News Briefs
Waterway tax on the ballot
A 15-year parcel tax to finance ecosystem improvements in Santa Clara County creeks and the San Francisco Bay will be placed on the November ballot by the Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD).
The tax, which amounts to $39 a year for the average homeowner, would replace an assessment approved by voters in the 1980s that has expired.
If approved, the tax will fund SCVWD's Clean, Safe Creeks and Natural Flood Protection Plan. The plan includes increasing urban runoff prevention measures, vegetation management to restore fisheries and riparian habitats and a number of flood-related capital improvements.
Planning appeals headed to council
The town council will tackle two different appeals of planning commission decisions on Aug. 7, one filed by a developer and the other by neighbors.
Dividend Homes Inc. will be bringing a four-lot subdivision on Nina Court to the council for a second time. The planning commission has denied the application twice. The developer appealed the first denial to the town council, which sent it back to the planning commission. The application remained virtually unchanged, and the planning commission denied it again, saying there was too much grading, the access road was unsafe and the homes did not fit into the surrounding neighborhood.
The second appeal is over the commission's approval of two homes on Wedgewood. Neighbors have fought the application on the grounds it's out of scale with the neighborhood and presents traffic safety problems.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
