Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Old Town gets thumbs up for opening Borders early

By Jeff Kearns

Planning Commissioners gave Old Town manager Ed Storm permission to open Borders bookstore before Steamers completes its move across University Avenue, previously a condition of the use permit for the site. Storm said that Borders could be ready to open in as few as 30 days, and that the old Steamers building will probably be demolished sometime in January.

Steamers sits on what will later become part of the shopping center's parking lot, but Storm says that Old Town's light occupancy load will mean less demand for parking. The new underground garage across the street, he said, could be open as early as Sept. 10 or as late as Oct. 1.

Seven businesses are currently open for business at Old Town. Indian Store owner Janice Benjamin said she was looking forward to having the bookstore open. "I'm really anxious to see another retail store move into the building," she said.

Neighbors from the Edelen Avenue neighborhood also pushed for Borders to open as soon as possible--as long as the barrier closing the south end of their street at Mullen Avenue is up before the store opens.

Storm says he's ready to start work on building the barrier, which should take about two weeks, but needs permission from the town before he can start. The planning department sent out notices to the neighborhood showing the proposed design for the barrier, with a gate between two planters, which has led to disagreements over the design of the barrier between some Edelen residents. All residents agree that the barrier should go up before the bookstore opens. The barrier was tacked on as a condition of approval for Old Town.

Edelen resident Ron Pulling pushed for an electronic gate at the barrier, which he said Edelen residents should be given access to with a code or electronic key. Planning Director Lee Bowman said, "The town's experiences with electric gates has been abysmal; they break; they get vandalized, they don't work. You can't go around closing existing streets and expect them to work the way they used to."

The barrier will be built as proposed by the town.

Commissioners also took a look at an office building proposal for 15737 Los Gatos Blvd., located on a lot behind Classic Burger. The proposal, submitted by William Errico and Dennis Chegwin, would put a 7,519-square-foot building behind the restaurant and share a parking lot. The site is a "landlocked" lot with no frontage on any street, but project architect Rodger Griffin says Classic Burger has signed a letter of intent to dedicate an easement through the restaurant's parking lot. In exchange, developers will repave and relandscape the parking lot for both buildings.

Developers are also applying for general plan amendment to change the land use designation from low-density residential to mixed-use commercial, and a zone change from residential to commercial.

The project will come back to the commission Aug. 26, in order to give neighbors more time to study the design and discuss it with the developers.

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