By Clarence Cromwell
Cupertino Development Company plans to build 13 condos at 337 Bella Vista, after getting a zoning change at last week's Town Council meeting, as well as town permission to merge the property with a larger parcel of land across the street. Cupertino Development is already building 35 houses at 371 Bella Vista; last week's decision will allow the company to take over the nearby 1.12-acre parcel that another development company never finished building out.
The developer removed one below-market-price unit from the larger project to make way for a road to the newer parcel. The council required Cupertino Development to repair an emergency access road that will serve the project and a nearby housing complex.
Neighbors raised concerns about additional traffic, but councilmembers said the streets should be able to handle the level of traffic.
Councilmember Randy Attaway said the town needs more high-density housing, such as the condos proposed at this site.
The Riding Company, which wanted to build houses at 742 University Ave., registered its displeasure with the town's decision-making process on that project by asking the town on Feb. 3 to return the company's application fee.
The council agreed with the Riding Company that it should return the fee.
The town policy has been that a developer can get 40 percent of its money back only if the application is withdrawn before the Planning Commission hearing, but the Riding Company had a commission hearing and a Town Council hearing on its project.
The council was sympathetic to the claim because two of its members, as well as two planning commissioners, encouraged the project while they were sitting as members of lower town committees, before the proposal died at the council level.
At a Jan. 21 meeting, the council asked for a town code amendment that would allow it to refund developers' money under unusual circumstances. The amendment and Riding Co.'s refund both were approved last week.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, February 12, 1997.
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