Council newcomer: Joel Gambord
By Clarence Cromwell
Suzanne Jackson teamed up again with council newcomers Gordon Knight and Joel Gambord at a council goal-setting meeting Feb. 7, this time in calling for a more permissive rewrite of Monte Sereno's code book.
Jackson supported Gambord's move at a recent meeting to slash regulation of historic properties.
Although no vote was called on the government-trimming proposal, council members made their positions clear, dividing 3-2, along the same lines that defined the historic preservation issue.
Gambord and Knight, new council members, who ran a campaign supporting less intrusive government, proposed to make city government less intrusive by rewriting not only the heritage preservation ordinance--already proposed in January--but just about every other chapter of the city code as well. Gambord wants property owners to have "wiggle room": His proposal would allow city staffers or the council to make exceptions for those who don't quite meet conditions of zoning laws because of special circumstances.
"We need to be able to think, and the staff needs to be able to think and use judgment," Gambord said. "We're not dealing with nuts and bolts that come out of a factory. We're dealing with people's property. There's a lot of unusual things."
Currently, the only "wiggle room" in the code book is an allowance for the council to issue variances; such exceptions to the rules can be made only in circumstances explicitly detailed in the city codes.
Gambord said the staff should give variances in property setbacks or building heights if the builder misses the limit by a couple of feet, or the city council could make exceptions for larger departures from the rules.
Mayor Jack Lucas and Councilmember Dorothea Bamford disagreed.
The change is unneeded, Lucas said, because the council can already issue variances, and he wouldn't want to give that power to the city staff.
Another obstacle to Gambord's plan is that the city must set specific limits for development in city code books and cannot bend them without breaking the law. After the meeting, Lucas produced the section of the California Government Code that says the city can't approve a building that doesn't meet the specifics of its code. Strand said she was likewise advised by the city attorney that any special exceptions the council wants to make must be described in detail within the city code.
Strand said the only way to make exceptions, as Gambord suggested, would be to sift through the entire city code, page by page, and add specific exceptions to the rules.
Strand suggested instead a one-time remodeling variance to let property owners expand to slightly more than the maximum coverage allowed on their property in a home-improvement project. She said numerous property owners have been tripped up by the rule limiting the square footage of their houses.
Bamford fought for the current version of the code book.
"It seems to me that you need a good, clear ordinance, which we have," Bamford said. She argued that the ordinances result in uniform, objective decisions, whereas allowing more discretion for council members or staff would benefit some applicants more than others.
In the end, the council decided to let Strand and the city attorney draw up a more lenient draft of one section of the city code. They'll debate the merits of the rewrite at a future meeting.
Gambord additionally proposed giving the city staff a refresher course in customer service. He compared his goal of a friendly staff to the service Monte Sereno residents would get at Nordstrom.
Lucas and Bamford argued against retraining the city staff in customer service, saying the job belongs to the city manager.
The council also discussed other goals at the meeting.
Council members will meet with City Manager Gay Strand each month to learn how the staff is completing tasks assigned by the council.
Jackson wants to establish an emergency preparedness plan for the city, and Lucas wants to get a new draft of the general plan finished. Bamford called for council decisions that are more consistent with the town code and the general plan.
The council also agreed that Monte Sereno needs to beef up the offerings on its Web page.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, February 19, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.