Open space district needs docents
The Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District needs volunteer docents to deliver lectures and lead hikes into open space preserves.
The district offers a training program to equip docents starting out from various levels of skill.
After 10 weeks of training, the docents teach area residents about numerous topics, including the geology of earthquakes, signs of wildlife, local logging history and interpretive techniques.
Docent training begins at 6:30 p.m. March 18 at the district offices in Los Altos.
After that, classes are scheduled for 7-9 p.m. Tuesdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays until May 20. For information, call 415/691-1200.
Planners refuse innovative design
Stan Field's design for a 13-unit apartment building at 14960 Terreno de Flores won Planning Commission praise last week--but it didn't get approved.
Although all six members present loved the stark stucco-and-glass treatment, the innovative design just didn't say "Los Gatos" to them, planners explained.
Field objected: "I could have said, 'Let's find some cottagey little roof,' and it would have sailed through, I'm sure.
"I would be reluctant to start picking [the design] apart," Field continued. He said reworking the project might cause its form to "unravel."
Members of the commission explained that they'd like to see something innovative that also matches what's already been built here.
Commissioner Sandy Decker, who said she enjoyed looking at the design, also said the commission wants to avoid any community backlash, such as the complaints planners faced after construction of the Blossom Hill Pavilion, the retail center with the 36-foot-high dome, at the corner of Los Gatos Boulevard and Blossom Hill Road. Additionally, if Field's design is approved, others may copy it, Decker said, and that would be bad.
With a 5-1 vote, commissioners sent the architect back to the Development Review Committee.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, March 5, 1997.
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