Editorials

Suburbanites taking fresh look at density

Last week the Los Gatos Town Council took a big, bold step when it approved Sobrato Development Companies' mixed-use project on Winchester Boulevard near Highway 85.

There are those, however, who believe this leap into high-density housing was a very big mis-step. Many who feel this way are local citizens who have worked hard to preserve the community's character. Some have been active in neighborhood organizations or have served on committees and task forces which played a role in development of the General Plan revision adopted in 2000.

Their arguments in opposition to the project were solid and based on their interpretation of the General Plan.

The arguments on the other side were solid as well--and also based on the General Plan, albeit a different interpretation of the document that guides town growth.

We think the council made the right decision, one that acknowledges that this community can be unique and true to its own character without withdrawing from the greater community that undeniably is also home to everyone who lives in Los Gatos.

This project would never have been acceptable in any other part of Los Gatos. For that matter, there really is no other location in town that could accommodate such a large-scale development.

But the availability of the land is just one of the reasons the project makes sense. When Sobrato first proposed putting a massive research and development complex there, it was hard to find a convincing "community benefit," something required of all planned developments.

So Sobrato added rental housing, and not just a little rental housing. The addition of 135 rental units, 25 percent of them below-market rate, will go a long way toward solving one of this community's most pressing problems--housing for those who work in the community but can't afford to live here. Add to that the location of the project in a transit corridor, and it's hard to imagine how the council could have turned it down.

For suburbanites, the term "high density" has always had negative connotations. High density conjured up everything suburbia, with its single-family homes and pretty green lawns, was not.

But as idyllic suburbia morphed into suburban sprawl, and suburbanites began choking on exhaust fumes as they sat in bumper-to-bumper traffic wondering whether their adult children could afford housing in the community where they grew up, some suburbanites began to think that high density--if it's planned well and located in transportation corridors, might not be so bad, after all.

We believe this transition to new ways of thinking about how we live with other people and with the environment played an important role in the council's final vote. It was not a mis-step, but a step toward smart growth.

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