Attachment 5TOWN OF LOS GATOS
PLANNING COMMISSION STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: October 9, 2013
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PREPARED BY: Ervin Ordoiiez, Senior Planner, AICP, EDFP
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Marni F. Moseley, Associate Planner, AICP
MMoseley@losgatosea.gov
APPLICATION NO.: Town Code Amendment A -13 -04
LOCATION: Town -wide
APPLICANT: Town of Los Gatos
ITEM NO: i
DESK ITEM
APPLICATION
SUMMARY: Consider adoption of Amendments to Chapter 29 (Zoning
Regulations) of the Town Code regarding land use regulations for live
entertainment uses.
OTHER MATTERS: Adoption of Amendments to Chapter 3 (Amusements) of the Town
Code regarding a permit for live entertainment and adoption of the
Alcoholic Beverage Policy.
RECOMMENDATION: Forward to Town Council with a recommendation for adoption.
ACTION: Recommendation to Town Council
EXHIBITS: 1 -16. Previously received with the Staff Report of October 9, 2013
17. Public Comments received through 1:00 p.m., October 9, 2013
(seven pages)
The four attached e -mails (Exhibit 17) regarding the Alcoholic Beverage Policy and Live
Entertainment Ordinance were received after the staff report was distributed.
Prepared by:
Erwin Ordoiiez, AICP, EDFP
Senior Planner
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Prepared by:
Mami F. Moseley, AICP
Associate Planner
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- - - -- Original Message---- -
From: Mike Verga [mailto:mikeverea@yahoo.comj
Sent: Monday, October 07, 2013 10:53 AM
To: Planning
Subject: Entertainment policy
Hello Planning Commisioners
My name is Michael Verga and I reside at 46 Broadway Ave with my wife and two grade school children.
I have been following the progress of the entertainment policy and have felt that the neighbors are
being heard!
I just want to reinforce my concerns.
Please insure that all entering and exiting into downtown establishments are done through entryways
that DO NOT back up to neighborhoods. ( like the back stairways that are currently being used in
violation of their current CUP to Mountain Charley's and LGBG)
Please limit entertainment to INDOOR areas only if it has ANY chance of impacting neighbors
Please set a entertainment cut off time of 11 pm or earlier
Any and all restrictions that put the residents first would be greatly appreciated.
Additionally please extend nighttime parking restrictions to the Broadway area as is currently done in
the Almond Grove area
I love living near downtown but businesses must be aware of their proximity to residents and to act
accordingly.
Thank you for your work and efforts on our, the residents, behalf.
Mike Verga
408- 930 -2761
Please
Sent from my Whone
EXHIBIT 17
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From: Gail Randolph [ mailto :gailrandolnh@earthlink.net]
Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2013 2:46 PM
To: Planning
Subject: re: alcohol and entertainment policy pc meeting 10/9/13
Dear Planning Commission,
I've been involved in this process since # I Broadway was established and again when their
somewhat recent problems arose, and since the issue with the Toll House outdoor entertainment
which had been outside their CUP. I've met with the neighbors, town staff, Gail Benedetto of #1
Broadway, Toll House owners and managers, owner and manager of Los Gatos Bar and Grill,
had police discussions and report of disturbances, and so forth. I must say that I am glad to see
that we are progressing towards a peaceful co- existance between downtown neighborhoods, bars
and restaurants, and patrons of such.
My immediate input for you is to;
Establish and fund an enforcement component so that all CUPS, ordinances, policies, permits,
and so forth can be relied upon and maintained. As you know, we are told to call the police to
report, so that some record of problems and frequency can be kept. At our neighborhood watch
meeting the police told us to report anything unusual. The police at the informational meeting
told us otherwise, that they were not trained or funded to manage these complaints. They have a
short staff, too, and must prioritize. We are on the right track with hiring an enforcement person,
but much needs to be done to make everything work.
1. Fund enforcement person's sufficient hours to do the job.
2. Set up an easily accessible on -line site for citizens to find and read ordinances, general
plan... (ie noise ordinances, CUPS for specific businesses (seating, outdoor lights, outdoor music,
hours...)
3. An easily found, understandable, and workable system to report violations
4. Prompt response to the one addressing the problem and those violating
5. Follow -up.
Be clear and thorough with your wording and omissions of anything you send to council for
approval. Times change, new concepts and trends come about, owners change, residents change
(and don't know what is established...) so any ordinance and so forth can live for a long time. I
have seen over and over that a new owner comes along, or a new trend, and the business starts
performing outside their permitted use - -until caught.
Try to discern the real use by applicants. Sometimes they whine (I'm sorry, they do) that their
patrons demand mixed drinks rather than beer and wine, and that they just have to get permits,
and soon it is just another bar. (ie: Willow St. see their website - - "If Los Gatos had a clubhouse, it
would surely be Willow Street. " - -read "club ")
Make it mandatory that owners manage patrons, litter, and sound levels outside of their
establishment. Shouting drunk people really cause chaos. Trash, outdoor shouting, peeing and
defecating on neighbor's properties, slamming car doors, vandalism don't fit with people living
their lives in their homes.
This summer I have found a lot less disturbance. I am certain that a good part of that is due to my
personal interactions with bar owners and their cooperative efforts.
Thank you for making all entertainment INDOOR.
Thank you for your service.
Most sincerely,
Gail Randolph 42 Broadway Los Gatos, CA 95030 408 354 5345
From: The Ristows [mailto:ristows(alcomcast.net]
Sent: Tuesday, October 08, 2013 2:50 PM
To: Town Manager; Council; Planning
Subject: Los Gatos Entertainment and Alcohol Policy hearings
Dear Planning Commissioners, Town Council and Town Staff,
As you review the proposed Entertainment and Alcohol Policy, please take into
consideration the problems we are already having with code violations and the
frustration of residential neighbors near to businesses.
The Town Staff has stated that there exists a process for dealing with code
violations, but I can say from experience that it doesn't work well.
As a resident, I am supposed to take the following steps when there is a problem
from nearby businesses negatively affecting my neighborhood:
1. Contact the Code Enforcement Officer. He /she will then verify a code
violation is actually occurring.
• The Code Violation Officer works M, W, F daytimes.
• Most problems occurring and anticipated to occur with increased
entertainment and alcohol permits are outside these hours.
2. Contact the Police non - emergency number.
o At the public information meeting on the Entertainment and Alcohol
policy, the police officer there in attendance specifically told us that
he does not want to respond to code violations. He added that he
knows the law but not the specific CUPs.
So far, the only way the residents on Broadway have gotten positive results is by
researching the local establishments' CUPs (going down to town officers to find and copy),
calling in problems to the police, attending Planning Commission and Town Council meetings,
meeting with the owners /managers of the local establishments. This is very energy- and time -
intensive. We are not looking forward to more of this.
My request at this point would be for the town to have a defined complaint process:
• Establish a clearly written step by step process for the public to deal with an incident
while it is happening or shortly thereafter.
• All parties in the process need to AGREE to their roles be and empowered and capable
of playing their roles.
• Designate the funding and hire personnel to be available and have the methods, capacity
and support to manage all the code, CUP, ordinance violations. (At least definitively
determine if the Police Department has the will and resources to respond to code
violations in off - hours.)
• Make available to the public, as planned, all the CUPs and other law in a way that the
public can easily access.
I do not see that right now.
Thank you,
Maria Ristow
85 Broadway, LG
From: Gillian Verga [ mailto :gillian@friend2friend.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2013 12:57 PM
To: Town Manager; Council; Planning
Subject: Thoughts regarding the Alcohol and Beverage Policy
Dear Planning Commission and Town Council,
I'm writing to add my thoughts to the discussion regarding the Alcohol Beverage Policy under
discussion on tonight's Planning Commission agenda. I have read the policy as listed here
and I can see that a lot of work and thought has gone into creating this policy, as one would
expect.
I have several questions, primarily around Sec. 3.70.030 & 3.70.035, which goes into the
process through with the Director of Community Development and the Chief of Police will
investigate each completed application and determine whether it should be approved or not (if I
understand this correctly, it's actually a little confusing). LIsted here, the criteria for approving
an application appears to be around:
- compliance with zoning requirements and other Town regulations or ordinances
- for major permits, a noise analysis
- conformance with the health, safety, and welfare of the community
These criteria seem quite open- ended, and leave much discretion up to the final decision - makers,
who it appears would be the Planning Commission for minor live entertainment and the Town
Council for major live entertainment.
My questions are:
• What kind of frequency and density of live entertainment is acceptable in Los Gatos?
• Will there be a calendar, where all live entertainment activities, including town special
events, are monitored so that new applications are judged not solely by their own impact,
but also the combined impact of the totality of approved permits?
• Will the permits be balanced by neighborhood, so that impacts on parking, traffic, noise,
and neighborhood activity are not all concentrated in one area?
• What guidelines will be used to determine the "welfare of the community "? How do we
balance the welfare of local businesses vs. residents?
• How have other towns addressed this issue, which is certainly not unique to Los Gatos?
It seems that by leaving these type of guidelines out of the policy, this policy avoids the heart of
the question, which is how much additional live entertainment is really good for our community,
and how do we draw the right boundaries to both help our businesses thrive while protecting our
residents.
I say this as a resident who very much loves our town and its various community
activities. There are many great town activities already - I love Jazz on the Plaz, the Farmer's
Market, the Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting, the Cat's Hill Race, the St. Mary's fair last
weekend, etc. I look forward to being able to see live entertainment in our establishments. The
question I have is: when do all these great events stop being a fun and special part of our town
and start to become an annoyance because I can't park or drive through town on a regular basis. I
believe our process of approving live entertainment permits MUST take that question into
account.
Sincerely,
Gillian Verga
46 Broadway
gillian verga I vp product mgmt and client services I friend2friend I gillian(a)friend2friend.com I c (408) 921 -6360
San Francisco I Barcelona I New York