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COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
DATE: JUNE 7, 2016
TO: MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL
FROM: LAUREL PREVETTI, TOWN MANAGER
MEETING DATE: 06/07/16
ITEM NO: 12
DESK ITEM
SUBJECT: APPROVE A PILOT CLOSURE OF A PORTION OF SOUTH SANTA CRUZ
AVENUE TO ADDRESS CUT THROUGH TRAFFIC
REMARKS:
After the addendum was distributed on June 6, 2016, the attached public comments were received
(Attachment 4).
Attachment 1 (Previously received with staffrenort on June 2 2016-
1. Draft Closure of a Portion of South Santa Cruz Avenue
Attachment 2 (Previously received with Addendum on June 3 2016)-
2. Communication received from 11:01 a.m. Thursday, June 2, 2016 through 11:00 a.m. Friday, June 3,
2016.
Attachment 3 (Previously received with Addendum B on June 6 2016):
3. Communication received from 11:01 a.m. Friday, June 3, 2016 through 11:00 a.m. Monday, June 6,
2016.
Attachment (Received with this Desk Item):
4. Communication received from 11:01 a.m. Monday, June 6, 2016 through 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, June
7, 2016.
PREPARED BY: MATT MORLEY
Director of Parks and Public Works
Reviewed by: Assistant Town Manager Town Attorney - Finance
SACOT-NCIL REPORTS\2016 \06 -07 -16 \Cut Through Traffic\Desk Item -Cut Through Traffic FINAL.docx
From: Greg Marrone
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2016 2:43 PM
To: Town PPW; Matt Morley
Cc: BSpector, Marico Sayoc; Marcia Jensen; Steven Leonardis; Rob Rennie
Subject: Almond Grove access over weekend
To Whom It May Concern:
I see that the town again is limiting access into the Almond Grove off highway 9 (the turn at Massol) and
also from Ridgecrest (Hernandez onto Ellenwood a week or two back) during times of high- volume
beach traffic, and am trying to understand the logic. The problem, as I understand it, is congestion in the
neighborhood streets. So the solution is to require the residents to drive into highly congested areas in
order to get home or in order to move within the neighborhood ?? This seems utterly ridiculously to me—
you solve the problem of congestion (i.e. access) by restricting the access even further. How is one to
make sense of this?
I find it particularly annoying that a week or two ago you had cones up at the entrance to Ellenwood from
Hernandez. Thus, a trip from my house on Overlook to my mother's house (at the top of Bachman)
would have required waiting in a three -block line of cars down to the corner at Glenridge, presuming you
did not cone off Glenridge as well. Again, if these traffic control "solutions" are intended to aid the
residents, I suggest a re -boot.
I tried calling Public Works about this, but no one actually answers the phone there near as one can tell. I
also understand that there is a council meeting tomorrow night that will cover this issue, but cannot make
the meeting. Accordingly, I have copied the council members hoping this resounding "no" will end up in
their packets.
Sincerely,
Greg Marrone
From: Barbara Holden
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2016 5:06 PM
To: Matt Morley
Cc: Marico Sayoc; Steven Leonardis; Rob Rennie; BSpector; Marcia Jensen
Subject: closing south entrance 17
Dear Matt:
I am very excited about your proposal to close S Santa Cruz at Wood on heavy beach traffic days. I hope
you are getting lots of traffic counts before & during to see how much help it gives us.
Thank you!
Barbara F. Holden
ATTACHMENT 4
From: Kevin Falini
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2016 11:08 PM
To: Laurel Prevetti
Subject: Re: Council Referral: Los Gatos: A Town Under Siege - I will try to attend - In case I cannot,
here are the key points I have in mind
Laurel,
Thank you for your note.
I will try to be at the Town Council Meeting tomorrow night by the time Item 12 is covered but I
am not certain that this will be possible. I am the president of a small HOA and we are holding
a general meeting tomorrow night which also begins at 7:00 PM.
In case I am not able to attend, here is the key points on my mind:
As I have shared previously, I am very supportive of closing the south end of Santa Cruz
Ave. However, a single weekend test is little more than lip service and almost certainly doomed
to failure. It won't prove anything. If used to test the success of failure of the idea, it
will simply suggest that we are helpless. We are not.
Very few experiments of any kind yield valid results after a single trial and there is no reason to
believe that this would be the case with this test. With the proposed closure, there will be a
learning curve, aided by both formal and informal, personal and electronic communication and
socialization. This will simply not happen in one or two days on a given weekend. There will be
return traffic in the first weekend and possibly a lot of it. That return traffic will dissipate over
time as people come to understand that Santa Cruz Ave is closed as a route to 17S EACH AND
EVERY WEEKEND, ALWAYS AND FOREVER.
This will not be bad for business. It will be the best thing to happen to downtown businesses in
the last few years. Most people I know who live outside of Los Gatos simply refuse to come to
town anymore, calling it "an absolute disaster" even on weekdays. Talking about "how bad Los
Gatos is" has become a common rant for people in neighboring communities. While the streets
are jammed with weekend beach traffic, the parking lots are empty. Nobody in their right mind
would come to Los Gatos to shop or dine in this environment and very few do. Almost none of
the beach goers stop to do business in Los Gatos, for fear of losing their place in the endless line
of traffic they have joined.
Please feel free to share the above thoughts with the Town Council.
Again, I appreciate your efforts. They are directionally correct. Now we need to follow -
through. A check swing won't do the trick.
Thank you.
Kevin