Draft Mins 04.26.17
110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● 408-354-6832
www.losgatosca.gov
TOWN OF LOS GATOS
PLANNING COMMISSION
REPORT
MEETING DATE: 05/10/2017 ITEM NO: 1
DRAFT
MINUTES OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING
APRIL 26, 2017
The Planning Commission of the Town of Los Gatos conducted a Regular Meeting on
Wednesday, April 26, 2017, at 7:00 p.m.
MEETING CALLED TO ORDER AT 7:00 P.M.
ROLL CALL
Present: Chair Tom O'Donnell, Vice Chair D. Michael Kane, Commissioner Mary Badame,
Commissioner Kendra Burch, Commissioner Melanie Hanssen, Commissioner Matthew Hudes,
and Commissioner Kathryn Janoff.
Absent: None
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Vice Chair Kane led the Pledge of Allegiance. The audience was invited to participate.
VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS
Angelia Doerner
- Announced that the Town Council gave final approval to repair the Almond Grove’s streets,
sidewalks, and curbs. The project will be finished within the next three years with a final
price of significantly less than originally estimated.
SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS/COMMISSION MATTERS
None.
CONSENT ITEMS (TO BE ACTED UPON BY A SINGLE MOTION)
1. Approval of Minutes – April 12, 2017
Susan Landry
- She is a landscape architect who represents the owners of the home next to 14333
Mulberry Lane. They requested to pull the minutes item from the agenda to thank
Commissioner Burch for her additions to the staff recommendations regarding the eight
trees and working with the homeowner; and also because they have received emails
expressing concerns from the owner and staff after the minutes were published.
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MOTION: Motion by Commissioner Badame to approve adoption of the Consent
Calendar. Seconded by Commissioner Hanssen.
Commissioners discussed the matter.
VOTE: Motion passed unanimously
PUBLIC HEARINGS
2. 15860, 15880, and 15894 Winchester Boulevard
Architecture and Site Application S-16-023
Subdivision Application M-16-002
Negative Declaration ND-16-003
APNs 529-11-013, -038, -039, and -040
Property Owner: South Beach Partners LLC/Cumulus Capital Holdings LLC
Applicant: Valley Oak Partners – Doug Rich
Project Planner: Jocelyn Puga
Requesting approval to demolish three existing single-family residences, remove a
secondary unit, remove large protected trees, and merge four lots for the purposes of
constructing a new two-story office building with below grade and at grade parking. No
significant environmental impacts have been identified as a result of this project and a
Mitigated Negative Declaration is recommended. Continued from 3/22/2017.
Jocelyn Puga, Associate Planner, presented the staff report.
Opened Public Comment.
Doug Rich
- After the last public hearing they held two neighborhood meetings and made changes as a
result of feedback from those meetings, as well as feedback from the Planning Commission.
They have redesigned the roof entirely to reduce the height, reduced the southern side
from two stories to one-story, eliminated tall architectural features, removed the fan from
the southern property line, redesigned materials and colors, and pushed the building back
six feet away from Winchester.
Gary Black
- He is the traffic engineer. At the last hearing the Planning Commission asked them to look
at preventing left turns from the driveway onto Winchester, and also the possibility of a
traffic signal on Shelburne. They do not recommend the left turn restriction, because it
would lead to cars making U-turns when they are prevented from making left turns, nor do
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they recommend the signal at Shelburne, because that location does not meet the criteria
for a signal.
Karen Vincent
- She is an owner/occupant at the University Oaks condominiums and takes a left-hand turn
onto Winchester one to three times a day, but current traffic makes this unsafe at any time
of day due to limited visibility; school children on bikes and skateboards add to the safety
issue. The trees to be preserved on the site are in danger due to root system damage and
disturbances of soil from construction and new pavement placed over the root systems,
and would lead to the trees’ deaths up to five years after damage occurs.
Bryan Mekechuk
- The applicant met with the neighbors twice but has not revised their plans in any
substantive manner. He has not received a response to his January 30th letter asking for
specific cross sections. Most importantly, he is disappointed that after the Planning
Commission worked diligently to protect the hillsides the applicant will realize economic
rents without any of the corresponding costs by taking the Los Gatos hillside views from
residents and visitors and giving them to their tenants.
Georgina Van Horn
- She is one of two people closest to the project. The building’s massiveness would
overwhelm the entire neighborhood. Traffic safety is also an issue with cars speeding from
Blossom Hill Road, walkers, and cyclists. The bigger the building, the more cars. If there is
inadequate parking, that would affect the area.
Andrew Spyker
- He is concerned about the building’s size and proposes a single-story. He also supports
eliminating the Winchester entrance. The head-in parking spaces should be removed or
reconfigured in a parallel parking configuration. Cars at grade would shine their lights into
his windows, and the closeness of the building causes privacy concerns. It is not guaranteed
that the amount of parking would be sufficient for all tenant use.
John Eichinger
- The building’s south-facing window will act as a mirror during the day and shine into
neighbors’ windows. The view of the mountains he sees when driving up Winchester would
be gone for the people of Los Gatos, but rented or sold to the tenants of that building.
Harvey Shand
- He lives just off Dave’s Avenue. He has seen a tremendous decline in the quality of life in
this area, and one of the main culprits is traffic. This project would generate extra traffic on
a main thoroughfare, which does no good for Los Gatos’ quality of life. The other big issue
is parking. There is no parking on Winchester, and the project would only provide two-
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thirds of the required parking. There is not enough parking even now, and he has people
parking in front of his driveway so he cannot get out because of the school and daycare
center.
Genaro Diaz
- He is a field representative with the Northern California Carpenter’s Regional Council and
asked the applicant and owner if they have a responsible general contractor that pays the
correct area standard wage and benefits and apprentice programs for young people to
build a career, because many projects in Silicon Valley do not. They would like to build a
relationship with the developer to have this implemented if the project moves forward.
Bryan Carr
- His home is the closest single-family home to the proposed project. He appreciated the
applicant’s neighborhood outreach, however he is also disappointed that nothing major
has been reduced on the building, because it is massive and simply too large for the
neighborhood. There also isn’t ample parking.
John McLaren
- He agreed with the comments of the other neighbors. He believes the size and footprint of
the development is out of character with the area, is too large, and sets a poor precedent
for future development. Issues around the footprint are compatibility, view impact, traffic,
and parking. Traffic is a huge issue in the area and is already intolerable. In the evening
commute, when traffic is heading southbound on Winchester, oftentimes traffic is at a
standstill with nowhere to pull into traffic onto Winchester; this needs to be carefully
considered.
Doug Rich
- They did not assume any car trip reductions in the traffic study due to bus trips, so the
reduction in the number of buses would not impact the traffic study. He agrees the 10-foot
zone in between the buildings needs to be kept clean, and a property management
company would be in charge of that. They understand that privacy is an issue that needs to
be addressed and suggested they might install Clerestory windows up above as a
compromise. A single-story configuration is not possible because the maximum they could
build would be a massive reduction that would be down to 25 percent of the allowed
intensity versus zoning. They have reduced the height of the building to leave view
corridors open, although trees obscure much of the view.
Closed Public Comment.
Commissioners discussed the matter.
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MOTION: Motion by Commissioner Burch to deny an Architecture and Site
Application and a Subdivision Application for 15860, 15880, and 15894
Winchester Boulevard. Seconded by Commissioner Badame.
VOTE: Motion passed unanimously.
3. 681 Blossom Hill Road, Suite 100
Conditional Use Permit Application U-17-001
APN 529-65-028
Property Owner: Linda Lester Trust
Applicant: Ling Hullon
Project Planner: Levi Hill
Requesting approval for a modification of an existing Conditional Use Permit (Firenza
Pizza) to allow beer and wine service on property zoned CH:PD.
Levi Hill, Associate Planner, presented the staff report.
Opened Public Comment.
Dmitry Kras
- He is the general manager of Firenza Pizza. They have been in business for six months.
There would be no construction necessary; they only wish to add bottled beer and wine by
the glass. Patrons of this restaurant have heavily demanded alcohol. Their competition
serves beer and wine.
Closed Public Comment.
Commissioners discussed the matter.
MOTION: Motion by Commissioner Badame to forward a recommendation of
approval to Town Council for a Conditional Use Permit for 681 Blossom
Hill Road. Seconded by Commissioner Burch.
Commissioners discussed the matter.
VOTE: Motion passed unanimously.
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OTHER BUSINESS
4. Review the draft proposed FY2017/18 to FY2021/22 Capital Improvement Program
(CIP)
Lisa Petersen, Town Engineer, presented the staff report/
Commissioners discussed the matter.
MOTION: Motion by Commissioner Badame to forward a recommendation of
approval to Town Council for the FY2017/18 to FY2021/22 draft proposed
Capital Improvement Program (CIP). Seconded by Commissioner Hudes.
VOTE: Motion passed unanimously.
5. Report from the Director of Community Development
Joel Paulson, Director of Community Development
• Town Council met 4/18/17; approved beer and wine service for the Los Gatos Roasting
Company.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 10:21 p.m.
TOWN OF LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION
April 26, 2017
APPROVED AS TO FORM: Prepared by
_____________________________ _____________________________
Joel Paulson /s/ Vicki Blandin
Community Development Director