Council is seeking a solution to packed planning sessions

By Nathan R. Huff

The Town Council agreed on April 3, that something has to be done to stop the late night/early morning marathons that Planning Commission meetings invariably become. What that solution is, however, remains to be decided.

Council members and commissioners agree the bulk of Planning Commission meetings are spent on architecture and site review. As architectural discussions become more detailed, applicants and the public end up waiting hours for their projects to be discussed. A substantial backlog of proposals awaiting commission approval already exists, and the next several meeting agendas are filled.

In some municipalities, architecture and site review are handled by a separate committee, commission or town architect. Following a Feb. 26 council study session with the Planning Commission, staff was directed to return with details on alternative design review processes.

Council members informally discussed the possibility of appointing a town architect, an architectural committee or commission. This would encourage further use of study sessions or the addition of a third meeting each month. They will continue the discussion at the next joint council-commission meeting.

"Everything I see from the minutes says we need more meetings," councilman Joe Pirzynski said, adding that everyone makes worse decisions when they're forced to work late into the night. "I don't think we can let things go on the way they are."

Councilwoman Linda Lubeck said she was in favor of exploring the possibility of a new committee. A group of architectural experts could sit on the committee with several lay people to add greater community perspective. Lubeck asserted that creating such a body would free up the Planning Commission to concentrate more on land-use decisions.

Lubeck's idea did not gain widespread council support, however. Councilman Jan Hutchins said that since there was virtually no acreage left in Los Gatos for building, the concentration of the Planning Commission has to remain on design. Mayor Steve Blanton said he feared creating a "star chamber of architects."

"When you establish a committee like this with the best of intentions, the individual members are very opinionated," Blanton later said. "They have their own views of how architecture is supposed to be, and oftentimes the community winds up bearing the thumbprints of who's on the committee."

Blanton said he was more interested in the possibility of a town architect that planning commissioners could use as a reference point.

Planning Commissioner Lee Quintana attended the meeting, and later said the commissioners would definitely like the commission meetings to be shorter. Although she did not want to advocate any plan yet, Quintana said she'd personally be willing to add an extra meeting each month. However, that would not necessarily solve the underlying problem.

Greg Moss, a local builder and real-estate broker, supported increasing the number of study sessions, particularly in the early stages of project planning. "If there was a process before coming to the Planning Commission," Moss said, "it would make it a lot less adversarial."

At least one local citizen feels the commission is doing a bang-up job. While newly arrived Los Gatan Ray Davis acknowledged meetings sometimes run painfully long, the end result was better planning, he said.

"Architects don't show up [before the Planning Commission] arrogant like they do in so many communities," Davis said. "They show up with their hat in their hands."

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