The town's new planners are busy seeking housing
By Nathan R. Huff
Two fresh-faced planners were recently hired by the town of Los Gatos in its ongoing attempt to maintain a full staff. Twenty-nine-year-old Steven Lynch and 28-year-old Joel Paulson are the newest members of the town's planning department.
The planning department suffers one of the worst attrition rates of the town's various divisions, victim of a booming private job market for planners and engineers that offers higher salaries and attractive stock options. The sky-high cost of area housing doesn't help the town attract or retain employees, either.
Still, Los Gatos was just the type of town Lynch was interested in joining. "I was looking for a medium-size city with a certain mix," he said. "I wanted long-term and short-term planning, combined with downtown, commercial, hillside and industrial planning issues."
Lynch said he is just beginning to take on individual projects while both he and Paulson learn the "Los Gatos system." An expert with the computer program ArtView Mapmaking, Lynch has also been updating the town's computerized planning maps.
Moving north from San Luis Obispo, where he earned a master's degree in city planning and worked for the city, Lynch said he is having "extreme difficulty" finding a place to live. Luckily, his wife's family lives in Almaden, which gives Lynch a base from which to house hunt.
Paulson, who is renting in south San Jose, said he was prepared for the sticker shock of the real estate market since he already knows a number of people in the area. A Humboldt State University graduate, Paulson most recently worked as a county planner--the sole planner to be exact--for a north-central Nevada county.
Engaged to be married in September, Paulson said he and his wife-to-be intend to stay in the area. "So far it seems to be a pretty good little town that's very community-oriented," he said.
Paulson said there are definitely more regulations in California than in Nevada. Otherwise, both he and Lynch said the planning process in Los Gatos is more or less the same as in other communities.
If there's any difference, Lynch said, it's in the attention Los Gatos pays to the small details of projects. However, while that might mean more labor, it makes for more interesting day to day work. Lynch said. "It's definitely rewarding working with good planning practices."
Salaries for associate planners in Los Gatos start in the low $40,000s.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
