Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Councilmembers and planning commissioners look at an artist's rendition of the Blossom Hill Pavilion and at the finished center during a tour to evaluate some of their recent decisions.

Town officials take inventory

Councilmembers, planners take stock of their decisions

By Clarence Cromwell

A busload of councilmembers, planning commissioners and local developers pulled up at the Cornerstone Shopping Center last Wednesday evening, filed off the bus and took a long, wistful look across the intersection.

The Dome of Blossom Hill Pavilion--a 36-foot-high walk-in wedding cake of wooden posts topped with copper sheathing and finished off with a frosted Hollywood Video sign--looked indifferently back.

"If I had another chance," Commissioner Kathy Morgan said, "I would not approve that."

Then officials turned their backs on the dome and strolled through Cornerstone Shopping Center, a retail plaza designed by the same architect who did Blossom Hill Pavilion, and marveled at its subtleties.

These were stops No. 7 and 8 on the town's second-ever field trip to allow officials to review their recently approved work. The tour, which carried officials past 45 finished projects or vacant parcels and stopped at eight of them, let officials mull over their decisions of the past few years and decide what they wish to see more of and what they never want to see again.

Also along for the ride were developer Dave Flick, Summerhill Homes representative Elaine Breeze, a few members of the town's General Plan Committee and the planning staff. The last such tour took place in 1978, Planning Director Lee Bowman said.

"We're going to look at things we could do differently in the future," Councilmember Randy Attaway said. "We're always trying to be better. Seeing examples of good design makes us want to demand good design."

Certain jewels shined during the tour.

One was the Open Doors affordable-housing development on Parr Avenue, a 64-unit family complex with on-site day care. Officials praised the design, which tricks the viewer into seeing a row of small houses that is actually a single, large apartment building.

Attaway said the project is a good example of a low-cost housing development that fits in Los Gatos; he can think of projects with an equal level of density that don't fit, he added.

There was also the Office Depot building at Lark Avenue and Los Gatos Boulevard. Visitors to town always ask how the town got Office Depot to build a smaller building than usual, Bowman said. The building is as large as other Office Depots, but is turned so one of its smaller sides faces the road, so it looks small.

Bowman showed tour-takers a fire-access road that delayed the trip by several minutes, spent unlocking gates and navigating a narrow trail. He said many of the town's fire trails are poorly maintained and are very difficult for fire engines to traverse.

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