Jewish Community Center wins OK for renovation and an expansion

New facility will include a performing arts center

Benefits impress planners

By Gloria I. Wang

The Los Gatos Planning Commission on Feb. 27 approved a renovation and expansion of the Jewish Community Center at 14855 Oka Road, agreeing with the center's position that its benefits to the community--including a 250-seat performing arts center--would outweigh any negative impacts.

Commissioners also approved the design for the 117,000-square-foot building as well as a conditional-use permit for the center's operation.

The center acquired the property in 1984 from the Los Gatos Union School district, with the expectation of replacing the two main buildings and three portable classrooms in the early 1990s. Those plans never were carried out, however, and the old buildings continued to house the Jewish Federation of Greater San Jose, Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center, Yavneh Day School and Jewish Family Services of Silicon Valley.

Now, those buildings will be consolidated into one main building, which will contain an auditorium, a gymnasium, a fitness center, an art gallery and a performing arts center with seating for 250 people.

According to federation Executive Director Jon Friedenberg, the existing and future facilities benefit more than just the Jewish community. Friedenberg said the athletic facilities--the campus' soccer and softball field, tennis courts and swimming pool--are used by community members from the area. Meeting rooms in the building will be available for use by a variety of community groups.

The "most dramatic example" of the community benefit, Friedenberg said, is the performing arts center, which will provide some much-needed rehearsal and stage space for anyone to use. In addition, the art gallery, which will be free of charge, will display work from "renowned" local artists as well as schoolchildren.

"So I think that, through the programs that are available and the amenities that we'll continue to make available for community groups, that it really will be a campus that will be ... viewed as an asset by the entire community," Friedenberg said.

Three months earlier, planning commissioners had reviewed the proposal but voiced concern with issues such as traffic mitigation and use and occupancy limitations. A traffic consultant determined that while traffic at the intersection of Lark Avenue and Oka Road would not be impacted, the intersection of Lark and Winchester Boulevard would be worsened. To that end, the center agreed to contribute $80,000 toward traffic mitigation measures.

Commissioners had also expressed a fear that the center's fitness club would become overpopulated and that the school would become overcrowded. In response, the center revised its original proposal, which would have permitted nonmembers to attend exercise classes. The new proposal states that one has to join the center to attend its classes, thereby limiting the number of people using the fitness center.

To further reduce use and occupancy, the center agreed to limiting day school and preschool attendance to 560 students, monitoring the parking lot and staggering school hours to decrease the number of cars dropping off and picking up students at any given time.

More than 30 people attended the planning commission hearing in support of the project; however, only three spoke, citing the regional benefits of the expansion.

Phil Kipnis lives down the street and said his neighbors had phoned him and stopped him while he was walking his children to the day school, saying they were excited about the project and wanted to use the new facilities.

Kipnis said in a later interview that the center had tried four times in the past 18 years to come up with plans for expansion, but each plan was insufficient to meet the needs of the community beyond the Jewish residents. Finally, the center worked out a plan--and received enough funding--to benefit the larger population.

"I am so excited about what this center and this new campus will do for not just the Jewish community, but the entire Los Gatos-Santa Clara [County] community, and I wish that you would consider this positively," said Bonnie Slavitt Moore, president of the federation.

Planning commissioners spent little time discussing their opinions of the application, only asking for a slight modification of the language in the conditions of approval. Originally, town staff had suggested a condition that called for a six-month review of the parking situation; commissioners changed the language to reflect complaints about use instead of merely about parking.

The commissioners' unanimous vote to approve the project was met with cheers from the audience.

Friedenberg said that later, the group returned to the center and celebrated the expansion's approval. "We were just thrilled," Friedenberg said, adding that working with planning staff and commissioners was a positive and reasonable experience. "Every step of the way, people were just doing their jobs, and being professional and helpful."

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