Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by Jeff Kearns

Bill Hirschman of Maxim Investments explains his development plans for 330 University Ave. to Patty Peebles at a neighborhood meeting.

Maxim courts Edelen area residents

By Jeff Kearns

It was a tough crowd. People demanded to know why he was out to make a buck at their expense. They asked if the regulations would even permit such a thing. And, they said, the whole thing would screw up traffic in the area because the reports defy common sense.

How many trees would be cut down? they asked. What if there's a fire? How much grading will there be?

Bill Hirschman was on the spot. His company, Maxim Investments, wants to build several houses near downtown. Originally, he came in with a proposal for 34, but the Planning Commission sent him back to redesign and scale down the project. At this point, Hirschman isn't sure what number he's going to bring with him when he goes back to the Planning Commission Aug. 26, but says he won't go under 23 units--the minimum density allowed on the site.

Many of the neighbors don't want any houses at all--they're perfectly happy with the site the way it is, with just two old houses on four almost-empty acres at the intersection of University Avenue and Highway 9.

But after the meeting, Hirschman was optimistic. "I'm pleased with the outcome," he said. "They understood the process, and they understood that I wasn't an evil developer."

The Aug. 5 meeting was the first time Hirschman had met with the neighbors around the site he wants to develop, but it's not the first time anyone has done such a thing: SummerHill Homes held several neighborhood meetings over almost two years before it won approval for a controversial development on Blossom Hill Road last month, and representatives met one-on-one with residents dozens of times. It was a long, slow process, but the company's patience and emphasis on communication eventually helped win over many skeptical neighbors.

Hirschman hopes he can do the same thing, and he's got his work cut out for him: None of the 20 or so neighbors who came to the meeting said they wanted the development, and their opinions of his proposal ranged from wary to angry.

"The plans you want for a development don't fit with anything in this neighborhood," Helen Gillespie said. "It's not right at all." Others said the new development would ruin the character of the historic neighborhood.

Hirschman maintained that because the project is surrounded by tall trees, most people don't even know that the site is there, and the houses would be all but invisible from the street. "I don't think you could find another parcel of land that's tucked away like this one," he said.

But he concedes that the most visible part of the project will be the traffic. To offset the impact, he wants to rebuild part of the University Avenue/Highway 9 intersection. Currently, where northbound University meets Highway 9, there is a left-turn lane (which doesn't have an arrow), a through lane, and a right-turn lane. Some neighbors complain that making a left there can take two cycles of the light, and that when more than two or three cars are stacked up waiting to go straight, it cuts off access to the right-turn lane.

"It already backs up," Stacy Stewart said. "We're primarily concerned because we don't know the impact of Old Town yet."

Hirschman says that he can raise the level of service at the intersection by taking out part of the planting strip between the street and the sidewalk to enlarge the right-turn lane, and lengthen the queue lane for cars waiting to make a left. Neighbors asked about changing the cycles of the lights to favor the traffic on University, but Hirschman said he had already talked to Caltrans and was told that it isn't an option.

On the southbound side of University, he proposes taking out two parking spaces to allow more room for cars making a left into the development, which will have only one entrance.

In its last iteration, the proposal came in at just over seven houses per acre. Although many critics have called the project high-density, the site has the same medium-density residential zoning as the rest of the Edelen Avenue area, which allows between five and 12 units per acre.

Hirschman says that the redesigned plans will leave more open space on the site by giving some houses underground parking. Commissioners were also concerned about the number of homes on the site, which may or may not be changed when the new plans are submitted.

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