Draft Mins 05.10.17
110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● 408-354-6832
www.losgatosca.gov
TOWN OF LOS GATOS
PLANNING COMMISSION
REPORT
MEETING DATE: 05/24/2017 ITEM NO: 1
DRAFT
MINUTES OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING
MAY 10, 2017
The Planning Commission of the Town of Los Gatos conducted a Regular Meeting on
Wednesday, May 10, 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
Commissioner Burch led the Pledge of Allegiance. The audience was invited to participate.
SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS/COMMISSION MATTERS
None.
VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS
Angelia Doerner
- The citizens of Los Gatos count on the Planning Commission to ensure prior mistakes in
development are not made again in the future, because there are too many projects going
on that will severely impact the beauty and calm that the Town presents.
CONSENT ITEMS (TO BE ACTED UPON BY A SINGLE MOTION)
1. Approval of Minutes – April 26, 2017
MOTION: Motion by Commissioner Badame to approve adoption of the Consent
Calendar. Seconded by Commissioner Burch.
VOTE: Motion passed unanimously
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PUBLIC HEARINGS
Commissioner Badame indicated that she would recuse herself from participating in
the public hearing regarding 401 to 409 Alberto Way, as the subject property is
located within 500 feet of her residence.
2. 401 to 409 Alberto Way
Architecture and Site Application S-15-056
Conditional Use Permit Application U-15-009
Environmental Impact Report EIR-16-001
APN 529-23-018
Property Owner: CWA Realty
Applicant: Shane Arters, LP Acquisitions, LLC
Project Planner: Jennifer Armer
Requesting approval to demolish three existing office buildings and construct a new
two-story office building with underground parking on property zoned CH. It has been
determined that this matter may have a significant impact on the environment and an
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) has been prepared as required by the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Continued from 4/12/2017.
Jennifer Armer, Associate Planner, presented the staff report.
Opened Public Comment.
Dan Kirby
- Instead of two buildings they have created one building and pushed the mass and size of it
as far back to the rear most setback lines as possible, allowing them to create more open
space in front of the building, increasing the surface parking, reducing the size of the
garage, and reducing the square footage and mass of the building.
Alicia Guerra
- Although there is a limited amount of square footage reduction, it is what is considered the
feasible alternative given the site constraints. The revised project meets the Town’s rules,
there are no requested changes or General Plan amendment, and it is in keeping with the
Town’s Commercial Design Guidelines, which encourages underground parking. The revised
project reduces the size of the project and results in less than significant environmental
impacts.
Sherry Burke
- She lives across from the proposed development and asks the Planning Commission to
deny the current design due to the increased traffic it would bring to the neighborhood and
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surrounding areas. Los Gatos needs to fix its traffic problems before allowing development
that brings in even more.
Bob Burke
- The traffic studies used by the ITE for traffic projection are from between the 1960s and
the 2000s, with the averages used being well below the mean for the traffic.
Cathy Cathey
- She asks where the 50-100 construction workers would park when there is limited parking
on Alberto Way? The project contains no location for easy delivery access and would
necessitate trucks parking on the street and blocking traffic. The location for garbage is at
the underground parking location, so the garage truck would block the entrance. If the
offices use a bus for employees there will be no where for it to park.
Thomas Dunn
- Living on Alberto Way they enjoy a small town feel, a quiet neighborhood, and views of the
Santa Cruz Mountains. Many residents have home offices, making it difficult to work during
two years of construction. The lifestyle they enjoy would be gone if this development goes
through with buildings that are too large for the neighborhood, and would create
overcrowding in the neighborhood with its 340 employees. The development should keep
to the existing building footprint.
Harold Vitale
- He lives at the Los Gatos Commons and is concerned for pedestrian safety from speeding
cars on Alberto Way and Los Gatos Boulevard and Los Gatos-Saratoga Road. Increased auto
traffic from the development will worsen this hazard. He urges the Planning Commission to
not approve such a huge building.
Loretta Fowler
- She bought her property so she could be in a quiet neighborhood, but the project’s story
poles shocked her. The proposed project is too large for Alberto Way and the
neighborhood and would loom over neighboring homes and businesses. She endorses Larry
Cannon’s suggestion that multiple structures with small-scale modules and details would
blend better with the neighborhood.
Sergey Melnik
- He opposes the current project proposal, because it would increase the current jobs to
housing ratio, violating the ratio goal of 1.5 set in the 2020 General Plan Housing Element.
The proposed site alone adds 300-600 jobs and would be a significant impact on local
schools and housing.
Paulette Sato
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- Traffic congestion relief, emergency vehicle access, and pedestrian and cyclist safety need
to be considered before the proposed project begins construction. Highway 9/Los Gatos-
Saratoga Road should be widened in both directions to accommodate the traffic this
development would generate. There should also be additional lanes to serve as an off-ramp
to Route 17 in both directions.
Julie Thorne
- The 2020 General Plan says to allow development only with adequate physical
infrastructure, but Los Gatos lacks the road infrastructure to support both existing and
additional traffic on Highway 9. Roads need to be widened before development. The
proposed project generates far more public cost in infrastructure than its benefit to the
community.
Melanie Kemp
- She has been involved in many real estate transactions at the Bella Vista Village at the end
of Alberto Way, and has lived there herself many years. Her neighbors and perspective
buyers are concerned with both the size and design of this development. Bella Vista Village
has dealt with water runoff for years coming down from the neighboring hillside and
eventually ending up on Alberto Way. There is flooding on Alberto Way whenever there is
rainfall, which would be an extra burden on the Alberto Way drainage system.
Lewis Darrow
- The project is not consistent with blending into the existing neighborhood. It is out of scale
with surrounding buildings, because the revised mass was not reduced enough. The
potential building could decrease the property values of neighbors. It would add close to
400 additional vehicles per day to a one-street entry that empties into an already
congested Los Gatos-Saratoga Road intersection.
Maura Burns
- She lives at the Los Gatos Commons, one of only a few options in the area that provides
safety, community, and support to senior citizens. How the underground garage would
affect neighboring properties has not been addressed, which is required by the General
Plan. Civil engineer and hydrologist Dr. Peter Geissler has determined that the Commons
residents face serious risks to their properties in the form of breaking pipes and cracking
slabs if the underground garage is built.
Jennifer Leibthal
- The proposed building does not follow the intent of the Town’s design guidelines and
General Plan with respect to aesthetics. The scale is not consistent with the small scale of
the Town, and it does not enhance the character and unique identity of existing
commercial and residential neighborhoods, it does not preserve views, and would impact
the property values of neighbors.
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Marilyn Basham
- She lives at the Los Gatos Commons, which is 95 percent seniors, and is at the end of a
dead end street. If this commercial development is approved the only way out for them is
through a construction zone, competing with over 200 truck trips a day. The Commons
residents fear physical and social isolation during the 18-month construction period and
continued traffic gridlock. The developers have other options and can build elsewhere, but
for these seniors, it is their home.
Dr. Peter Geissler
- He is the principle of Geissler Engineering and an expert in hydrology, liquefaction, and soil
subsidence in building foundations. He is concerned with the methodology used with the
EIR, with the experts having never visited the site, and ENGEO Engineering relying on third-
party reports that there is no liquefaction potential in the soils underlying the proposed
building. He holds the opposite opinion and believes that the alluvial deposits under Los
Gatos Creek are quite susceptible to liquefaction. He does not agree with ENGEO’s
prediction that the building would settle differentially one side from another by
approximately a half an inch. He believes in the event of an earthquake, if the building
cracks due to liquefaction and it is indeed a submerged structure, anyone in the garage
could potentially drown.
Carol Rosenberg
- She lives at the Los Gatos Commons and loves it because it is quiet and safe. With the
impending proposed project she wonders if she can stand the stress of the increased
traffic, noise, and pollution during three years of construction. The proposed project would
not minimize, but would exacerbate, the impact on the existing residential neighborhoods.
John Mittelstet
- He lives at the Los Gatos Commons. The developer has not attempted to reduce the 83,000
square foot monolith, as requested by the Planning Commission on August 24th. The
project’s location is directly above both a recognized liquefaction hazard zone and
concealed fault rupture hazard zone. The neighbors should not be subjected to safety and
financial risks if earthquake induced liquefaction results in cracked foundations and broken
pipes beneath their units.
Victoriya Rufanova
- She owns the site closest to the proposed construction and it is likely her property would
suffer slab cracks and broken pipes from liquefaction under the two-story garage. She also
has privacy concerns with the project’s second story windows, which would be looking
directly into her property. She is also concerned that the trees would be removed, reducing
shade and privacy.
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Jean Farren Jones
- She lives in the Los Gatos Commons and enjoys the Town’s amenities and small town
character. She is concerned the proposed project would affect the quality of life for her and
her neighbors. As the retired owner of an excavating company she is aware of the
disturbance that the trucking and excavating equipment and demolition equipment can
cause with dust, pollution, and noise.
Marietta Riney
- She lives in the Los Gatos Commons. The 2020 General Plan Vision Statement has not been
applied to the proposed project, because it does not fit into the fabric of the community
and enhance the quality of life of the seniors at the Commons.
George Dailey
- He lives in the Los Gatos Commons and asks the Planning Commission to deny the
proposed application. The applicant claims that demolishing existing buildings, hauling
away the remains, digging an underground garage, and constructing a new structure would
not cause adverse disruption to his tiny neighborhood, but he believes it would be a total
disaster that would create great chaos for several years.
Kalane McDonald
- She moved from San Francisco six months ago to get away from congestion, traffic, noise,
construction, et cetera. The Town’s General Plan says to “restrict new development and
redevelopment based on the levels of acceptable risk,” and, “to protect as well the existing
residences in the vicinity from identified hazards.” When she bought her property she had
to sign a disclosure report acknowledging liquefaction.
Suzanne Noble
- She lives at the Los Gatos Commons. She read a letter from the attorney representing
residents of the Commons, which says that the May 9th Buchalter Nemer letter misstates
and misapplies the law concerning the adequacy of an EIR. The Supreme Court has
confirmed that the adequacy of the EIR is an issue of law, decided de novo, and is not the
substantial evidence standard claimed by Buchalter. Buchalter also contends that evidence
put forward by the Los Gatos community amounts to unsubstantiated opinion, again
misstating and misapplying the law concerning what constitutes substantial evidence.
Claire Ferguson
- She lives at the Los Gatos Commons and is concerned about the environmental impact of
the proposed project construction and impacts to the health of Alberto Way residents, half
of which are seniors. The EIR submitted for this project is in direct conflict with the
directive in the General Plan that states that senior populations are more susceptible than
the general population to the effects of air pollution. The addition of 340 vehicles plus
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diesel trucks used during construction would exacerbate an already high level of engine
emission compounds.
Brad Martin
- He lives next to the proposed project and believes it would be too large for the area, added
to the eventual development of two currently under-developed properties nearby; it would
be a nightmare for the intersection. The proposed redwood trees that would be planted
next to his property would block the light and generate debris that would go on his
property.
Angelia Doerner
- She suggests a construction period escrow account, plus a settlement period, where funds
of an amount to help mitigate these neighboring property issues might be used before the
funds are released to the developer. She believes the concerns pointed out by Dr. Geissler
are significant enough to require modifications to the EIR.
Alicia Guerra
- The town has already required conditions that there be no construction vehicle parking on
the street, as well as a requirement for a construction management plan. Parking would be
provided onsite for any tenant use. Construction vehicle related traffic staging would occur
onsite as well. Another condition speaks to the requirement to provide improved
pedestrian access, including signage and lighting, with respect to the Commons and Alberto
Way.
Randy Lamb
- The applicant’s consultants are some of the finest and most sought after consultants in the
State of California; the Town uses many of them.
Closed Public Comment.
Commissioners discussed the matter.
MOTION: Motion by Commissioner Burch to deny the Architecture and Site
Application and Conditional Use Permit for 401 to 409 Alberto Way.
Seconded by Commissioner Hanssen.
Commissioners discussed the matter.
VOTE: Motion passed unanimously.
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OTHER BUSINESS
3. Report from the Director of Community Development
Joel Paulson, Director of Community Development
• None.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 11:10 p.m.
TOWN OF LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION
May 10, 2017
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
_____________________________
Joel Paulson
Community Development Director
Prepared by
_____________________________
/s/ Vicki Blandin