Staff Report
PREPARED BY: MONICA RENN
Economic Vitality Manager
Reviewed by: Town Manager, Assistant Town Manager, Town Attorney, Community Development
Director, and Finance Director
110 E. Main Street Los Gatos, CA 95030 ● 408-354-6832
www.losgatosca.gov
TOWN OF LOS GATOS
TOWN COUNCIL REPORT
MEETING DATE: 3/20/2018
ITEM NO: 9
DATE: MARCH 6, 2018
TO: MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL
FROM: LAUREL PREVETTI, TOWN MANAGER
SUBJECT: TOWN CODE AMENDMENT APPLICATION A-15-005. PROJECT LOCATION:
TOWN WIDE. APPLICANT: TOWN OF LOS GATOS.
INTRODUCE AN ORDINANCE OF THE TOWN COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF
LOS GATOS AMENDING SECTION 29.10.150 OF CHAPTER 29 (ZONING
REGULATIONS) OF THE TOWN CODE REGARDING THE REQUIRED PARKING
REQUIREMENTS FOR RESTAURANTS.
RECOMMENDATION:
Introduce the draft Ordinance (Attachment 2), by title only, to amend Chapter 29 (Zoning
Regulations) of the Town Code regarding the required parking requirements for restaurants.
BACKGROUND:
In September 2015, the Council began considering a series of policies and Code amendments
that relate to businesses, some of which included formula retail, retail and restaurant
definitions, and the relationship between parking requirements and seating capacities in
restaurants. The series of items were reviewed at multiple Policy Committee, Planning
Commission, and Town Council meetings. Specifically, the conversation and recommendations
regarding how the seating capacities for restaurants are calculated have been discussed at the
following public meetings:
• October 6, 2015, Town Council Study Session
• December 15, 2015, Town Council
• January 13, 2016, Planning Commission
PAGE 2 OF 5
SUBJECT: AMENDMENTS TO THE TOWN CODE REGARDING THE REQUIRED PARKING
REQUIREMENTS FOR RESTAURANTS. TOWN CODE AMENDMENT A-15-005
MARCH 20, 2018
BACKGROUND (Cont’d):
• March 16, 2016, Planning Commission
• October 4, 2016, Town Council
• February 15, 2018, Policy Committee
On December 15, 2015, the Town Council discussed the potential separation of parking
requirements and seating capacities and expressed interest in exploring options that provide
businesses with the most flexibility to operate their restaurants with a number of seats that i s
both safe and operationally feasible. The Town Council voted unanimously to direct staff to
present options to the Planning Commission regarding potential ordinance language to
decouple parking and seats.
In early 2016, the Planning Commission discussed the item at two meetings and forwarded a
recommendation to the Council to decouple parking. The recommendation was to use a ratio
of square footage to seats calculated by the staff, which would require an extra layer of review
and consideration by staff and would not achieve a goal of simplifying and streamlining the
review process for businesses as discussed later in this report.
The Planning Commission’s motion on March 16, 2016 was as follows:
Motion made by Commissioner O’Donnell to recommend to the Town Council to
decouple parking from seats, with the decoupling requiring approval of what would be
substituted for the present measurement; and that 150 square feet was the factor
discussed to determine how many parking spaces are required and 40 square feet was a
factor discussed to determine the maximum number of seats allowed. After a second by
Vice Chair Kane, Commissioner Hudes requested that the motion be amended to include:
the seating not exceed fire code; and that the staff look at not on ly one seat per 40
square feet, but look at the other numbers that were discussed, including one seat per
22 square feet. The maker and seconder of the motion both accepted this amendment
and the motion passed 3-2 with Chair Badame and Commissioner Erekson opposing
(Commissioners Burch and Hansen were absent).
The Council considered the Planning Commission’s recommendation at its meeting on October
4, 2016. There was support for the decoupling of seats and parking; however, by unanimous
vote, no action was taken on the ordinance amendments and the matter was returned to the
Policy Committee for consideration along with several other parking topics.
PAGE 3 OF 5
SUBJECT: AMENDMENTS TO THE TOWN CODE REGARDING THE REQUIRED PARKING
REQUIREMENTS FOR RESTAURANTS. TOWN CODE AMENDMENT A-15-005
MARCH 20, 2018
DISCUSSION:
Throughout the past few years, during conversations regarding a variety of other topics, Town
staff and the Council continue to hear feedback from stakeholders that the business related
rules, regulations, and permit processes in Los Gatos are time intensive, expensive, and lack the
flexibility needed for businesses to innovate in a time where the brick and mortar commercial
industry is dynamic and changing at a faster than ever pace. In order for the Town to allow
current businesses to adapt and stay relevant, while attracting new businesses to Los Gatos,
reviewing and modifying the Town’s business regulations has been identified as an element of
the Council’s goal to promote Community Vitality.
Given this goal, the Policy Committee began reviewing many of the business related items that
were discussed in 2015 and 2016 that had no action taken. The linkage between seating
capacities and parking spaces rose to the top of the discussion through community input at the
Policy Committee’s meeting on February 15, 2018. In particular, several businesses requested
that seats be regulated by Fire Code occupancy requirements and not by parking spaces. This is
the basis for the proposed ordinance (see Attachment 2).
Because this item has already been considered by the Planning Commission, it has been
returned directly to the Council for consideration and potential adoption. In addition, if the
proposed ordinance is adopted, a condition regarding seating can be added to all Conditional
Use Permits (CUPs) without the need for any of the establishments to come forward for a CUP
modification. This is similar to the approach the Town used to address security at
establishments with alcohol in the 1990’s.
Removing the language in the Town Code that restricts the number of seats in any restaurant
based on their parking space allocation provides several businesses supportive benefits with
little impact to the community.
All commercial buildings where the public may gather are assigned a maximum Fire Code
occupancy set forth by the California Building Code, and are regulated and monitored by the
Santa Clara County Fire Department. Furthermore, restaurants are assigned a maximum
occupancy, which is posted in a place visible to the public. These regulations are in place to
ensure the public’s health and safety in the building. It should be noted that the fire occupancy
for seating within restaurants is calculated based on square footage for the dining area only,
and is monitored on a regular basis by the Fire Department.
Currently, Town Code Section 29.10.150 provides parking restrictions for various commercial
establishments based on square footage of the entire space (kitchen, storage, dining, and other
areas). For restaurants, staff calculates the maximum number of seats allowed based on the
PAGE 4 OF 5
SUBJECT: AMENDMENTS TO THE TOWN CODE REGARDING THE REQUIRED PARKING
REQUIREMENTS FOR RESTAURANTS. TOWN CODE AMENDMENT A-15-005
MARCH 20, 2018
DISCUSSION (Cont’d):
number of parking spaces. In the case of downtown, extra research is done to determine onsite
spaces and additional parking space credits in the Parking Assessment District. For multi-tenant
buildings, staff conducts a parking analysis that includes all the parking spaces for the building
and compares that to each use within the building envelope to ensure seats are only granted
for parking spaces/credits that exist. This extra layer of staff work and conversation with the
potential restaurant and the property owner is one that staff believes could be removed to
create a more streamlined process given that the health and safety of the public is ensured
through the state mandated Fire Code occupancy limits.
It is estimated that most restaurants, especially in downtown currently have more seats than
allowed by their CUP; however, all restaurants are required to meet their fire occupancy limits.
Given this, two points become clear: first, restaurants need the ability to serve more patrons to
maintain the high over-head costs of doing business in this valley; and second, it is not likely
that a parking impact will be realized with a change in the relationship between parking spaces
and seating capacities. Current transportation trends also indicate that more dining patrons are
using ride services such as Lyft and Uber on a regular basis.
Feedback from various stakeholders has indicated the type of restaurant will also continue to
dictate how and where guests sit within the dining space. Fine dining establishments tend to
want more space between tables and fewer guests seated at any given time, where those with
faster or more casual atmospheres may look for more opportunities to seat guests.
CONCLUSION:
Attachment 2 contains proposed language to amend Section 29.10.150, amending the
provisions of seating capacities based on parking spaces. This amendment decouples seats and
parking requirements, and requires restaurants to meet the same parking requirements that a
retail use of the same square footage would require. With the absence of seating capacities in
the Town requirement, the default seating capacity would be regulated by the California Fire
Code occupancy.
The draft Ordinance (Attachment 2) details the proposed amendments. The proposed draft
Ordinance amendments are shown in red font and all deletions are shown in red strikethrough
font.
Staff recommends that the Town Council:
1. Make the finding that there is no possibility that this project will have a significant
impact on the environment; therefore, the project is not subject to the California
Environmental Quality Act [Section 15061(b)(3)] (Attachment 1);
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SUBJECT: AMENDMENTS TO THE TOWN CODE REGARDING THE REQUIRED PARKING
REQUIREMENTS FOR RESTAURANTS. TOWN CODE AMENDMENT A-15-005
MARCH 20, 2018
CONCLUSION (Cont’d):
2. Make the required finding that the Town Code (Zoning Regulat ions) amendments are
consistent with the General Plan (Attachment 1); and
3. Introduce the Ordinance (Attachment 2) of the Town of Los Gatos affecting the
amendments of the Town Code regarding parking requirements for restaurants (A-15-
005), by title only, with any specific changes identified and agreed upon by a majority of
the Town Council.
COORDINATION:
The report was coordinated between the Town Attorney’s and Town Manager’s Offices, and
the Community Development Department.
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT:
There is no possibility that the project would have a significant impact on the environment;
therefore, the project is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act [Section
15061(b)(3)].
Attachments:
1. Findings
2. Draft Ordinance