Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Council bounces Calvary Church gymnasium back to town planners

Neighbors appealed, saying proposed facility is too tall

Sinking building 'not viable'

By Jeff Kearns

Calvary Church hit yet another roadblock Jan. 5 in its long quest for the town's approval of its three-year-old expansion proposal, losing an appeal by neighbors who continue to fight the project.

The Town Council voted unanimously after the emotionally charged hearing to send Calvary's architecture and site application back to the Planning Commission to work out a series of changes made to the master plan.

Many of Calvary's neighbors fear the 52,000-square-foot multipurpose building and expanded parking lot would be too large for the neighborhood.

"The proposed gym is just too tall for its location, given the bulk of the building," Gail Brady, who filed the appeal, told the council. Brady and other opponents suggested that the gym could be sunk into the ground, and offered other ideas to help soften the effect of the large structure. "A lower roof-height would lessen the impact of this building on this neighborhood," Brady said.

The issue of the building's height leaves open the rift between neighbors and the church. At the meeting, architect Sal Caruso showed computer-generated diagrams and photos of mock-ups to illustrate the building's height. His design places the bulk of the building toward the middle of the church property, away from Robie Lane, where many of the disgruntled neighbors live.

Caruso has worked extensively to create a design that interferes minimally with the surrounding area by setting the building back from Robie Lane, sloping the structure to preserve views and using landscape to screen the parking lot and buildings from view.

Still, neighbors aren't satisfied.

"This building is going to take away the sun, the trees, the hills. It's squeezing everyone out," Robie Lane homeowner Jackie Newhall said.

But Caruso says sinking the building is not a viable alternative. "Undergrounding would be an exorbitant expense for a nonprofit organization, and ADA [compliant] ramps would pad the expense," he said. "The building has several emergency exits, so it would look like a maze of ramps from the outside." Caruso said the additional expense would be more than $800,000. Another building on the Calvary campus was partially undergrounded, but he said it has flooded repeatedly. "It was the single largest design error on the campus, which no one wants to repeat."

Others who spoke stressed that the church had done a good job of working with area residents.

"I know this has been going on for 2 1/2 years, but life is really about compromise," Carol Biersch said. "We could sit here and go through this for another 2 1/2 years and come to the same conclusions. Nobody is going to be completely happy. The church has gone above and beyond to meet concerns."

Brady also objected to plans to demolish a house at the end of Robie Lane, which would be removed to make way for part of the new parking lot. "I don't understand why that got approval. Everyone knows there's a housing shortage in the whole valley."

Councilmembers also decided to send the demolition request back to the Planning Commission for additional consideration.

The multipurpose building would include offices and classrooms, but also a gymnasium with two NCAA-standard basketball courts, which some neighbors worry would be used for public events.

"How are we going to handle these big events? That would be a big building that would handle a lot of people, maybe a thousand. We've got to think of the community," Robie resident Deanna Dresti said.

"I'm happy that the council decided to send it back for more consideration," Brady said after the decision, "But I wish that they would have asked them to lower the height of the building."

Calvary Church project director Steve Torres said he wasn't sure what the church would do next.

"The decision by the Los Gatos Town Council touches on a wide variety of issues," he said in a written statement. "We are evaluating all of the information before us and will then determine how we will proceed."

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