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Local nurseries get reprieve on paving their parking lots
By Jeff Kearns
Green Thumb Nursery owner Steve Molho gathered more than 700 signatures from customers urging the town not to require him to pave his gravel parking lot, and Town Council members received over 50 letters and emails on the topic.
"Save Green Thumb Nursery!" one email said.
Molho got what he wanted last week, when councilmembers voted to give the nursery a year's extension on a condition that requires the nursery to pave its parking lot and stripe parking stalls.
Mohlo says that he'd probably move the business out of town rather than pave his parking lot, because he needs the gravel area to display flowers and that it would ruin the rural feel of the nursery. Paving the lot, he says, would replace cool gravel with hot asphalt, making it impossible to put flowers and plants on the ground, and require a costly drainage system because of increased runoff.
Councilmembers apparently agreed. "This property is exceptional," Randy Attaway said. "It's one of the things that makes Los Gatos special."
They put the condition requiring paving on hold for a year and told the Planning Department to explore possible zoning code amendments or other alternatives for the town's nurseries.
Planners say they don't know yet what kind of options they'll be able to put on the table, but one answer may be just to create an exception for nurseries in the town code.
The General Plan Committee has also added language to the plan that makes it a priority for the town to preserve small, unique businesses that contribute to town character, and a zoning exemption would be consistent with the new general plan, assistant planning director Bud Lortz said.
Green Thumb, which was founded almost 50 years ago, has been in the same place since then. The town required nurseries to get use permits in 1977, but allowed them a 20-year period to comply. Green Thumb was supposed to have a permit by 1997, but never got one because it would have meant paving the parking lot.
The Planning Commission approved Green Thumb's application in May, subject to the town's paving requirements, and Molho appealed that decision to the council.
"Los Gatos needs to get back to that small-town charm that seems to be disappearing," Molho said after the meeting. "The nursery symbolizes the old-town, rural feel of the town."
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
