Attachment 4On Mar 16, 2018, at 12:20 PM, Larry Arzie <larryarzie@gmail.com> wrote:
Monica,
I attempted to get this to you by 11 am but failed. Hope you can email it to all the council members at
their town e-mail addresses.
Thank you,
Larry Arzie
On Fri, Mar 16, 2018 at 12:14 PM, Larry Arzie <larryarzie@gmail.com> wrote:
Monica/Town Council/Planning Commission
Thank you for notifying us regarding the continued pressure from some property owners and
restaurants to eliminate the tying of seats to restaurant permits. pa
.
There seems to be no let up on the desire of continued intensification in the CBD as a means to increase
revenue. Often staff is on the bandwagon to allow this to happen due to a misguided feeling that this is
the panicea for a so called revitalization of down town. The tying of seats to parking is the only way we
have to control more restaurant intensification and and packing more bodies into restaurants. This
without providing more parking. We just handed out two use permits this past week, one for a game
store with less retail and more service and another for food services. So yes we need to be concerned
about tying parking to usage as there are now 2 less spaces for general retail not just seats to parking.
The question we need to ask ourselves is why this is happening? Why do we feel that downtown is not
vital? The easiest culprit is the changing demographic and the changing retail practice of ordering on
line. Certainly these two antagonists are a factor but the primary cause is the increase in overhead for
retail businesses in this changing market place. Los Gatos has one of the highest commercial rents in the
bay area and the return for investment does not allow for startups to open shop. Charging $5.00 or
more a square foot is our primary problem. Only C.U.P. business's can survive. Landlords favor C.U.P.
business's because they can pay these rents. Again, pushing to eliminate tying seats to parking is the
only way to increase rents but also increase the demand for parking. Even if we build parking garages
for another 100 spaces we will not resolve the parking problem.
If there is any revitalizing needed in Los Gatos, which in my opinion there is little, it would start with
tight control of C.U.P s. With less C.U.P.s rents will
drop and small general retail is likely to return. Empty store fronts are a self inflicted condition. Leaving
them empty is a normal strategy for property owners
to win over "the sky is falling" powers that allow C.U.P. operations to open up shop down town. This is a
proven strategy with the net results of more C.U.P usage, and less retail and less parking, i.e.. Soul
Cycle.
One needs to separate a restaurant C.U.P. from formula retail when discussing solutions. National
chains are not the primary users of parking they are
lumped into the equation but do not cause all the parking problems. I advocate for formula retail
downtown that is primarily general retail that does
not lead to the demise of small general retail. They often causing less of a parking problem. Home stores
come to mind. i.e. William Sonoma and Restoration Hardware. Again the problem here is that rents are
at issue and surprisingly they pay less than $5.00 a square foot. We accomplished this by sending out
our profit and loss statements to prospective tenants keeping a well rounded mix on our properties. We
pre-selected our tenants and not just hung
a for lease sign up.
In the past we had de-facto commercial rent control downtown with strict control of our C.U.P.
regulations keeping a healthy supply of retail available at prevailing rates that allowed small business to
survive. I would suggest we return to this practice and return small business to downtown. Monica I
hope you supply Council with copies all previous writings regarding this continued effort of to undue
what was a workable solution. It worked well in not turning Los Gatos into an entertainment district. I
worked well at keeping rents within reason.
I am heartened to see that the Chamber of Commerce has for the first time since it's re-establishment
in Los Gatos publicly announce that property owners are a continued factor in keeping small general
business away by inflating rents. A refreshing voice on the right side of the path to a strong and healthy
down
town. Tying seats to parking is only one of the issues we have downtown and tinkering with this and
ignoring other issues will only lead to more problems. One cannot say that untying seats to parking will
not cause further problems. Side walk seating, one way streets, more food service business and other
issues
all need to be addressed.
Larry Justo Arzie
On Fri, Mar 16, 2018 at 9:11 AM, Monica Renn <mrenn@losgatosca.gov> wrote:
Good Morning,
I wanted connect today to follow up on a few items. The Policy Committee met in February and heard
from the Chamber of Commerce and several businesses on concerns with the Town’s current policies
and business permitting processes. The subject of regulating restaurant seat capacities by parking space
credits was discussed at this meeting and the Policy Committee forward their recommendation to the
Council for consideration.
This discussion will take place with the full Council this coming Tuesday, March 20 during the Town
Council meeting. (7 p.m. at 110 E. Main Street). If you own a restaurant, or have any thoughts you’d like
to share with the Town Council on the restaurant seating regulations in Los Gatos, please feel free to
join the conversation on Tuesday evening during the meeting, or provide your input via written
comments to me no later than Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. (Any written comments received by today at
11 a.m. will be shared with the Council and published this afternoon, otherwise they will be posted on
Tuesday afternoon).
The full staff report is available online at
https://granicus_production_attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/losgatos/29b897a594023ae9d3ce6ab9b1
4cc6e3.pdf, item number 9.
In addition, the Policy Committee met again yesterday to continue their discussions on business
permitting related items including formula retail regulations and the Town’s Alcohol Beverage
Policy. Staff will return with alternatives to how the formula retail provisions are applied to downtown
at the next Policy Committee meeting scheduled for April 19, 2018 at 10 a.m., and will forward the
Committee’s recommendations on the Alcohol Beverage Policy to the Council at an upcoming meeting,
yet to be scheduled.
Please feel free to share this with other stakeholders that may be interested, and if you have any
questions, let me know. If you plan to attend the Chamber’s Community Vitality Meeting on Tuesday
3/20 at 9:30 a.m. at Loma Brewing Company, I will also be there sharing an update on these items and
am available to answer questions or chat after the meeting.
Have a great weekend!
Kindly,
Monica Renn
Economic Vitality Manager
Town of Los Gatos
From: Monica Renn
Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2018 12:14 PM
To: Monica Renn
Subject: Policy Committee Meeting Tomorrow
Hello,
I’m connecting with you today because you have shown recent or past interest in the Town Council’s
conversations regarding business regulations in Los Gatos, including items such as seating calculations
for restaurants, formula retail regulations in Downtown, or generally how we regulate and define food
uses.
The Policy Committee is meeting tomorrow, February 15, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. in the Town Council
Chambers (110 E. Main Street) to discuss these items and set priorities for bringing recommendations
back to the full Town Council. Please take a moment to review the agenda and staff report available at
the link below:
http://www.town.los-gatos.ca.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_02152018-1196
If you have comments, you may submit those to me in writing via email before the meeting, or join us at
the meeting tomorrow. This is a public meeting with an opportunity for verbal comment. Please feel
free to share this with others who may be interested.
For those who may not be familiar, the Town Council Policy Committee is comprised of two Council
members (Mayor Rob Rennie & Councilmember Marcia Jensen) who make recommendations on policy
related issues to the full Town Council. I’m happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.
Kindly,
Monica Renn
Economic Vitality Manager
Town of Los Gatos