Attachment 1. Letter to HCD From Kylie ClarkFrom: Kylie Clark <>
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2022 4:42 PM
To: Housing Elements@HCD <HousingElements@hcd.ca.gov>
Subject: Los Gatos General Plan Referendum
Hello,
I hope this email finds you well! Thank you so much for all of the work you are doing on the Housing
Element. As someone who does housing work in a lot of anti-housing cities, I really appreciate the work
you are doing to resolve our state's housing crisis. I'm a Los Gatos Planning Commissioner, but I am
writing to you just as a concerned citizen.
I am reaching out to make sure you are aware of a referendum [losgatosca.gov] that was recently signed
by enough Los Gatos voters to be placed on the ballot. The referendum suspends the town's Land Use
and Community Design Elements in our General Plan, which was approved by our Town Council in the
last few months. The referendum was fully paid for and passed by a few rich white anti-housing men in
our town (they paid the signature gatherers $10 per signature).
The justification for this referendum is their opposition to our planned housing numbers, as we went
above the state mandate (which makes sense, as this is our General Plan looking 20 years out, not just
planning for this 8-year HE cycle). The anti-housing group is claiming that the town will build 12,000 new
units in the next 8 years (haha I wish).
I have a lot of questions about this referendum, including whether it is even lawful, as it places land use
on the ballot, meaning if the town wanted to make any future changes to our land use we would have to
take it to the voters. It also might cause some serious problems with our Housing Element, as obviously
our Land Use Element is closely tied to it.
I wanted to make y'all aware of this and to see if you would be able to support our town in any way. We
put a lot of work into our General Plan, and these are very strong elements. I would hate to see them
reformed to allow for less housing just because of a few upset rich residents.
Thank you so much!
In community,
Kylie
(Pronouns: she, her, hers)
Yes, We Live on Ohlone Land. But What Does That Mean? [thebolditalic.com]
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Kylie Clark
Community organizer, nonprofit professional
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