M09-27-16
Town Council Meeting 10/18/16
Item #1
MINUTES OF THE TOWN COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING
SEPTEMBER 27, 2016
The Town Council of the Town of Los Gatos conducted a Special Meeting on Thursday,
September 27, 2016, at 7:00 p.m.
MEETING CALLED TO ORDER AT 7:00 P.M.
ROLL CALL
Present: Mayor Barbara Spector, Vice Mayor Marico Sayoc, Council Member Marcia
Jensen, Council Member Steve Leonardis, Council Member Rob Rennie.
Absent: None
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Mayor Spector led the Pledge of Allegiance. The audience was invited to participate.
VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS
There were no verbal communications.
OTHER BUSINESS
1. Discuss potential amendments to the North 40 Specific Plan.
Opened Public Comment.
Barbara Dodson
- Recommended reducing the allowable height for buildings, except for a possible
hotel; consider reducing the overall sizes of the residential units; and think about
rewriting the definition of open space.
David Weissman
- Recommended the senior units be on the ground level; low income units should be
included; sidewalks and streets should not count as open space; and suggested
using Coast Live Oak trees.
Anne Robinson
- Recommended no housing in the cancer risk area along the Highway 17 freeway,
but office with fixed windows and high-efficiency filtration HVAC in that area; spread
the housing across the development area; allow smaller housing units that are more
affordable; require underground parking and no tandem parking to allow more open
space; provide appropriate housing for seniors on the first floor; modify the site plan
and elevations to soften the linear, flat, square, and cookie cutter appearance of the
previous proposal by Grosvenor; consider an increase in height in the Northern
District, maybe 25% of that area in the Northern District for a hotel or other use.
Chuck Coe
- Commented that business is not needed in the North 40. Recommended allowing
for more open space; reducing density; reducing heights; adding playgrounds and
pocket parks; and building to the mandate.
Roy Moses
- Recommended reducing the commercial space in the North 40 to less than 250,000
square feet; consider adding other types of housing laid out in the Specific Plan
especially more senior housing, and a Community Center.
Jak Van Nada
- Commented on the possible costs to the two Los Gatos school districts, and if
housing is allowed in the northern half, make the units much smaller, 1,000 square
feet or less.
Susan Buxton
- Recommended a variety of affordably priced housing to be included in the Specific
Plan; the 13.5 acres zoned for 20 units per acre should be spread throughout the
North 40 with a variety of housing types, including truly affordable housing units;
and developers should be required to follow Town Code and our existing Below
Market Price Program.
Sandy Decker
- Recommended more of the housing should be reduced in height to 25 feet and
spread across the North 40; no more viewing platforms; protect our hillside views;
and make the Architectural and Site truly the purview of the Los Gatos community
through the Planning Commission’s public hearing process.
Stanford Stickney
- Recommended the North 40 should be made into a wildlife conservatorship.
Markene Smith
- Recommended creating a scenic corridor overlay zone; developers should plant a
300-foot tall tree corridor along the North 40 property line next to Highway 17 and
the Lark Avenue over-ramp; and no buildings should be constructed along the
corridor.
Lainey Richardson
- Recommended a green building approach where gray water systems could be used
potentially to water the open space and the green lawns; and plan ahead for traffic
on Los Gatos Boulevard, which could mean taking potentially 50 feet or more of the
land and not develop it.
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Town Council/Parking Authority September 27, 2016
Ed Rathman
- Recommended reducing the amount of commercial square footage allowed and
adding restrictions on the amount of small retail and the number of restaurants; the
Market Hall concept should not be allowed; and CUPs should be required for the
North 40 in the same way they are required downtown.
Angelia Doerner
- Recommended Council should consider how to revamp our application review
process to get more done before it is deemed complete.
Tom Spilsbury
- Recommended the Los Gatos Boulevard portion should be retail, not housing; the
roads should be addressed first; and apartments should be included.
Edward Morimoto
- Requested if the Specific Plan is reopened that it be done with an appropriate level
of study and deliberation.
Lee Quintana
- Recommended that the requirement for public open space be increased; that public
access easements be required for all open space either required or proposed by a
developer; that the calculation for open space does not includes streets; if housing
units are going to be increased, they should be in the Northern District, be limited in
number, and specifically be located in the general area of the edge zone between
the Transition and Northern Districts; and remove hotel use as a use of the
Transition District.
Susan Kankel
- Recommended mandatory underground parking for commercial and residential
uses which will reduce the amount of hardscape, and the soil from the construction
could be moved to the portion of the development that needs it.
Patti Elliott
- Recommended spreading the housing throughout with less housing in the Northern
District; more and smaller units should be located in the Campbell School District;
reduce the amount of commercial space and that it be limited to truly neighborhood
serving uses; allow for orchards, playground, picnic area, and a community pool;
and seek a public/private partnership for the pool to help share the costs.
Sam Weidman
- Recommended spreading the housing; reduce the intensity; and make the units
more affordable.
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Town Council/Parking Authority September 27, 2016
Tom Picraux
- Recommended that attention be given to the low-income category, and perhaps
also to that area of housing that is just above and near the low-income category,
something that is available to seniors interested in move-down housing and for
people who need to rent and cannot afford Los Gatos type housing; and a more
balanced plan could be developed that would specifically consider the needs of our
seniors and the low-income residents of our Town.
Rod Teague
- Recommended finding a prevailing look and feel that is in the north end of town, and
clarifying what lower density housing means.
Jason Farwell
- Recommended creating a fair playing field for the downtown Commercial District as
well as the North 40 by putting in place those same restrictions with the North 40,
and that would be done through the CUP process.
Lucille Weidman
- Recommended a design ad hoc committee be formed that includes citizens as
members to set design standards.
Ken Arendt
- Recommended speeding up the process to review the Specific Plan and close the
loopholes to eliminate the ambiguity.
Shannon Susick
- Recommended that each application shall require a current comprehensive traffic
study using actual counts versus projected or based on tables with the definition of
“current” meaning within the last 12 months; each application if not approved within
a year, or if affected by significant changes within the development area or within a
five-mile radius, shall have a revised or updated traffic study not to exceed 12
months in date; and each application shall include pedestrian and bicycle counts.
Chris Chapman
- Recommended scaling down uses; underground parking concept that allows for
more open space; address Los Gatos Boulevard traffic prior to the approval of any
development; and more creative ways to make the commercial use not so obvious.
Bruce McCombs
- Thanked the Council for their hard work and requested Council move forward on
amending the Plan.
Closed Public Comment.
Recess at 8:49 p.m.
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Town Council/Parking Authority September 27, 2016
Reconvened at 8:59 p.m.
Council discussed the matter and suggested the following changes to the Specific Plan
be considered:
- Require a maximum density of eight units per acre in the Lark perimeter area for
less intensity at Lark and increasing intensity as you go northward.
- Increase the total units on the North 40 by the number that could fit in the eight
units per acre in the Lark perimeter to maintain the 20 units per acre on the
remaining area.
- Possibly make the perimeter district a bit larger.
- Remove the CUP requirement for cottage cluster.
- Explore underground parking and implications.
- Require more open space; have real open space; require public access
easements for open space.
- Do not allow residential uses on Los Gatos Blvd., only allow commercial, office,
or mixed use.
- Increase the height back to 45 feet to provide for elevator shafts and
underground parking; consider height increase as long as there is more open
space and achieve views; height of the residential should be reduced to 25 feet.
- Locate senior housing at ground level.
- Spread housing units across all three Districts; if spreading the units, make sure
they are in neighborhoods; have a vision of how the spreading of the units fit with
the other uses and fit in this neighborhood idea.
- Look at the CUPs for the commercial business district; have CUP requirements
be the same as downtown; have the deciding bodies use the CUP findings to
determine what they would like on the North 40, i.e., commercial uses for the
northern part of Town, the North 40, and the adjoining northern portion of Los
Gatos; allow commercial uses, allow a Market Hall, but have these commercial
uses be in the Market Hall with no food court; have the CUPs and then use the
findings required for a CUP to address our unmet needs; consider no CUPs for
the North 40 and easing the restrictions for the downtown; put maximum square
footages instead of CUPs for commercial/office.
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Town Council/Parking Authority September 27, 2016
- Explore commercial in the Lark District; the possibility of moving houses away
from Hwy 17 and putting commercial there; potential reduction in the amount of
commercial space; neighborhood serving retail; capturing the general
merchandise leakage that is going out of Town; do we need a boutique hotel
rather than a Santana Row-like center; consider reducing the total amount of
square footage addressing our unmet needs.
- If a strip mall was put at Lark and Los Gatos Blvd., would that trigger a traffic
study?
- Widen Los Gatos Blvd. and explain what that would entail.
- Use “shalls” instead of “shoulds.”
- Require smaller, more affordable units, maybe 900 to 1,500 square feet (sf);
reduce the maximum size of some of the units (such as 1,700 sf max).
- Apply the BMP ordinance.
- Is it possible for the Town to allow a developer to have a density bonus if the
developer requests it, but not necessarily have those 13.5 acres in a certain
location, i.e., can they be spread throughout the property?
- Confirm that the Guiding Principles have wording in the Specific Plan that has
mandates. In other words verify that the language is in the Specific Plan, and
that it is mandatory language rather than permissive language.
- Look at it as one entire project with a commitment as to what is going where
decided up front.
- Preserve existing live oak trees.
- Require extensive notification with each series of meetings; invite all school
districts and Chamber of Commerce to all meetings; alert public early on with any
potential application before it is deemed complete.
- Conduct a comprehensive review of the Town’s planning process and if there is
language in the Specific Plan that might be inconsistent with any changes to the
planning process, then we conform the Specific Plan to whatever it is that we
changed with respect to that planning process.
- Try to acquire some land for a park or community pool.
- Level the playing field for all areas of Town.
- Protect the residences and their quiet enjoyment.
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Town Council/Parking Authority September 27, 2016
MOTION: MotionCouncil Member Marcia Jensen
by that the suggestions
that were given by the Council tonight be taken to the General Plan
Committee for a public meeting and consideration to accept, deny,
change, and then forward it to the Planning Commission for the
same process, and then the recommendations return to the Town
SecondedMayor Barbara Spector.
Council for a decision. by
VOTE: Motionpassed unanimously.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 10.34 p.m.
Attest:
_____________________________________
/s/ Shelley Neis, Clerk Administrator
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Town Council/Parking Authority September 27, 2016