feel there was a lot of good work done.
But one thing I find missing: any mention of the need to preserve and encourage business,
especially the retail and service businesses that directly interact with residents. Maybe it is in
there somewhere but I could not find it.
Increasing affordable housing and overall housing are excellent goals - but not if they come at
the cost of eliminating the businesses that make it so pleasant to live here. Plus, more housing
and less business will boost traffic and reduce walking/biking which is counter to our
I know we have discussed this in our meetings and I recall multiple people stating that retaining
business was important to our vision (and our quality of life). I realize we do have a policy
around encouraging Mixed-use development, but that is the only place (I could find) that
touches on business at all. And that does not speak to retaining businesses.
So perhaps we should add a goal or at least a policy and an implementation program around
the idea that expanding housing should not come at the cost of retaining and encouraging
retail and service business.
Best regards,
Ryan Rosenberg
ATTACHMENT 5
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From: Margaret Nau <>
Sent: Wednesday, August 3, 2022 8:20 PM
To: Housing Element <HEUpdate@losgatosca.gov>
Cc: Erin Walters <EWalters@losgatosca.gov>; Jennifer Armer <JArmer@losgatosca.gov>; Elizabeth
Kromer <>
Subject: Housing element meeting Aug 4th comments
EXTERNAL SENDER
It is true that the State of California has essentially declared an emergency regarding access to
affordable housing with its regional housing needs allocation RHNA. Municipalities in the Bay Area will
have to provide over 441,176 units of new housing over the next eight years starting in 2023. This is over
twice the amount that was assigned during the last cycle and much of those previous identified sites
were never developed. This time around the State will compel municipalities to produce the housing by
carrot and stick. The carrots are access to transportation funds and grants, and ministerial review of
projects that will fast track development and take out local review. Also state law provides for density
bonuses for moderate to below market housing which will allow more units to be built. This incentivizes
developers and homeowners to build at the highest density allowed.
The sticks that the State can use are lawsuits, fines, loss of permitting ability and ministerial review
reverting to the State. We really don’t want to dig in our heels against the RHNA because we will lose all
ability to choose the type of housing that works for our communities.
The bottom line is that we must build more housing. However, as Californians, the enjoyment of natural
beauty and open space is at the core of how we like to live. What is the compromise that is acceptable
to most everyone? We would propose that the solution is infill of existing properties. Whether It is a
homeowner putting in an accessory dwelling unit or a commercial property owner converting a vacant
building to residential this is already built on land that is underutilized. Adaptive reuse of commercial or
mixed-use building can be done by rezoning efforts at the municipal level. With the pandemic and online
shopping creating a sea change in residents working and shopping from home, commercial vacancy is at
an all-time high of 40% nationwide. This is not just in big cities like San Francisco but also small and
medium size towns like Los Gatos. We are asking that Los Gatos be flexible about adaptive reuse of
commercial and mixed-use zoning in order to respond to the needs of the marketplace and of the
overwhelming demand for affordable housing.
I want to point out that in your Los Gatos General Plan the spirit of adaptive reuse already exists: “LU
10.1 Vacated Businesses Encourage replacement of vacated business Townwide with neighborhood
commercial, multifamily, or office uses.” Rezoning for the needs of the community has occurred in the
past with the rezoning of residential to commercial uses. This is noted in your city code Sec. 29.20.155.
-Special considerations in review of residential conversions. We feel this is an old paradigm and that
our needs have changed. All those residential homes that were turned into commercial buildings should
be given the flexibility to revert to their original use as housing and all those vacant commercial spaces
should be converted to residential.
One way to get housing growth at a medium density which Los Gatos tends to prefer to high density is
to use the recent SB 10 legislation. I have attached a fact sheet from Senator Scott Weiner’s office. The
key with this is that it has to be passed by local governments in order to rezone for 10 units per parcel in
ATTACHMENT 6
urban areas. From reading the City of Los Gatos General Plan it seems to identify middle density as goal
for development and SB 10 may be an effective way to achieve this.
My message to those of you considering the housing element is to look to where there is a pull for
housing – vacant commercial space or residential backyards that could use an ADU. The push for
housing is the State which can ultimately take away local control if the housing numbers are not met. It
is better to get out ahead of the mandate and come up with an acceptable solution for our local
communities by using existing developed land and preserving as much of the open space and natural
beauty of California that make it so desirable to live here.
Please consider rezoning your mixed-use commercial zoning to allow for all residential conversions.
https://abag.ca.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2021-06/Consequences%20of%20Non-
Compliance%20with%20Housing%20Laws.pdf
Margaret Carrigan Nau
Co-Founder VADU (Value-added Accessory Dwelling Unit Experts)
https://www.myvadu.com/
Solving financial, environmental and housing challenges one tiny dwelling at a time.
SUMMARY
Senate Bill 10 allows local governments a
streamlined path to zone infill neighborhoods for
light touch, missing middle density — up to ten units
per parcel — if they choose.
PROBLEM
California has descended into a suffocating housing
crisis that has only been worsened by COVID-19 and
its economic impacts. The state’s lack of affordable
housing has contributed to mass migration out of the
state, skyrocketing eviction rates, record levels of
chronic homelessness, and a growing class of lower-
income supercommuters unable to afford or access
housing within several hours of their jobs.
In addition to these crises, many California
neighborhoods remain racially segregated, as the
density that cities plan for is often concentrated in
low-income communities of color, especially those
with poor air quality. This leads to deep health and
educational inequities, as well as an extreme gap in
access to resources, and increased displacement
pressures in these vulnerable areas.
Many local governments in California are motivated
independently to increase density in neighborhoods,
and others are required by state law to do this as part
of their Housing Element. These actions will have the
effect of integrating communities across racial and
socioeconomic lines, alleviating pressure on our
housing supply, and creating dignified and abundant
housing opportunities for young families,
multigenerational households, and seniors who wish
to age in place.
However, various state and local laws make it
extremely difficult to do these common-sense
rezonings quickly – even very mild efforts are often
mired in expensive, decades-long legal appeals and
litigation.
SOLUTION
SB 10 is a simple bill that authorizes local
governments to rezone neighborhoods for increased
housing density, up to ten homes per parcel, if they
choose to. This authorization will require that a
legislative body pass a resolution to adopt the plan,
and exempts that zoning action from being
considered a project under the California
Environmental Quality Act. To be eligible for this
local action, an area must be urban infill, consistent
with the definition used in Senate Bill 35 (2017), or
be near high quality public transportation or a job-
rich area. When the local government passes this
resolution, it can choose whether the individual
projects will be ministerial/by right or subject to
discretionary approval.
SB 10 is a powerful tool for local governments to
create a path to adding modest density to address
California’s housing shortage, preserves significant
local control for local jurisdictions, and makes it
faster, less expensive, and less risky for a city to
undertake a community process to increase density
in our neighborhoods.
SUPPORT
California YIMBY (Sponsor)
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART)
Los Angeles Business Council
Valley Industry and Commerce Association
(VICA)
Silicon Valley Leadership Group
YIMBY Action
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Cassidy Denny, Legislative Aide
Email: Cassidy.denny@sen.ca.gov
Phone: (916) 651-4011
Senator Scott Wiener, 11th Senate District
Senate Bill 10 – Local Control for Increased Housing Density
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