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Editorials
Developer treated the process with disdain
What does it take to convince the Town Council to say "enough is enough" to a developer? The Braddock and Logan Group wants to turn the Villa Felice property into a development of 36 to 39 homes, but from the developer's history with the Planning Commission--not to mention its experience with the property's neighbors--it's clear the developer thinks the town's planning process is a joke.
Twice the Braddock and Logan Group has come before the Planning Commission; twice the developers met with neighbors at study sessions. But none of the meetings convinced them that their controversial plan needed modification.
We're particularly concerned about the developer's cavalier approach to the study sessions.
These sessions came about for the express purpose of bringing developers and neighbors together to exchange views outside the formal structure of a Planning Commission meeting.
Developers who appreciate the opportunity for this kind of informal exchange, even with neighbors who are adamantly opposed to their project, have often found that compromise is achievable.
When the Planning Commission voted on April 28 to deny the application, Commissioner Paul Bruno suggested that developers who squander the opportunity to work with the community actually harm the participatory process by turning it into a war of attrition--wearing down the opposition so they stop showing up at meetings.
If the developers weren't trying to wear down the opposition, they were, at the very least, treating the process with disdain.
And their punishment? The council voted 3-2 to give them one more chance. We think the community would have been better served if the council had said, "Enough is enough."
Common Sense
When 700 patrons of Green Thumb Nursery affixed their signatures to a petition urging the town not to require the paving of a gravel parking lot, we suspect they were sending a bigger message to the Town Council than a preference for gravel over pavement.
The message? Let the town's charm remain.
Not only does it defy logic to pave over a gravel parking lot where contained plants sit as part of the retail display, it argues with common sense to force a 50-year-old, one-of a kind business to conform to a look that doesn't suit it and which will detract from its charm.
With our society's continuing pressure to conform to a standardized look--the cookie-cutter addition to Old Town, with its mall-type shops comes to mind--is it any wonder that 700 people were willing to sign on the dotted line to preserve a look that's unique to the town?
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
