Staff Report
PREPARED BY : JOEL PAULSON
Community Development Director
Reviewed by: Town Manager, Assistant Town Manager, Town Attorney, and Finance Director
110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● 40 8 -354 -68 32
www.losgatosca.gov
TOWN OF LOS GATOS
COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
MEETING DATE: 0 8 /15 /2018
ITEM NO: 1
D ATE : AUGUST 10 , 2018
TO : MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL
FROM: LAUREL PREVETTI, TOWN MANAGER
SUBJECT: CONSIDER POTENTIAL AMENDMENTS TO THE NORTH 40 SPECIFIC PLAN .
APN 424 -07 -009, 010, 024 THROUGH 027, 031 THROUGH 037, 052
THROUGH 054, 060, 063 THROUGH 065, 070, 081 THROUGH 086, 090, 094
THROUGH 096, 099, 100, 102 THROUGH 112, 424 -06 -115, 116, AND 129.
PROPERTY OWNERS: YUKI FARMS, ETPH LP, GROSVENOR USA LIMITED,
SUMMERHILL N40 LLC, DODSON, HIRSCHMAN, MATTES, VENTURA
TRUSTEE, MOISENCO, LOS GATOS MEDICAL OFFICE CENTER LLC, LOS
GATOS GATEWAY LLC, MBK ENTERPRISE, CONNELL, GIN, JOHN & ALLISON
DIEP LLC, BERNAL, LG BOULEVARD HOLDINGS LLC, POLARIS NAVIGATION,
EW REAL ESTATE LLC, LAZAAR ENTE RPRISES LLC, KOTHARY, AND
SWENSON TRUSTEE. APPLICANT: TOWN OF LOS GATOS
RECOMMENDATION :
Consider potential amendments to the North 40 Specific Plan .
BACKGROUND :
On August 7 , 2018, the Town Council held a continued public hearing to consider amendments
to the North 40 Specific Plan, received public testimony, and continued the matter to the
August 15 , 2018 Town Council meeting with direction to staff to:
• Provide information regarding equity of distribution of the development capacit y ; and
• Provide information regarding residential design controls to meet affordability targets .
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DISCUSSION :
The requested information from the June 5, 2018 meeting is outlined below and is followed by
staf f responses.
• Provide information regarding equity of distribution of the development capacity .
After taking into consideration the proposed square footage provided by Grosvenor
Americas , there will be over 200,000 square feet of capacity remaining for use by other
property owners in the N orth 40 Specific Plan area. Additionally, t here will also be a
minimal amount of residential units remaining .
If the Town Council is interested in a mechanism to distribute the development capacity
then one option would be to include the following ame ndment to the Specific Plan:
Proposed development applications shall not exceed 85 percent of the remaining
commercial square footage or number of residential units.
• Provide information regarding residential design controls to meet affordability
targets .
The only control to meet affordability levels in the Specific Plan is the requirement that
a minimum of 20 percent of residential units must be Below Market Price (BMP) units.
The Town’s BMP Guidelines require for sale BMP units to be equally split bet ween the
M oderate and L ow affordability categories. If an applicant applies for a density bonus
the n the affordability categories are typically L ow, V ery L ow, and/or E xtremely L ow.
For example, the Phase 1 application included 49 V ery L ow I ncome senior u nits and one
M oderate I ncome manager unit. As Town staff work with the developer on the required
BMP agreement for Phase 1, the distribution of the 49 Very Low Income units is 39 Very
Low Income units and 10 Extremely Low -Income u nits. The distribution o f the
Extremely Low and Very Low -Income u nits may change based upon the tax credit
obtained by the developer.
For reference, the Town’s certified Housing Element identified the potential income
distribution for the entire North 40 Specific Plan as 156 Ver y Low Income, 84 Low
Income, and 30 Moderate Income units.
The Town Council might consider unit size limitations as was discussed at the August 7,
2018 Council meeting; and while size may affect the price of the units, there is no
guarantee that size alon e will deliver affordable housing units.
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DISCUSSION (Continued):
If the Town Council is interested in negotiating the affordability level for BMP units the
appropriate mechanism to have these discussions would be in a Development
Agreement negotiation process. The Town Council may wish to consider an amendment
to the Specific Plan that acknowledges Development Agreements as a potential
implementation mechanism for the Specific Plan.
CONCLUSION :
Staff look s forward to the Council’s discussion and specific direction for potential amendments
that are agreed upon by the majority of the Town Council. Staff would then bring forward a
resolution with all of the proposed amendments for Council consideration at a subsequent
regular Town Council meeting.
Public Comments received between 11:01 a.m., Monday , August 7, 2018 to 11:00 a.m., Friday ,
August 10, 2018 can be found in Attachment 42.
Attachment s previously received with October 3, 2017 Study Session Report :
1. Town Council Suggestions for Potential Amendments to the adopted North 40 Specific Plan
2. December 15 , 2016 Planning Commissi on Staff Report (with Exhibits 1 -8 )
3. December 1 5 , 2016 Planning Commission Addendum Report (with Exhibit 9 )
4. December 15 , 2016 Planning Commission Desk Item Report (with Exhibit 10 )
5. December 15 , 2016 Planning Commission Verbatim Minutes (131 pages)
6. January 26, 2017 Planning Commis sion Staff Report (with Exhibit 11 )
7. January 2 6 , 2017 Planning Commis sion Addendum Report (with Exhibit 12 )
8. January 26, 2017 Planning Commis sion Desk Item Report (with Exhibit 13 )
9. January 26, 2017 Planning Commission Verbatim Minutes (115 pages)
10. Public Comments received 11:01 a.m. Wednesday, May 10, 2017 to 11:00 a.m., Thursday,
September 28 , 2017
11. P otential amendments based on GPC and PC discuss ions (including Exhibit A )
A ttachments previously received with October 3, 2017 Desk Item Report :
12. Public Comments received 11:01 a.m. Thursday, September 28, 2017 to 11:00 a.m.,
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Attachments previously received with November 14, 2017 Special Meeting Report :
13. North 40 Hotel Site Assessment
14. Public Comments received 11:01 a.m. T uesday , October 3 , 2017 to 11:00 a.m., Friday,
November 10 , 2017
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Attachments previously received with the January 16, 2018 Staff Report :
15. Required Findings
16 . Resolution (including Exhibit A)
17 . North 40 Traffic Scenarios
18. November 14, 2017 Town Council Meeting Minutes
19. Public Comments received 11:01 a.m., Friday, November 10 , 2017 to 11:00 a.m., Thursday,
January 10, 2018
Attachments previously received with the Addendum Report :
20. Public Comment s received 11:01 a.m., Thursday, January 11, 2018 to 11:00 a.m., Friday,
January 12, 2018
Attachments previously received with the Desk Item Report :
21. Public Comment s received 11:01 a.m., Friday, January 12, 2018 to 11:00 a.m., Tuesda y
January 16, 2018
Attachments previously received with t he February 6, 2018 Staff Report :
2 2 . Public Comment s received 11:01 a.m., Tuesday, January 16, 2018 to 11:00 a.m., Thursday
February 1, 2018
Attachments previously received with the Addendum Report :
23. Public Comments received 11:01 a.m., Thursday, February 1, 2018 to 11:00 a.m., Monday,
February 5, 2018
Attachments previously received with the February 6, 2018 Desk Item Report :
24. Public Comments received 11:01 a.m., Monday, February 5, 2018 to 11:00 a.m., Tuesday,
February 6, 2018
Attachments previously received with the March 6, 2018 Desk Item Report :
25. Required Findings (Previously received as Attachment 15 with the January 16, 2018 Staff
Report)
26. Resolution with Exhib it A (Previously received as Attachment 16 with the January 16, 2018
Staff Report)
Attachments previously received with the June 5, 2018 Staff Report :
27. Revised Resolution (including r evised Exhibit A )
28. City of Los Altos - Exceptions for Public Benefit Excerpt (one page)
29 . City of Mountain View - San Antonio Precise Plan Excerpt (seven pages)
30 . City of Mountain View - North Bayshore Precise Plan Excerpt (three pages)
31 . City of Mountain View - El Camino Real Precise Plan Excerpt (four pages)
32 . City of Mountain View - Resolution for Public Benefits Minimum Value for El Camino Precise
Plan (two pages)
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33 . Culver City - Resolution Establishing the Community Benefit Incentive Program (seven
pages)
34 . City of Glendale - Incentives and Bonuses Chapter of Downtown Specific Plan (six pages)
35. Greenbelt Alliance – Public Benefit Bonus Policy Brief (15 pages)
36 . Public Comments received between 11:01 a.m., T uesday , February 6, 2018 to 11:00 a.m.
Thursday , May 31, 2018
Attachments previously rece ived with the August 7, 2018 Staff Report :
37. Letter from Grosvenor Americas regarding requested Specific Plan amendments with the
conceptual site plan , received July 31, 2018 (17 pages)
38. W hite paper prepared by the Institute for Local Self Government entitled Development
Agreement Manual
Attachments previously received with the August 6, 2018 Addendum Report :
3 9 . Slides from Grosvenor Americas for a presentation to Los Gatos Democracy Tent on August
2, 2018 (17 pages)
40 . Public Comments received between 11:01 a.m., T hursday , August 2 , 2018 to 11:00 a.m.,
Monday , August 6, 2018
Attachments previously received with the August 7, 2018 Desk Item Report :
41. Public Comments received between 11:01 a.m., Monday , August 6, 2018 to 11:00 a.m.,
Tuesday , August 7, 2018
Attachments received with this Staff Report :
42. Public Comments received between 11:01 a.m., Monday , August 7, 2018 to 11:00 a.m.,
Friday , August 10, 2018