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06 Desk Item - 14101 Winchester BoulevardMEETING DATE: 12/07/09 ITEM NO: DESK ITEM COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT DATE: December 7, 2009 TO: MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL FROM: GREG LARSON, TOWN MANAGER SUBJECT: CONSIDER A REQUEST OF APPROVAL TO OPERATE A RESTAURANT WITH BEER AND WINE SERVICE AND OUTDOOR SEATING ON PROPERTY ZONED C-1. APN 406-30-015. PROPERTY LOCATION: 14101 WINCHESTER BOULEVARD. PROPERTY OWNER: WINCHESTER ASSOCIATES LLC. APPLICANT: TOUGAS ENTERPRISES. FILE # U-09- 009. REMARKS: The attached letter and emails were received after the report was distributed. In response to the comments in Attachment 7, staff has verified that 359 public hearing notices were sent to all known property owners and addresses within 300 feet of the subject property, including Los Gatos and Campbell. Less than 30 of those notices were returned by the Post Office for vacant or inaccurate addresses. In addition, while the staff report was drafted on November 25, 2009, it was not approved for distribution with all Council reports until December 3, 2009. Attachments: 1-6. Previously Submitted 7. Letter from Terry Corbet, dated December 6, 2009 (4 pages) 8. Email from Faten Mansour, December 7, 2009 (1 page) 9. Email from Victoria Sanchez, December 7, 2009 (1 page) WR:MM:cgt PREPARED BY: Wendie R. Rooney, Director of Community Development Reviewed by: PSAssistant Town Manager f) / Town Attorney Clerk Administrator Finance � Q1 Community Development N:\DEV\CNCLRPTS\2009\14101 Winchester.desk.doc Reformatted: 5/30/02 To: Greg Larson Town Manager Town of Los Gatos From: Terry Corbet Home Owner 662 West Parr Avenue Campbell DEC 7 2009 "✓VN r ; GATr 1/14-c5-0oc Subj: Town Council Meeting of December 7, 2009 Agenda Item 6 Public Hearing concerning a Conditional Use Permit at 14101 Winchester Blvd. I apologize for only being able to provide this input to the Town Council at this late date, but as I am sure you are aware, although your memo to the Mayor and Town Council was dated November 25th, it was only made available to us on Friday morning, December 3rd. We have worked through the weekend to provide for our PARTICIPATION IN THE PUBLIC PROCESS as quickly as possible. We urgently ask the Town Council to continue this matter for the following reasons: A. The process for notifying the community of this proposal for a drastic change in the balance of residential and commercial activities in our neighborhood was seriously flawed: 1. While we have been informed that "approximately 300" notifications were mailed to interested parties located within 300 feet of the perimeter of the Vasona Station Shopping Center, we have found that fewer than thirty of the homeowners and home -renters who live there were ever notified. An audit must be made of the procedures in use for letting citizens know of planned attempts to re -engineer their communities. 2. The previous point, as you will see, only goes to the letter of the law; what is most troublesome here is the spirit of the law. It simply boils down to how one defines a community. Communities are not contiguous with municipal boundaries. We understand that the language of the Planning Commission is necessarily based on zoning terminology, but the role of a city planner is to balance the needs of commercial developers against the needs of individuals who create and maintain a community by their investment in their homes, their schools the and safety of their streets for themselves and their dependents. Attachment #3 to your memo concerning this agenda item does not correct the errors of the "Project Data — Surrounding Area". North of the Vasona Station Shopping Center are homes that are occupied by retired couples as well as young working people with pre-school children. West of the Vasona Station Shopping Center are eight townhouses that have been occupied more than a decade since you approved them at that location. 3. The information in the "Notice of Public Hearing" concerning the Planning Commission meeting, mailed on October 16th, the "Notice of Public Hearing" posted to the "Los Gatos ATTACHMENT 7 Weekly -Times" and the "Notice of Public Hearing", mailed on November 24th, concerning tomorrow's Town Council meeting do not in any way describe the drastic change in the status quo contemplated by the proposed operations as presented to the Town of Los Gatos in writing by the Tougas Group the first week of August and in their verbal presentation at the Planning Commission meeting of October 28th. Those 'standard form'; documents mislead any ordinary citizen into believing that all that is going to happen is that some new restaurant is going to start operations to replace the long -dormant operations of the former, unsuccessful occupant. Perhaps those routine, standard form announcements meet some letter of your regulations, but they clearly do not work to allow a community of interested parties to meet for a mutual discussion concerning their neighborhood. B. The work done by the Planning Commission was inadequate: 1. The planner carried out the analysis of the Jakes proposal as if it were just a routine annoyance only requiring public scrutiny because the landlord had not been able to find a new tenant for the vacant facility for so long that the existing Conditional Use Permit had expired. Using that mistaken basis, only minimal data gathering and analysis were accomplished. 2. There was no analysis of the entirely different nature of the operations of a high -turnover 'casual dining establishment' with an arcade area, sit -at -the -counter bar service and outdoor partying, much less of a business model which caters to take-out pizza service for people merely using the Winchester corridor as their commute route. This is most clearly seen in the failure to undertake a comprehensive review of the new traffic which would be generated by Jakes. The idea that the new traffic patterns — movement and parking — along a 40 MPH, 4-lane boulevard, would be the same as what the community had experienced during the years of operation of the former 'formal dining' at Valencia's is just plain wrong. 3. The commission did not attempt to ascertain the validity of the proponent's assertions concerning the benefits to the community from the proposed change in operations of family food service facilities in our community. When he stated there were no eateries providing what he planned to provide, he misstated the facts. The only way that statement could make any sense is if it were un-masked to its true meaning: "There are no other food services in that neighborhood which sell food, beer and wine at the hours of the night he requests." Perhaps the Planning Commission wants to make a distinction between what permits exist and what the true mode of operation is, but the Town Council cannot fail to appreciate the difference and surely cannot be concerned about an attempt to change this community into some sort of 'night spot'. The simple fact is that all the existing restaurateurs, with whom we happily share our community, operate at standard hours when families come to dine. No one has ever suggested any benefit to anyone in Los Gatos or Campbell from a bar serving beer and pizza until 11 PM any night of the week or weekend. The existing family restaurants are operated by people from our community in ways that we appreciate, and we see absolutely no benefits from the proposed operations of Jakes. The idea vetted by the commission that Jakes would be in anyway comparable to Aldo's is so out of line with the facts as to simply reinforce our belief that since no members of the planning commission live anywhere near the proposed facilities, they were terribly mis-informed. The owner- operator of Aldo's lives in our community and has never served alcoholic beverages in the manner or at the hours of any of the facilities owned and operated by the Tougas Group. The present family restaurants here all genuinely cater to our families who dine during the conventional dinner hours. 4. We appreciate that a Planning Commission does not operate as an evidentiary findings board, but simple due diligence ought to have caused at least some members of the commission to take note of misrepresentations made by the proponents, and to have demanded factual follow-up. What are we to make of the claim that the existence of the VTA stop a mile north will provide a flow of people coming home from Sharks games who need to be served at midnight? You know when the hours of operation of the VTA cease. They can all much more simply be served at "The Garret" with no disturbance of our homes late at night with people carousing on a front porch. What are we to make of the claim that the new hospital staff need a place for beer and pizza coming off the late shift. You know that there has long been a night shift operating out of the Community Hospital. When you gave Sobrato permission for the final density of units and parking at Aventino it was in response to the Housing Consortium request for low-cost units that would allow nurses and policemen and firemen to live where they work, so you know better than Tougas Group what changes we have seen in our neighborhood over the past decade. The owner/operator of Jackie Boy's will hopefully address you tomorrow and I hope you will take advantage of the chance to find out what is true and what is not true about the needs of the community. He has a 30-year customers and knows first-hand what establishments on Dell work midnight shifts. 5. We were especially disappointed to review the video tape of the Planning Commission meeting and see that the Tougas representative went on record as saying that although he really believed that "this part of town needed new energy" he was practical and if he needed to close at midnight, he would. Since, at the time he made that public retraction, the Planning Commission had not yet fashioned a motion to extend the hours of operation to midnight, inspite of the staff recommendation to limit the hours of operation to 10PMm all you will be able to conclude by reviewing the public meeting is that the proponent had been told in some non-public forum what the Planning Commission planned to recommend to the Town Council. When one conscientious commissioner asked what experience the Tougas group had in serving alcohol after hours, the representative was very clever in reading into the record that on the second floor, in the center of a mall in Campbell at "The Garret", they are open until 2PM. Why did no one ask what the operations are in Saratoga and Willow Glenn? There is nothing comparable between Jakes operations at "The Board Walk" on El Camino, "The Oasis" in Menlo Park, "The Garret" or the existing Pizza Bars in Saratoga, Sunnyvale and Willow Glenn that is in way comparable to their new desire to sell beer and wine on the porch of a restaurant that is less than 150 feet from family rooms and bedrooms on Division Street. 6. The Planning Commission simply did not use their responsibility to protect the needs of the neighborhood when they accepted un-substantiated, self-serving claims made by the interested commercial party. If you review the claims concerning community benefit you will find that they include a convenient place for square-dance groups to relax after their practice sessions. They also indicate that they would like to support local youth soccer and little league baseball programs. We would be very eager to have them contact us concerning such support stemming directly from their existing operation in The Pruneyard. We would especially like to see the marginal increase in contribution they would attribute to closing at midnight in lieu of 10PM. Do they expect you to believe that if you allow them to re - engineer the ambiance of our community, they will be sending you a community -service check substantially greater than if they would be required to abide by the rules of conduct that have always prevailed here? 7. No safeguards concerning the appearance of our neighborhood was required by the Planning Commission in the recommendation they made for approval of the Jake facility. Already we have seen the cutting down of three tall palm trees that have helped define our neighborhood for more than a century. It would only have taken one trip by one member of the Planning Commission to any of the existing Jake facilities to see that their 'norm' for being a good community member is the erection of as many neon beer signs per foot as can possibly be placed in windows facing the public rights of way. When we asked about architectural plans and signage, we were told that 'the regulations would be enforced.'. Who, then, approved the re -landscaping of the area in preparation for the new clientele? For each and every one of the above reasons, we trust that you will not approve the motion submitted by the Planning Commission. Page 1 of 1 »> Faten Mansour <designexquisite@yahoo.com> 12/7/2009 8:34 AM »> Good morning; I would love very much to attend the meeting tonight in regards to the Jakes Pizza Restaurant but I am caring for my very sick mother and I do not know if I will be able to attend. My mother owned a house close to Santana Row and the only reason that we moved to W. Parr is because it is a very quiet neighborhood and my mother needed a quiet place to live in while dealing with her illness. By giving Jakes Pizza Restaurant a permit to turn this peaceful neighborhood into a bar atmosphere will hurt us very much and hurt our peaceful community. We do not want to have drunk people on our streets and hear loud noises in the middle of the night when we should be resting from our hard days. I do not think that any of you would like to experience such a think in your neighborhood either. Please do not destroy our peace and our quiet living. This is unfair to us since we have the right to live in peace. We are the ones living here with our young children and elderly parents and not the owner of Jakes Pizza Restaurant when all they care about is expanding their bank account. Please do not give a permit to allow such a destruction to happen to our peaceful lives and please help us and my sick mother the chance to live in peace in our own homes without forcing us to deal with unwanted noise/drunk incidents in our neighborhood and small community. God bless Faten Mansour 674 W. Parr Campbell, CA 95008 DEC -� 2009 •\"!N c tii—o9-009 file://C:\Documents and Settings\mmoseley\Local Settings\Temp\XPgrpwise\4B 1 CEFFBT... 12/7/2009 ATTACHMENT 8 Page 1 of 1 »> Victoria Sanchez <vmsanchez7769@yahoo.com> 12/7/2009 9:45 AM »> Hi my name is Victoria Sanchez and I live at 1570 Capri Drive across from where Jake's will be. I wanted to attend the meeting tonight but I do work for Aldo's and am working tonight. My concern is the hours and I hope that all of you will take into consideration those of us that live around here. During the week Aldo's closes at 9pm and on the weekends we close at 10pm and I know that you all think we are open till 12 midnight but that is not true just because it's on his contract doesn't mean that we are here that late and even on a busy night we are all still out by l 1pm so I see no reason for this place to be open so late. This community has always been quite and we all like that about the area. my neighbors mat not say anything but they do feel the same. If Jake's is opened past llpm there will be problems down the road. we will start to get people drunk from other bars that want to eat or from other areas that know Jake's will be open late and Jake's will not be able to control their behavior which means more police activity and this is why Aldo's has never had problems because we focus on the food not drinks yes we have a full bar unlike Jake's but we control how much our customers have and don't let them get drunk. I have been to Garrets and have watched the employees behind the counter serving draft beer and believe me they don't care if the customer is tipsy or not they still serve them. I am all for this new pizza place but please consider the hours nothing in the area is open that late why change that now when things are great the way they are. I hope you know that Jake's will put Jacky Boys out of business which has been a local pizza place for all of us for years. This comment about the people at the hospital wanting a place to eat is a joke. when you have been working 2 day shifts all you want to do is sleep not eat! I also saw a sign posted at Garrets by the entrance that you have to be 21 after a certain time so this is not just for families all night which is whats being told to everyone! please make sure my voice is heard through my letter. I hope you all make the right choice on the hours otherwise the police will be getting a lot of phone calls!! Thank you for your time. Victoria Sanchez 1570 Capri Drive Campbell Ca 95008 Bartender (Aldo's) DEC 7 2009 '`''YN GATr': _ ^ CEO 7 file://C:\Documents and Settings\mmoseley\Local Settings\Temp\XPgrpwise\4B 1 CF017T... 12/7/2009 ATTACHMENT 9