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Addendum Part 3Town Council Meeting 05105/15 Item #1a MINUTES OF THE TOWN COUNCIL /PARKING AUTHORITY MEETING APRIL 14, 2015 The Town Council of the Town of Los Gatos conducted a Special Meeting on Tuesday, April 14, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. MEETING CALLED TO ORDER AT 7:00 P.M. ROLL CALL Present: Mayor Marcia Jensen, Vice Mayor Barbara Spector, Council Member Steve Leonardis, Council Member Rob Rennie, Council Member Marico Sayoc. Absent: None PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The Mayor led the Pledge of Allegiance. The audience was invited to participate. VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS John Shepardson - Commented on the cost of police services. Diane Abbati, Superintendent, Los Gatos Union School District - Thanked Matt Morley, Parks and Public Works Director and staff for the Green Bike Lanes and invited all to join the students and the Council for the Ribbon Cuffing on April 15; she announced the Safe Routes to School Summit at Los Gatos Lodge on May 7 and mentioned that Mayor Jensen will be on the panel. PUBLIC HEARINGS 1. North Forty Specific Plan, General Plan Amendment GP -14 -001, Zoning Code Amendment Z -14 -001. and Environmental Impact Report EIR -10 -002. Project Location: the plan area comprises approximately 44 acres located at the northern Avenue to the south. APN 424 -07 -009, 010 024 through 027 031 through 037 052 through 054, 060, 063 through 065, 070 081 through 086 090 094 through 096, 099, 100, 424 -06 -115. 116, and 129. Property Owners: Thomas & Mivoko Yuki Herbert & Barbara Yuki ETPH LP William Mattes Peter Brutsche William Fales. William Hirschman Elizabeth Dodson Patricia Connell Hans Mattes Tak Petroleum, Dewey Ventura. Alexander & Betty Moisenco, Lucy, Dagostino a. Consider adoption of the North Forty Specific Plan b. Consider adoption of General Plan Amendments c. Consider adoption of an ordinance effecting a zoning code amendment d. Adoption of a Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program, and adoption of Findings of Fact and Statement of Overriding Considerations (Continued from 313115) ATTACIUMENT 8 0 Public Hearings Item 1 — continued Laurel Prevetti, Assistant Town Manager /Community Development Director, presented the staff report. Council discussed the matter. MOTION: Motion by Council Member Rob Rennie to allow 364 residential units. VOTE: Motion failed for lack of a second. MOTION: Motion by Vice Mayor Barbara Spector to allow a maximum of 270 housing units. Seconded by Council Member Steve Leonardis. VOTE: Motion passed 3/2. Council Members Rob Rennie and Marico Sayoc voting no. MOTION: Motion by Vice Mayor Barbara Spector that the Specific Plan state that the Town's General Plan (100 %) density bonus provision shall not apply within the Specific Plan area. Seconded by Mayor Marcia Jensen. VOTE: Motion passed unanimously. MOTION: Motion by Council Member Steve Leonardis to use Option1 /Project B from Attachment 67 to allow 376,000 square feet of shopping center and a 150 -room hotel. VOTE: Motion failed for lack of a second. MOTION: Motion by Council Member Steve Leonardis to allow 300,000 square feet of shopping center and 60,000 square feet of general office, and exclude medical office. VOTE: Recess at 8:54 p.m. Motion withdrawn. Reconvened at 9:09 p.m. 2 Town Council /Parking Authority April 14, 2015 Public Hearings Item 1 — continued MOTION: Motion by Council Member Marico Sayoc to reduce the maximum capacity of non - residential development by 25% from 580,000 square feet to 435,000 square feet, remove medical office, leaving flexibility between office, hotel, and commercial as dictated in Table 2 -2 of the Draft Specific Plan. Seconded by Mayor Marcia Jensen. VOTE: Motion passed unanimously. Staff was asked to bring back to Council at the June 2, 2015, Town Council meeting a breakdown of uses within the approved limit that will not require a statement of overriding consideration. MOTION: Motion by Mayor Marcia Jensen to combine Sections 2.6.6 and 2.7.4 on page 2 -25 into a single section that is a height requirement for the Specific Plan; that the maximum building height is 35 feet; that there could be an exception up to 45 feet for affordable housing and /or hotel; that any references to exceptions for achieving excellence in architecture design be eliminated; that there would be no concept of a framed view or view corridor; that the view would be of the hills not the ridge; and that the maximum height would be inclusive of all features. Seconded by Vice Mayor Barbara Spector. VOTE: Motion passed unanimously. MOTION: Motion by Council Member Marico Sayoc to retain the minimum open space requirement 30% as currently contained in the draft Specific Plan with further delineation by staff between public and private. Seconded by Mayor Marcia Jensen. VOTE: Motion passed unanimously. MOTION: Motion by Council Member Marico Sayoc to support the Historic Preservation Committee recommendation by retaining the overall agrarian feel of the Specific Plan area through the development process; the red barn should be retained as much as is salvageable; the HPC should work with applicants on their individual applications to determine how that agrarian feel is integrated into the development; working with an arborist, the HPC and the applicant would determine if original trees could be retained or if they should be replanted. Seconded by Council Member Rob Rennie. Town Council/Parking Authority April 14, 2015 Public Hearings Item 1 — continued VOTE: Motion passed 3/2. Vice Mayor Barbara Spector and Council Member Steve Leonardis voting no. MOTION: Motion by Council Member Rob Rennie to adopt the Planning Commission recommendation in Attachment 18, page 4, second bullet pertaining to Section 4.9. Seconded by Council Member Marico Sayoc. VOTE: Motion passed unanimously. MOTION: Motion by Council Member Rob Rennie to add the wording "separated bike lanes or multi -use paths where possible" on page 4 -1, under Policy C5. Seconded by Vice Mayor Barbara Spector. VOTE: Motion passed 4/1. Council Member Steve Leonardis voting no. MOTION: Motion by Council Member Rob Rennie to add some sort of a multi -modal path paralleling A Street, potentially through the buildings, as some sort of multi -modal path rather than using A Street or sharrows. Seconded by Council Member Marico Sayoc. VOTE: Motion failed 2/3. Mayor Marcia Jensen, Vice Mayor Barbara Spector and Council Member Steve Leonardis voting no. MOTION: Motion by Mayor Marcia Jensen to direct staff to bring back to Council scenarios on how to incorporate north -south multi -modal paths parallel to A Street in the Specific Plan. Seconded by Council Member Rob Rennie. VOTE: Motion passed unanimously. MOTION: Motion by Council Member Rob Rennie to require the first applicant proposing over 100 units to put in A Street, which must continue from Lark Avenue to Noddin, upgrade Noddin to a full street, and add Neighborhood Street. VOTE: Motion failed for lack of a second. Town Council /Parking Authority April 14, 2015 Public Hearings Item 1 — continued MOTION: Motion by Vice Mayor Barbara Spector to direct staff to bring back to Council a report delineating what the items of infrastructure are, when in the process they would be completed, and explain what nexus for fees, infrastructure, etc. means, and what the limitations are. Seconded by Council Member Steve Leonardis. VOTE: Motion passed unanimously. MOTION: Motion by Mayor Marcia Jensen to change Section 6.6.3 to make it reflect current Town Code and policies, including the elimination of the Community Benefit Policy. Seconded by Council Member Steve Leonardis. VOTE: Motion passed unanimously. MOTION: Motion by Mayor Marcia Jensen to change language in Section 4.10, page 4 -9, to state Transportation Demand Management programs are required instead of advisable for each application as it comes in. Seconded by Council Member Marico Sayoc. VOTE: Motion passed unanimously. MOTION: Motion by Mayor Marcia Jensen to include in Section 4.10, page 4 -9, shuttle options as part of a Transportation Demand Management Plan. Seconded by Vice Mayor Barbara Spector. VOTE: Motion passed unanimously. MOTION: Motion by Council Member Rob Rennie to include as a new policy the first bullet under Chapter 5 in Attachment 18, page 4. Seconded by Council Member Marico Sayoc. VOTE: Motion passed unanimously. MOTION: Motion by Council Member Rob Rennie to include as a new policy the second bullet under Chapter 5 in Attachment 18, page 4. Seconded by Council Member Marico Sayoc. VOTE: Motion passed 3/2. Mayor Marcia Jensen and Vice Mayor Barbara Spector voting no. 5 Town Council /Parking Authority April 14, 2015 Public Hearings Item 1 — continued MOTION: Motion by Council Member Marico Sayoc that on page 3 -18 under Section 3.2.10(a) delete "where feasible' to say "use native and /or drought tolerant plants" and make mandatory rather than promote, with the exception of the orchard. Seconded by Mayor Marcia Jensen. VOTE: Motion withdrawn. MOTION: Motion by Council Member Marico Sayoc that on page 3 -18 under Section 3.2.10(a) delete "where feasible" to say "use native and /or drought tolerant plants" and change "promote' to "mandate, except those orchard trees that are retained as part of the Historic Preservation District. Seconded by Mayor Marcia Jensen. VOTE: Motion failed 2/3. Vice Mayor Barbara Spector and Council Members Steve Leonardis and Rob Rennie voting no. MOTION: Motion by Vice Mayor Barbara Spector to direct staff to come back to Council with alternatives, if possible, that are environmentally sound given the drought and pavement conditions of the site for Section 3.2.10(a). Seconded by Council Member Rob Rennie. VOTE: Motion passed unanimously. MOTION: Motion by Vice Mayor Barbara Spector to delete from the Discretionary Approval Summary Table (Appendix E) the height exceptions, lines 5, 6 and 7. Seconded by Mayor Marcia Jensen. VOTE: Motion passed unanimously MOTION: Motion by Vice Mayor Barbara Spector to strike line 13 and acknowledge that any Specific Plan amendment would follow the procedure identified under line 14 from the Discretionary Approval Summary Table. Seconded by Mayor Marcia Jensen. VOTE: Motion passed unanimously. Town Council /Parking Authority April 14, 2015 Public Hearings Item 1 — continued MOTION: Motion by Council Member Rob Rennie to add as a policy the recommendation from Planning Commission on Attachment 18, page 4, the first bullet and change "and" to "or." Seconded by Council Member Marico Sayoc. VOTE: Motion passed unanimously. MOTION: Motion by Mayor Marcia Jensen to continue the matter to the June 2, 2015 Council meeting. Seconded by Council Member Steve Leonardis. VOTE: Motion passed unanimously. OTHER BUSINESS There was no other business. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 11:22 p.m. Attest: /s/ Shelley Neis, Clerk Administrator Town Council /Parking Authority April 14, 2015 This Page Intentionally Left Blank How to protect downtown Los Gatos' long term vitality and retail base. The purpose of this note is to outline the long term threat that excessive food and beverage service capacity at the North 40 represents. The proposed solution is to limit the total number of "seats" allowed in the future development. This metric affords the developer ample flexibility in how these seats are used for which tenants or concepts, while still capping a retail amenity that has become an anchor in and of itself. If unchecked, a large food and beverage service tenant base at the North 40 will sap the life out of downtown Los Gatos. To ultimately understand a seating cap, it is important to first understand why. If we look back just 20 years, Los Gatos was an incredibly vibrant downtown and the envy not just of the South Bay but also much of the Peninsula and beyond. New parking had been added, a vibrant night life, restaurant scene, unique retail and some chain stores thrived. Santa Cruz was still struggling to rebuild bridges into their downtown - let alone fill the structures inside. Willow Glen and Campbell were very quiet. Santa Row was the Town and Country ranch style low coverage shopping center that had very little food and entertainment. Castro Street was mostly vacant together with an unhealthy portion of Los Altos' downtown. The Downtowns of Redwood City and San Jose were perceived to be down right dangerous and were desolate retail environments. Traffic was lighter and Los Gatos was easy to drive to and was really the only alternative retail experience to a mall south of Palo Alto. Fast forward to the present and we have a booming Campbell, Willow Glen, Castro Street, Santa Row, Redwood City, Los Atlos, Morgan Hill, emerging downtown San Jose, coming downtown Cupertino via the Main Street development as well as huge investment in outdoor "main street" dining in Valley Fair and many other food options in large scale retail environments through out the South Bay like all the restaurants added around the perimeter of Oakridge. Downtown Los Gatos is over retailed for our own small population. It survives because people outside the community choose to spend their money here. At the same time that options are proliferating closer to the consumer, traffic to get here and parking once you do, make other options more appealing. The trend to build better retail and "Main Street" concepts in other communities isn't going to stop, nor can the Los Gatos Town Council do anything about it. With this in mind, the Council can choose to ensure that the North 40 brings complimentary types of retail instead of building another downtown at the expense of our own. This can be done by limiting the number of seats available for food and beverage uses while also encouraging larger footprint retailers that do not fit in downtown. This type of tenant is where the sales tax leakage exists. Current economics and retail trends mean that most retail demand other than larger boxes is from food, food, more food and soine services. Some reports list this demand as high as 60% - look to Campbell and Willow Glen and the ratio of new food tenants to any ATTACIMENT 8 other is probably closer to 3 to 1. Consumers have the disposable income to eat out rather than cook and want to buy the experience of a community setting that a downtown or one of the mini downtowns now being developed provide. Regardless of income levels, people can still only eat 3 meals a day and so, at some point, there are more seats than stomachs. That tipping point is here already especially as downtown Campbell and Willow Glen have added hundreds of "seats" to their downtown capacity. Most of the new restaurants in these communities are net new rather than rehabbing existing space. The list of food and beverage tenants is long and the impact on downtown Los Gatos is obvious. The following impact is not so obvious, but exceedingly more important. Much of the shopping done and available in Downtown Los Gatos is discretionary and typically stapled together with food and beverage: a trip to shop or a salon and a dining experience. Food and beverage tenants also create foot traffic for traditional retailers. Dinner at Palacio's is probably the only reason many people know that we now have a patio furniture store where the Gap originally was. People want to be where people are. It's what drives momentum for some communities while others slow. We believe that the vibrancy of our food and beverage community in downtown Los Gatos needs to be protected to save the vitality of the other retail and services and the tax dollars they generate. If the North 40 is allowed to build a food and entertainment service offering that goes beyond the needs of the immediate community, it will come at the expense of our downtown's vitality. When the next recession comes - and it will, the North 40 will be able to weather that storm much better as a single landlord than a downtown with multiple owners and agendas. A single landlord can choose to support businesses at a loss to keep them alive and maintain the cross shopping and buzz that retailers and consumers seek — lots of separate small owners with different loans simply cannot. As consumers pull back, some businesses will fail and vacancy will set in. Vacancy is a cancer and spreads aggressively as the vibrancy fades. Capping the amount of food and food entertainment developed in the North 40 will help stem that tide and provide long term support for downtown. With food and beverage limited, space for retail not available in Los Gatos town limits can land at the North 40 and our downtown may again thrive. Unchecked, North 40 will be a well parked, easily accessed, outdoor dining and entertainment destination that will further sap the life from Downtown and ultimately hurt the town's tax base and it's sense of community. We believe that capping the number of seats in the development associated with the food and beverage / entertainment component of the North 40 is the most efficient metric. This would apply to any and all establishments serving prepared food and beverage for consumption to include, restaurants, cafe's, the prepared food section of grocery stores like the seating in Whole Foods, any market hall concept, and all community or common "landscape" seating within 200' of such an establishment's entry or exit point. Patio seating should be permitted and accounted for as seating. Food Hall seating is incredibly efficient as it provides a fluid common area seating and bar height eating surface that is shared by multiple tenants. As a result of the mix of tenants and their busiest times, market hall seating tends to run at capacity more often than traditional restaurants. As for how many seats, we have a few metrics to suggest for guidance. For a frame of reference, The Aqui in Campbell has 170 inside and 56 outside, a Panera typically has about 150, the Bucco Di Bepo's in Oakridge mall has 321 inside and 48 outside. In a survey we conducted of 18 restaurants in a range of sizes from 1,200 sf to 12,350 sf, the average number of seats per total sf of gross area (kitchen, sales area, restrooms, storage etc.) was I seat per 30 square feet. As such, if there is a feeling that the council believes the immediate neighborhood needs X square feet for Y number of additional food and beverage options, then we suggest that number of square feet be divided by 30 and those be the number of seats allowed. Another way to cross check this may be to examine the amount of net new restaurant area added in the last couple years to downtown Campbell and Willow Glen. It is not very high and yet the impact on downtown has been significant. We estimate the total number of net new food space added to these communities to be around 37,000. The trade area that these two accessible communities draw from is far larger than the stated intent of the advisory committee for the North 40. If this isn't supposed to be a regional draw, how much food and beverage service is really needed? If the intent of allowing food and beverage into the North 40 was to provide people in the immediate area an alternative to downtown, than I believe that the area needed is far less than what has been added to downtown Campbell and Willow Glen recently. The site sits on the Northern boarder of Los Gatos. If that immediate population was 10% of Los Gatos' 32,000 people, I'd be surprised. If all of the 3200 people frequented this location 3 times a week (average American buys prepared food 5.8 times a week and not all those meals are in the same place), across the various times, they could be served from 275 seats. (3200 people x 3 trips) /(1 seat x 5 meals served). Other commercial presence there will bring some other trips. However, serving the neighborhood can clearly be done with relatively few seats. Market Hall. If a market hall concept is proposed, we believe that seats allocations should recognize the intense use of these spaces and so a seat associated here should count 1.5 times. For example, if 300 seats are approved for the North 40 and the market hall is proposed to contain 100, those seats should count as 150 seats. We believe that this proposed seat metric allows the developer the ability to create a vibrant environment how ever they see fit without undo or complicated red tape while still protecting downtown Los Gatos from yet another "main street" style development. Food and Beverage Service is the core of new retail demand and is what consumers are seeking in a community environment. We have that infrastructure already here in our own existing downtown. Please support our downtown by not allowing another one to be built in our town limits. I write this letter as a downtown Los Gatos resident with deep concern for the future of downtown Los Gatos and confirmation of the logic presented in this letter by numerous members of the Real Estate community. They also confirm that there are numerous larger format retailers that would love to be at the North 40. Campbell's Dell Avenue plan and recent transactions there is proof that developers are betting that new office can be built in the immediate trade area. All that aside, unchecked food and beverage retail at the North 40 is a both immediate and long term threat to downtown Los Gatos and one of the few the are in the Town Council's control. Please use it.