Staff Report. General Plan Committee
PREPARED BY: Alexa Nolder
Administrative Technician
Reviewed by: Planning Manager and Community Development Director
110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● (408) 354-6872
www.losgatosca.gov
TOWN OF LOS GATOS
GENERAL PLAN COMMITTEE
REPORT
MEETING DATE: 5/14/2025
ITEM NO: 3
DATE: May 9, 2025
TO: General Plan Committee
FROM: Joel Paulson, Community Development Director
SUBJECT: Consider Whether the Town Should Retain a Separate General Plan
Committee and Provide a Recommendation to the Town Council.
RECOMMENDATION:
Consider whether the Town should retain a separate General Plan Committee and provide a
recommendation to the Town Council.
BACKGROUND:
The Town currently has the General Plan Committee, which was established on May 4, 1998.
The purpose of this Committee is to provide recommendations to the Planning Commission and
Town Council on all matters relating to the General Plan or any Specific Plan. The Committee
must report to the Planning Commission prior to any Commission meeting scheduled to discuss
an application for a General Plan Amendment.
At the General Plan Committee meeting of February 12, 2025, it was requested to add this item
to the next scheduled GPC meeting for discussion.
Staff reviewed the number of GPC meetings that have been held between January 2021 and
April 2025 (Attachment 2). We have cancelled 65 of the 73 regularly scheduled meetings in the
4-year period. Only 8 meetings were held in this time frame. It should be noted that the GPC
also participated in 9 GPAC and 20 HEAB meetings in this time frame in support of the 2040
General Plan update and 2023-2031 Housing Element update processes.
Staff researched other local municipalities to verify whether they had a General Plan, or similar,
committee that provided the same role as the GPC, but found that the Planning Commission
made all decisions, or recommendations to Council where appropriate, around General Plan
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SUBJECT: Retention of the General Plan Committee
DATE: May 9, 2025
Amendment requests. Some of those municipalities are: City of Campbell; City of Saratoga; and
City of Los Altos. While the City of Mountain View does not have a Commission called Planning
Commission, they have the Administrative Zoning and Subdivision Committee, whose role is
similar to the Town’s Planning Commission and General Plan Committee combined.
Disbanding this Committee will allow for more efficiency when processing permits for General
Plan and Specific Plan amendment requests. It would also save staff time and resources by
eliminating the following efforts:
- Mailing public hearing notices to neighbors and/or running ads in the paper when an
application is going before the Committee;
- Staff time preparing reports for the Committee; and
- Staff time attending Committee meetings.
DISCUSSION:
This discussion is to determine whether:
1) A separate General Plan Committee should be retained; or
2) The existing General Plan Committee should be disbanded and provide that the Planning
Commission will assume the duties of the General Plan Committee and hear requests
for General Plan and Specific Plan amendments.
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
As of the drafting of this report, no comments from the public have been received.
CONCLUSION:
The GPC should consider whether the Town should retain a separate General Plan Committee
and provide a recommendation to the Town Council.
Attachments:
1. General Plan Committee Resolution
2. General Plan Committee Meetings from January 2021 through April 2025