New development would improve 'shabby-looking' corner lot
Planning approves plan for offices, apartments
Owner will fix up roads
By Gloria I. Wang
A development on the corner of University Avenue and Los Gatos-Saratoga Road --which the town says will do more than just improve the shabby-looking lot--was recently approved for construction.
The property owner and developer of the three lots has also offered to contribute $50,000 for road improvements on University and traffic improvement measures on nearby Wraight Avenue in response to neighborhood concerns.
That, combined with the rental and below-market price housing aspect, were the key community benefits that led Los Gatos planning commissioners to approve Marie Peterson's application for a 11,000-square-foot office and apartment building May 8.
A dilapidated brown and beige house currently sits on the most visible of the three lots, just west of the Highway 17 on-ramps and off-ramps. Peterson's proposal is to demolish that house and two others and in their place erect a two-story, Spanish Colonial-style mixed-use building.
While neighbors and the town alike said they like the building's design and architecture, commissioners asked for certain changes to be made in the plans.
Of six proposed apartments, commissioners eliminated one of the two-bedroom units, reducing the building's parking requirements and decreasing the square footage of the second floor.
And where Peterson had originally planned to pay a required in-lieu fee instead of dedicating an apartment to the town's below-market price housing program, commissioners asked for one of the units to rent at below the market rate.
Another condition of approval involved parking, which was widely debated at the hearing. Architect John Lien said that the building's 24 underground spaces--less than the town's requirement of 39--would be shared by office workers and residents, and that the parking arrangement would be spelled out in the lease agreements.
Planning commissioners, however, were afraid that there wouldn't be enough spaces and that the building's tenants would resort to street parking, which disturbed the neighbors. Commissioner Jeanne Drexel placed a condition on the town-issued permit: Six months after the building's occupancy, the town would review the parking situation and evaluate whether it would require the employees to park on a nearby town-owned lot.
In his presentation to the commission, Lien described the Los Gatos-Saratoga Road/Highway 9 entrance to the building as articulated and larger. On the residential side, the project would appear "simple" and "understated," Lien said. The development also includes extensive landscaping and two fountains.
The shared parking plan, Lien said, would be to tell residents that they would not be guaranteed parking between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., and tell employees that there would not be guaranteed parking for them on nights and weekends. If workers came in during off hours, they would have to seek parking elsewhere.
"I suggest that there will not be a conflict with each use," Lien said. "In the eyes of the [town's] ordinance and in the eyes of practical application, I think it works very well."
When asked about parking enforcement, however, Lien admitted that the parties would merely be held responsible to the lease agreement, but that there would be little or no enforcement.
Los Gatos Director of Community Development Bud Lortz added that an example of an existing shared parking situation is the Le Boulanger building on the corner of Montebello Way and Main Street, which has no parking spaces of its own. Instead, the workers and tenants must rely on the public lots nearby.
"The idea of the whole concept here is that you've got a parking resource and you maximize the use of that resource," Lortz said. "This becomes a resource that can be jointly used."
Residents of Woodland, Wraight and Bird avenues and Chester Street--neighborhoods adjacent to the lots in question--came out in force, not to protest the development but rather the traffic caused by the development, which would exacerbate the already unsafe roads.
"I think it's a lovely design. I'd like to see it go up," said Bird Avenue resident Brian Kulman, who then explained that his main concern was with the cut-through traffic coming from drivers who use his neighborhood to avoid the stoplight and backup generated from University Avenue and Los Gatos-Saratoga Road.
Kulman said the best solution was to make Wraight a dead-end street, preventing traffic to and from Los Gatos-Saratoga Road. Another solution would be to make parallel streets Woodland and Wraight southbound only to discourage cut-through drivers who want to get onto University.
"When we say we've had enough of the speeders and the danger to our children, seniors and animals, we speak most knowledgeably and with one voice," said Bird Avenue resident Michael Kane. "We are walk-to-town villagers as long as we can get across Death Row--I mean Highway 9."
Neighbors also protested the development's vehicle driveway, which was from Wraight. Most said access from Los Gatos-Saratoga Road would alleviate the problems in the neighborhood. They acknowledged, however, that Los Gatos-Saratoga Road is Caltrans property and therefore not under the town's jurisdiction.
"If you cannot effect that change," said Wraight resident Dom De Ranieri, "then something has to be done, and maybe that's outside your scope." De Ranieri asked commissioners to look into closing off Wraight, echoing Kulman's request.
Wraight resident Heather Roberts focused on the existing parking problems in the neighborhood. "It is somewhat of a park and ride opportunity, particularly for the tradespeople," Roberts said, explaining that construction workers often leave their cars in the area because of parking restrictions on work sites.
"To say that the parking situation will be handled and enforced by a legal document such as an office lease or an apartment lease I think is just foolish," Roberts added.
University Avenue homeowner Dan Ross said the town needs to take into consideration the "cumulative effect" of all the future developments in the area. According to Ross, the traffic analysis of the site, which said it would not cause any significant impacts, failed to take into account Highway 17 traffic, cars from the Sobrato development farther north on Winchester, or the impact of a development on the mobile home park at Woodland.
"The neighbors love the project and hate the traffic," Lien said. While Lien emphasized that the traffic analysis said the impact was insignificant, the developer wants to be a good neighbor.
As a result, Peterson agreed to contribute to any improvements on Wraight--including possibly blocking off the street or bulb-outs--and help pay to reconstruct the corner of Los Gatos-Saratoga Road and University, which was admittedly a preexisting condition. Peterson was willing to spend a total of $50,000 for work at both locations.
"If this is what's going to sway it for you, that's what we're prepared to offer," Lien told commissioners.
Commissioners approved the project after a lengthy dialogue, debating community benefit, traffic and parking.
"The traffic problems are there right now," said Drexel. "I don't think that that's a good reason to hold up the project."
The commission advised Lortz and other town staff to initiate traffic-calming measures: complete a study of the situation in the neighborhood, identify the best solution and implement a solution within six months. Potential measures include making Wraight parking by permit only, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, or, as neighbors suggested, making those streets one way.
Burke maintained that the development was just too intense for the site. Despite the condition to eliminate one apartment, which would shave 1,000 square feet off the total area, Burke insisted that the building was too large; he was the sole dissenting vote.
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
