Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Planners table first proposal for development on North Forty

Plans for Chevron station remodel also denied

Both lack community benefit

By Jeff Kearns

Planning commissioners voted unanimously to put off a decision on the first attempt at large-scale development on the North Forty last week, citing the need for more direction from the Town Council and better guidelines for how the property will be developed.

Bill Hirschman of Maxim Investments, the same developer who's trying to put more than 30 homes near the intersection of University Avenue and Highway 9, wants to put an office/retail complex on Los Gatos Boulevard at Bennett Way.

At an earlier meeting the same day, the General Plan Committee sent a request to the council to put the North Forty Specific Plan on a fast track. The plan, which outlines how the area will be developed, will be incorporated into the town's general plan. The town recently hired a consultant to help work on the plan.

The North Forty is the last large undeveloped area in the town, currently an orchard bounded by Los Gatos Boulevard, Lark Avenue and highways 85 and 17. The entire area has a mixed-use commercial zoning designation. The town has been trying to come up with a coherent development plan for the area since 1991, although the owner, Tom Yuki, has shown no sign that he wants to sell off the property.

Councilmembers have said that they would not approve any zone changes on the North Forty until the area has a specific plan, but they haven't passed a resolution saying so. Hirschman's first step toward getting the project approved is to get a zone change for the property, which would be developed under a special planned development ordinance.

Although they praised the way the plan conformed to the Los Gatos Boulevard Plan the town adopted last year, the commissioners also directed Hirschman to come back with a clearly outlined community benefit for the project and to scale back the mass of the buildings.

The commission also shot down plans for a remodeled Chevron station on the edge of the Almond Grove district. Chevron says that the current station, at the intersection of Highway 9 and Massol Avenue, is in need of a major overhaul before next year, when more stringent federal guidelines for underground gasoline tanks become effective. Chevron also says that it needs to remodel the building on the site, which it says is too small, falling apart structurally, and suffering from "a horrible pigeon problem," according to company representative Kevin Cornell.

Neighbors on Almendra Avenue, whose homes back up to the service station, have mobilized to fight the revamped station because Chevron wants to demolish the building currently at the back site and build a new one on the side. Putting the new snack shop there, they argue, would open up their homes to increased noise and glare from neon lights which are currently blocked by the building. Chevron has also received permission from the town to convert more than 300 square feet of space from use as a service bay to retail use.

Neighbors are also wary of Chevron's plans to close one of the three driveways to the service station. Because motorists frequently cut through the station when making a U-turn to head back toward downtown on Highway 9, Chevron says that closing the entrance closest to the corner will discourage people from making the maneuver. Neighbors say that it would cause more cars to spill over on to Almendra Avenue.

The commission voted 7-0 to deny the project.

Commissioner Kathryn Morgan said that Chevron's plan fell short in terms of making a community benefit. "We must find that there is a strong benefit to the plan," she said.

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