Editorial

Compatibility remains a key consideration

There was a time when someone would mutter over the back fence, "Well, there goes the neighborhood"--and everyone would understand that "an undesirable element" was moving in and that property values would likely plunge.

In Los Gatos today there is considerable concern about neighborhoods. The fear, however, isn't that property values will go down. The fear is that the property values will soar and turn a community that prides itself on its economic diversity into an enclave for the rich.

For Los Gatans who don't want their community to change, the "undesirable element" is the very affluent beneficiaries of Silicon Valley's astounding wealth. The fear is that a community already known for its affluence is being gentrified, and that people who could once afford to move here--people who would be valuable community assets--will no longer be able to live here.

Today's "undesirable element" is characterized by the huge--monster--houses many of the newly wealthy want to impose on neighborhoods noted for their human scale.

In Los Gatos, as in other communities, officials have taken steps to try to preserve neighborhoods. In some cities, two-story additions are now verboten in one-story neighborhoods. Los Gatos' Planning Commission wants new homes or additions to be compatible with the neighborhood.

Compatibility is a valuable guideline. And when the issue is an oversized stucco house in a neighborhood of carefully preserved Victorian and Craftsman homes, it's a guideline that's easy to follow.

When the call isn't so obvious, flexibility is required. That's the value of guidelines--they aren't hard and fast rules.

The Planning Commission told Daryl Monk his second-story addition was incompatible with his neighborhood on Chester Street. Last week, the Town Council reversed the commission and gave Monk the go-ahead.

Monk didn't want to impose a monster house in his neighborhood; he just wanted to improve and enlarge his tiny cottage so that he could continue to live in Los Gatos with his growing family.

Many of the homes in Monk's neighborhood were built as summer cottages, many with substandard single-wall construction. Does it make sense to require that improvements be compatible with these houses? Probably not.

At the same time, the new construction will double the value of Monk's property. That's something that would have been considered a benefit once upon a time. These days, some would say it's a dubious benefit. It means one less "affordable" house in Los Gatos.

We think the council made the right decision in this case. That is not to discount for a moment the strength of the Planning Commission's argument that neighborhood compatibility is a compelling consideration.

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