Attachment 48 - Public Comment received 12/16/14 thru 1/29/15From: John Shepardson [mailto:shepardsonlaw(@me.com)
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2015 12:52 PM
To: Marcia Jensen; Council
Subject: N 40 (25/25/35)
For consideration of Mayor Jensen and Town Coucil:
Gridlock traffic? Gradually occurs like water rising to top of a bottle. Bottlenecks. Winchester clogged, 17
clogged, Blvd clogged.
Eminent domain one more lane?
ATTACHMENT 4 8
setter use of road?
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65 feet at Albright
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suggest be careful with height from pad. Maybe leeway couple feet from existing. If
no firm control, add 10 feet of dirt, and 55 foot building really looks like 65
foot.
BATHTUB
Solution like a bathtub. cap the volume. Circumstances warrant a conservative
approach. 25 percent reduction in residential to 525. 25 percent reduction to
commercial to 437,500.
cap height at 35. views protected. GP followed. conservative to guard against
exploding traffic. Gros makes money. My understanding project can be done at 35
feet. vuk�s make money. Needed Infrastructure goes in. Town folk happy Town
character being protected. onslaught from Campbell and Carlyle coming.
Also for probably over 50 reduction in traffic:
1. smart lights
2. Buses (Danville)
Great Town bikeways add another 5 percent.
is
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From: John Shepardson [mailto:shepardsonlaw(alme.coml
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2015 7:45 AM
To: Marcia Jensen; Council; Greg Larson; Matt Morley; Laurel Prevetti; Robert Schultz; Carl Guardino
Subject: N. 40: Smart Traffic Lights
N. 40 and elsewhere in Town
Improve traffic flow with state of the art traffic lights
1. Smart lights with artificial intelligence
Quoting from
http: / /en.m.wiki edn ia.org /wiki /Smart traffic light
Smart traffic lights or Smart traffic signals are by definition according to developers of a pilot
project inPittsbur [1] `A new system that combines existing technology withartificial
intelligence to create lights that truly think for themselves'. Also known as intelligent traffic
lights andadvanced traffic lights this system differs to the traditional Traffic lightsystem which
are advanced signaling devices positioned at pedestrian crossings, road intersections and other
places to control the flow of traffic. They are, in essence, signals that utilize a buried induction
coil to sense the presence of signals that adapt to information that is received from a central
computer about the position, speed and direction of vehicles. The pilot project in Pittsburgh may
be the first step in their production across the United States of America.
The technology for smart traffic signals has been developed by professors and students at
Carnegie Mellon University and is being used in a pilot project in Pittsburgh in an effort to
reduce vehicle emissions in the city. Unlike other dynamic control signals that adjust the timing
and phasing of lights according to limits that are set in controller programming, this new system
combines existing technology with artificial intelligence to create lights that truly think for
themselves.
The signals communicate with each other and adapt to changing traffic conditions to reduce the
amount of time that cars spend idling. Using fiber optic video receivers similar to those already
employed in dynamic control systems, the new technology monitors vehicle numbers and makes
changes in real time to avoid congestion wherever possible. Initial results from the pilot study are
encouraging: the amount of time that motorists spent idling at lights was reduced by 40% and
travel times across the city were reduced by 26 %.
2. htip: / /www.sltrib.com /sltrib/ politics / 57276984 -90 /traffic - percent - system -state html csp
JS
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LAW OFFICES OF
JOHN A. SHEPARDSON
59 N. Santa Cruz Ave, Ste. Q
Los Gatos, CA 95030
Tel (408) 395 -3701
Fax (408) 395 -0112
December 22, 2014
Dear Madam Mayor Marcia Jensen, Vice Mayor Barbara Spector, and Council
Members Steve Leonardis, Marico Sayoc and Rob Rennie:
I'm sorry I missed the December meeting. However, I watched it in its
entirety. Basically, with all the Town development, and exploding traffic from
Campbell, San Jose, and cut - through cars from increasing levels of commuters
passing through Los Gatos, it seems to me to make sense to provide a Specific
Plan that offers the least additional impacts on the Town. The following are my
personal suggestions for the Specific Plan for the North Forty:
1. 1 agree with Jeff Loughridge that the General Plan is the guiding document.
The Specific Plan must conform to the General Plan. The Specific Plan should
not be dictated by the Developer's potential proposal. When the developer says
time is running is out, I don't know what that means, and speculating does not
seem productive. We were not part of the developer's decision- making process
to contract with the Yuki Family, and have not been provided with their internal
financials. The Town has not conducted a financial review of what is feasible for
the developer. Therefore, what is feasible for the developer seems largely, if not
entirely, irrelevant in terms of the Town's Specific Plan land use decision.
2. The General Plan consistently calls for a thirty -five foot height maximum
throughout the Town, except for certain limited areas. The Albright approval was
a unique exception to the thirty -five maximum height limit (and subject to rigid
development standards) that existed on the property site. There was sound legal
authority,,and expert legal opinions, that the approval was unlawful, and we will
never know for sure because the appeal was dropped and the case settled.
3. 1 agree with Tom O'Donnell that the Town -wide thirty -five foot maximum
height limit should apply to the North Forty. Mr. O'Donnell is a "moderate
conservative" on land use issues, an experienced Planning Commission
Member, a land use attorney, and intimately familiar with our Town, its increasing
traffic, and school impacts.
4. Adhering to a thirty -foot maximum height limit protects our special views of
green mountains, avoids confusion about view corridors, and reduces density
and traffic.
1
5. I'm for the EIR Superior alternative of reducing the commercial by twenty -five
percent.
6. I'm also for reducing the residential by twenty -five percent.
7. I'm for lots of age- restricted senior housing. Apparently studies show such
housing reduces impacts compared with more traditional housing. The elderly
require more medical care than other groups, so being near the hospital and so
many other medical offices, reduces impacts, and helps the elderly, perhaps
saving lives because of timely treatment for live- threatening events.
B. I wonder why the roads are private.
9. I'm for requiring solar panels, EV chargers, cool roads and roofs.
10. The Downtown District should be protected (and yet not coddled) with
complementary, rather than competitive businesses.
11. Should parking be subject to meters? I don't know.
12. The small units to attract young people, and older persons downsizing, I'm
skeptical of, because there are no controls on who actually purchases or stays in
the units. If I have a young family, maybe I pack my wife and kids in a small unit
in a sacrifice to get into Los Gatos Schools. I have observed at least unit on the
old Swanson Ford site apparently housing two small school -aged children, their
parents and a grandparent.
13. Should there be a Fire Station on the site? With senior housing, I would
expect a lot of activity on the North Forty, and in neighboring areas, because of
the aging of the Los Gatos population.
14. 1 suggest James Russell be utilized to address the school boundaries issue.
15. I'm for an addition to the Lark overpass for pedestrian and bike use. I
suggest Carl Gardino and Joe Pyrzinski be consulted.
Yoti�p tr
loh4n epards Esq.
59 North Santa Cruz Avenue
Suite Q
Los Gatos, CA 95030
(408) 395 -3701
6
From: Anne Robinson Roley [anne4pt @icloud.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2014 7:36 PM
To: Marcia Jensen; BSpector; Steven Leonardis; Marico Sayoc; Rob Rennie
Cc: Greg Larson
Subject: Bigger isn't better: Why the next wave of condos will be under 500 square feet
Dear Council Members
I was intrigued by a speaker at Tues. Town Council meeting. She spoke of Millenial housing under 1,000
sf. I found this article and love the concept. The concept that the article discusses is what I think of as
Millenial housing not the current housing proposed by Grosvenor in future plans for Phase 1. If you
want to attract the 25 -36 age group and make it affordable in Los Gatos, you offer condos under 500 sf.
This is the new trend in major cities like San Francisco. I would even consider increasing the number of
housing units if they would build these units and age restricted senior housing. Or keep the number of
units the same and the lower square footage units would decrease the overall density.
I don't feel the current housing proposed for Phase 1 will be affordable for most of the Millenial age
group. My kids are 23 and 25 years old and most kids their age are having a hard time saving any money
at all - it all goes to high rent and living expenses.
Here is the link to the article
http / /edition cnn com/ 2014 /08/20/ business /micro- condo - development- trend/
I am all for developing the N40. What I don't want is the traffic backed up on 17 trying to get off at Lark
Ave and the traffic backed up on 85 trying to get off at Los Gatos Blvd, which is what happened when
Santana Row was built. Our town can not handle a high density development that generates a high
volume of traffic. And please make the 30% open space to not include parking, roadways and other
cement /asphalt areas. Would love open space to mean landscaped areas.
Thank you your time and efforts
Happy Holidays!!
Anne
From: Terry McBriarty [mailto:tmcbriartyC@gmail com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2014 8:50 PM
To: Council
Subject: North 40 Comments
The North 40 will have a huge impact on me and my family. We reside on Garden Hill drive off of
Lark. Is the council aware of the accident statistics on Lark avenue? I see evidence of car accidents
happening on Lark several times a week. The other day I saw a windshield on the ground. It seems that
must have been a very serious accident. I worry about the safety of my family daily as I see people run
red lights, pedestrians ignore directions, speed limits ignored, people ignorant of traffic laws causing
unnecessary congestion blocking the Lark and Garden Hill intersection. Someone will die again at this
intersection, it is only a matter of time. This intersection is a disaster waiting to happen.
Our town needs the trails improved. Wish we made that bridge happen so my son had a safe way to get
to soccer practice at Creekside. We need improved bus lines for our youth that connect outside of
town. We need a resolution to deal with those trying to evade highway 17 traffic and filling up our town
streets. All of these situations will be worsened by the North 40.
Any housing built will lead to our schools be even more overcrowded than they are. It makes me sick
when I hear people from Silicon Valley Leadership Group given interviews on the news saying how all of
our schools "have capacity." Legally having capacity means that we could convert our clay room or our
music room into classrooms. No more music no more clay, art or anything else. At Blossom Hill they
have a rule that there is no running on the blacktop. No running. Because it is too crowded. But we
"have capacity." At Van Meter we have to stagger our lunch and all of our assemblies because our
school was expanded to accommodate 700 children but our multi - purpose room fits less than the 500
the school was originally intended for. This year we were dealt another blow when the Superintendent,
Dianna, Abatti, decided after a single complaint about the use of the auditorium at Calvary Church that
continuing to use it exposed the district to a litigation so it can no longer be used for the Van Meter
Talent Show, Promotion Ceremony. Fisher Middle School can also not use it for any purpose.
Make a provision for a school in the North 40. The district came and spoke to you about this. Grosvonor
spoke and acted like this was the first time anyone has ever mentioned a school. This is not. We have
mentioned a school many times. The district has attempted to purchase land in the North 40 for a
school. The North 40 is the LAST CHANCE for a 4th school in town. The North 40 is the LAST CHANCE to
fix the mistake the LGUSD made when they sold The Berry school land to the 1CC. Every month more
kids show up and the classes get fuller. Give the LGUSD one last chance. We need a magnet school or a
charter school. Something different. There are so many educational needs that are not being met. I
know many people who have children with specific needs that cannot be met in the South Bay and they
have to commute to Palo Alto or elsewhere. Cupertino has Christ McAulliffe, Campbell has Village
School, San Jose has Explorer - all of these are alternative models for education that are a part of the
school system. What does Los Gatos have? Hillbrook? If you have 25k /year and your kid gets in. St.
Mary's, if you are cool with Catholicism etc. People with families move to Los Gatos and pay a premium
because people THINK our schools are better than the surrounding areas. I am not sure that this is
true. People still seem to pay this premium but when our schools continue to crumble prices will
fall. This process has already started.
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- - - -- Original Message---- -
From: John Shepardson [mailto:sheoardsonlaw(apme comj
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2015 9:39 AM
To: Council; Greg Larson
Subject: Policy and Procedures
Suggestions
1. Update and review of the body cam policies and procedures. Privacy rights must be respected while allowing for
transparency in the crime fighting activities.
2. Implement a new polity that for any commercial projected expected to create
100 new jobs or more that staff perform a best estimate calculation of the new housing units that will be required to be
built under the existing ABAG formula. I suggest this be done for the N. 40 now.
John Shepardson:)
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