06 Attachment 5 - August 26, 2020 Planning Commission Verbatim MinutesLOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 8/26/2020
Item #2, Town Code Amendment - Outdoor Lighting
1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
A P P E A R A N C E S:
Los Gatos Planning
Commissioners:
Melanie Hanssen, Chair
Kathryn Janoff, Vice Chair
Mary Badame
Jeffrey Barnett
Kendra Burch
Matthew Hudes
Reza Tavana
Town Manager: Laurel Prevetti
Community Development
Director:
Joel Paulson
Town Attorney: Robert Schultz
Transcribed by: Vicki L. Blandin
(619) 541-3405
ATTACHMENT 5
LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 8/26/2020
Item #2, Town Code Amendment - Outdoor Lighting
2
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
P R O C E E D I N G S:
CHAIR HANSSEN: We will now move on to the
Public Hearings portion of the agenda and we will consider
Agenda Item 2, which is forwarding a recommendation to the
Town Council for approval of the amendments to Chapter 29,
which are zoning regulations of the Town Council, regarding
outdoor lighting, and there are also modifications to the
Residential Design Guidelines for Outdoor Lighting as well.
The location is Town-wide, the Town Code
Amendment Application is A-20-005, and the Applicant is
Town of Los Gatos.
I understand that Ms. Armer will be giving the
Staff Report this evening.
JENNIFER ARMER: Yes, good evening. Jennifer
Armer, Senior Planner.
The item before you this evening is a combination
of changes to the code and to the Residential Design
Guidelines in regard to outdoor lighting; these are based
on recommendations from the Town Council Policy Committee.
They met several times near the end of last year and then
another two times this year to consider what types of
changes might bring the code more in alignment with the
LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 8/26/2020
Item #2, Town Code Amendment - Outdoor Lighting
3
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Residential Design Guidelines so that there is consistency
as well as more appropriate wording to allow things like
shoestring lighting, previously prohibited, which they felt
was no longer applicable in town.
The Staff Report includes descriptions of changes
to the Zoning Code and changes to the Residential Design
Guidelines that are recommended based on the recommendation
from Town Council Policy Committee. Staff recommends that
the Planning Commission review the information provided in
the Staff Report and forward a recommendation to Town
Council for approval.
CHAIR HANSSEN: Thank you very much, Ms. Armer.
Do any of the Commissioners have questions for Ms. Armer or
Staff? I don't see any.
I did have one question for Staff and that is
there wasn't any mention of any changes to the commercial
lighting, so was this driven by a specific need to address
residential lighting guidelines?
JENNIFER ARMER: My memory of the discussion was
that by modifying this code that controls outdoor lighting—
the section of the code that's being modified because that
has now specifically targeted residential—it no longer
applies to commercial buildings and so it leaves them the
LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 8/26/2020
Item #2, Town Code Amendment - Outdoor Lighting
4
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
ability to do things like the shoestring lighting that was
previously prohibited.
CHAIR HANSSEN: So, basically it was driven by
the specific issues that were at hand and to fix those.
Okay. If no other Commissioners have any questions we would
now invite comments from the members of the public, and if
you are called to speak you may choose to state your name
and your address and you may choose to speak anonymously,
and you will have three minutes to make your comments.
We did have one public comment that was included
in our Staff Report but is there anyone that wanted to
speak from the public on this item tonight?
JOEL PAULSON: Thank you, Chair. If anyone would
like to speak on this item please use the Raised Hand
feature on Zoom. Chair, I am not seeing any raised hands.
CHAIR HANSSEN: All right, so then we will close
the public portion of the hearing and ask if any
Commissioners have questions of Staff, wish to comment on
the application, or introduce a motion for consideration by
the Commission? Commissioner Hudes and Commissioner Burch.
Commissioner Hudes first.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: Just a quick question
conveying the question that was put forward in the
correspondence by Lee Fagot. There is a suggestion that
LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 8/26/2020
Item #2, Town Code Amendment - Outdoor Lighting
5
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
perhaps we measure the light rather than try to regulate
the type of light, so for instance I don't know if high-
intensity light is a well-defined term but he had actually
suggested doing what we do with sound nuisance or noise
nuisance, which is to measure the noise. Is that even a
possibility here or is that something that's been thought
of?
JENNIFER ARMER: At this point the wording that
was recommended states that, "should not be producing glare
or seen by nearby homes," and that is based on the text
that we have had in the Residential Design Guidelines in
the code in the past, and so rather than targeting a
particular number it would be more about the effect of the
light and whether it goes onto a neighboring property.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: Okay, thank you.
CHAIR HANSSEN: Let's see, I think Commissioner
Burch had a question or a comment.
COMMISSIONER BURCH: So, obviously the California
Building Code items I'm sure are always taken into account
before these so we don't typically put things like required
foot candles, but there was one item that I wondered if we
had ever thought about putting this in, which is the part
of the code that talks about at commercial properties the
lighting being reduced 50-percent at close of business or
LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 8/26/2020
Item #2, Town Code Amendment - Outdoor Lighting
6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
10:00p.m. I know that we've had other residents come before
us, particularly if we're looking at an upgrade with a
space that has like a large parking lot and lighting, that
have talked about the fact that the lights are very bright
even with the shields, as usually those are pretty bright
LED lights. Is that something that we could consider
putting in?
JENNIFER ARMER: It's not a topic that was
discussed by Policy Committee but I'd let Community
Development Director Paulson add if he has anything to add
to that.
JOEL PAULSON: Commissioner Burch, so as Ms.
Armer said that's not something that we looked at. My
initial thoughts are that is something we could look at
moving forward. Obviously that would take some outreach to
the business community, and I would envision that some of
them may have some concerns related to security depending
on the type of circumstance, the type of business, but if
that's something that you would like Staff to look at then
that could be part of the recommendation from Planning
Commission to Council, and then that would require further
work.
COMMISSIONER BURCH: May I follow up, Madam
Chair?
LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 8/26/2020
Item #2, Town Code Amendment - Outdoor Lighting
7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
CHAIR HANSSEN: Yes.
COMMISSIONER BURCH: Well, I think my question
was more of since it's already actually in the Building
Code is it something that if somebody was having a
particular problem with a particular spot that that would
be enough maybe to contact the Town and Code Compliance? It
wasn't that we had to add in a bunch of added items, it was
that is just something I remember hearing a few times and
just wondering if there's a way to address it without
creating more work for you guys?
JOEL PAULSON: I would say that generally it
would be a code compliance issue that we would get and so
we would look to address that. For the newer buildings I'm
not sure when that requirement went into Building Code;
obviously they change it every three years. So, ultimately
we probably have a lot of existing facilities that are far
older than that that may not have to comply or may not have
the infrastructure to comply with that, but we would look
at that on a case-by-case basis through our Code Compliance
Program.
COMMISSIONER BURCH: Thank you.
CHAIR HANSSEN: Let's see, Commissioner Barnett.
COMMISSIONER BARNETT: Yes, if I'm reading this
right, new language proposed by the Policy Committee would
LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 8/26/2020
Item #2, Town Code Amendment - Outdoor Lighting
8
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
make decorative lighting preferred over security lighting
fixtures and I'm wondering where that came from, seeing
that security is generally primary?
JENNIFER ARMER: Similar language to that has
actually been in the regulations or at least the
guidelines, the idea being that if there is going to be
lighting on residences it could be something that is for
the purpose of security but that it should be decorative in
nature as part of the Residential Design Guidelines of
having good design, that it's more about the utility can be
done in a way that is aesthetically pleasing and consistent
with those guidelines.
CHAIR HANSSEN: Does that answer your question?
Commissioner Barnett has another question.
COMMISSIONER BARNETT: If I may have a follow up
question, the definition of decorative lighting seems to me
to be necessary. I don't know if that relates to lighting
such as for planting areas, landscaping, string lights,
which you mentioned, other types of lighting that's
basically decorative. In short, I wonder whether it would
be wise to include a definition of decorative lighting.
CHAIR HANSSEN: Thank you for your comment, and
do you have any other questions, Commissioner Barnett?
COMMISSIONER BARNETT: No, I don't.
LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 8/26/2020
Item #2, Town Code Amendment - Outdoor Lighting
9
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
CHAIR HANSSEN: Are there any other Commissioners
that have a question or a comment at this point? I did want
to ask the rest of the Commission, Commissioner Hudes did
bring up the comment by the member of the public about
considering—and this wouldn't be a today thing but
something to recommend to Council to continue to look at —
using lumens as a measure of how intense the lighting was.
I didn't know if any other Commissioners had any comments
about that, because we certainly have the opportunity in
addition to voting on this item in terms of a
recommendation to make additional recommendations. Let's
see, Commissioner Badame.
COMMISSIONER BADAME: Should we forward a
recommendation of approval to Town Council I would like to
have Commissioner Hudes' comments considered as well as
Commissioner Barnett's, because I find the word decorative
to be very subjective. What might be decorative to one
person is an eyesore to another.
CHAIR HANSSEN: I think that's a very good
comment. Any other thoughts on that? Okay, so if there are
no other comments could I get a motion on this item?
Commissioner Badame.
COMMISSIONER BADAME: I move to forward a
recommendation of approval of Town Code Amendment
LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 8/26/2020
Item #2, Town Code Amendment - Outdoor Lighting
10
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Application A-20-005 in consideration of the comments made
by Commissioner Hudes and Commissioner Barnett. I can make
the findings for CEQA and I can also make the required
findings for the General Plan.
CHAIR HANSSEN: All right, thank you, and do I
have a second?
COMMISSIONER BARNETT: I'll second.
CHAIR HANSSEN: So, Commissioner Barnett seconds.
Are there any other questions or comments from
Commissioners before I call the question? Okay, once again
we will do a roll call vote, and we'll start with
Commissioner Burch.
COMMISSIONER BURCH: Yes.
CHAIR HANSSEN: Commissioner Tavana.
COMMISSIONER TAVANA: Yes.
CHAIR HANSSEN: Commissioner Badame.
COMMISSIONER BADAME: Yes.
CHAIR HANSSEN: Commissioner Hudes.
COMMISSIONER HUDES: Yes.
CHAIR HANSSEN: Commissioner Barnett.
COMMISSIONER BARNETT: Yes.
CHAIR HANSSEN: Vice Chair Janoff.
VICE CHAIR JANOFF: Yes.
LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 8/26/2020
Item #2, Town Code Amendment - Outdoor Lighting
11
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
CHAIR HANSSEN: And I vote yes as well, so the
motion passes unanimously. Mr. Paulson, are there appeal
rights regarding this item?
JOEL PAULSON: Thank you, Chair. No, there are
not appeal rights as this is a recommendation to the Town
Council, so we will forward that recommendation and the
Town Council will consider it.
CHAIR HANSSEN: Okay. Thank you very much.
This Page
Intentionally
Left Blank