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Even the Taj Mahal of gas stations is still junk
By Mark Brodsky
What makes up the character of Los Gatos--the people or what they have built? It is tough to decide because we are a very unique and creative lot.
Where else would an automobile showroom become a spaghetti factory and then a brewery? Who would expect a funeral parlor to become a restaurant, and how many places have true western saloons rebuilt to withstand earthquakes?
Perhaps it is the pioneering spirit and sense of history that, after Loma Prieta, rebuilt a downtown that still had "character." It certainly shows in photographs of my son leading the Christmas parade. Everyone who sees them is impressed enough to ask about Los Gatos. Perhaps that is because most everywhere else looks so bad.
Eighty percent of everything ever built in America has been built since World War II, and a lot of that is just plain junk. Strip malls, cheap subdivisions, big-box outlets, fast-food franchises and gas station convenience stores.
This week, the people of vision in Los Gatos can choose to build something better.
On March 22, the Planning Commission will review an application for a proposed gas station-convenience store-car wash in the North Sixty (the North Forty plus an additional 20 acres nearby). It will be made to look nice, but compared to what the community has asked for, it is still junk! Even if it is the Taj Mahal of gas stations, it still is an insult to everyone who participated in the Boulevard Plan, the Charette, or the North Forty planning review.
The community has asked the town to rezone the North Sixty to provide services to Los Gatos. These include a transit center, some affordable housing, magnet school or hotel, live theater, soccer, or sports center, some open orchard space over underground parking, and now a children's hospital.
Instead of an integrated plan for these community requests, the town is entertaining the proposal for another gas station. This is because there is nothing in current zoning or planning that shows a higher use for this land.
Property owners do have rights to make a profit, but a carefully planned development of this area will yield even higher returns and benefit far more people. All that is needed is a comprehensive plan for these precious, and irreplaceable, 60 acres. Then property owners, both large and small, will have a map showing how their parcels fit into an overall development.
The existing General Plan and Boulevard plans have proved to be flawed, and the latest North Forty plan seems only an exercise to justify piecemeal projects, such as this gas station. That is why the town must follow its own policies and decide land-use on the official town vision.
This vision for Los Gatos can be seen in the Town's new Strategic Plan (found on the town's website at http://www.los-gatos.ca.us/los_gatos/residents/stratpl.html). It calls for many wonderful improvements in transit and land use. If built they will help deflect the crush of traffic and expense of living here. What is missing is the plan of action to, as Cmdr. Picard would say, "Make it so."
The North Sixty must be part of an integrated approach to accomplish these wonderful goals. If we [allow] the selling off of parcels piecemeal now, how can we be successful? Just ask yourself the following questions:
* Where will the Highway 17 express bus stop? In Downtown, causing more congestion?
* How will Highway 17 commuters get to the Vasona Light Rail park and ride? By clogging Lark Avenue?
* Where will more affordable housing be built if not mixed into commercial buildings as they are on Main Street?
* Where can satellite parking be built and how will people use it? Will we condemn all our less fortunate to trailer parks?
* Will parents with sick kids stop for gas and a snack in Los Gatos on their way up to Stanford?
* How far must families commute to find an open soccer field?
* And, why do all new buildings seem more at home in Southern California instead of looking like our Chamber of Commerce brochure?
The only answer to these questions can be found in detailed planning which meets the requirements of the town's strategic plan. Development on the North Sixty should be stopped until we have that plan. It is in keeping with their character that the people of Los Gatos speak out now. Not only is there no historic value in building a gas station, it does nothing to reduce traffic, improve parking, create more housing, or make it easier to locate a hospital, soccer field or school.
As a product of the '60s, I still believe in community action, I believe spirit defines substance; I believe architecture defines a people's ideals. As a systems engineer I know that there are technical solutions to the problems of congestion and traffic. I know we can implement many of them with an integrated plan for the North Sixty.
It is in your hands, Los Gatos. Are you up to the task? Come to the meeting and do not allow our destiny to be sold off piece by piece.
Mark Brodsky is a Monte Sereno resident. He has been active in planning for Los Gatos Boulevard and the North Forty for a number of years.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
