Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Editorial

Los Gatos Boulevard plan needs a price tag

After three years of planning and rigorous public review, the town's Planning Commission last week approved a plan to beautify Los Gatos Boulevard. Providing for landscaping, mini-parks at key intersections and a set of design standards for new buildings, the plan will reshape what is now a hurried-feeling auto thoroughfare into a more pedestrian-friendly street.

The Weekly-Times would like to see a stroll down Los Gatos Boulevard become the pleasant experience that the plan envisions, because this brings the area closer to the small-town ambiance of Los Gatos.

But as with all great visions, the challenge will be figuring out how to pay for it. These funding specifics were noticeably absent from the plan.

Planning staffers, interviewed by the Weekly-Times, say town capital improvement funds are the most likely source to pay for the improvements. The town also would require developers to complete frontage improvements on all new buildings. State and federal grants are possible, although no one was been able to say what kind.

Planning Director Lee Bowman said it would be impossible to know the overall price of the project because he doesn't know what part of the work will be funded by the town and what part completed by private parties. The price tag remains a big question mark, and this is a concern.

If town capital improvement funds are going to be tapped, the public has a right to know how much money is involved. The council needs to decide how much of the work the town will complete, or at least get an estimate for the work on the town-owned right of way along the boulevard.

The Town Council also must take into account that it has already promised to spruce up both the downtown business district and the Town Plaza. An additional improvement project requires input from Los Gatos residents about how much they want to spend remodeling the city and which projects they want most. Perhaps residents would prefer to see downtown improvements completed first, because the area is used by more people.

Additionally, some residents may want the town to spend capital improvement money on a number of projects that went unfunded in the spring during budget hearings. Those include improvements to downtown parking and the Los Gatos Creek Trail, and the burial of utility lines. The latter seems pertinent after the recent fire ignited by PG&E lines.

Residents and businesses might choose a different funding source than the public subsidy the town currently has in mind. One option would be an assessment district. Assessments have proved unpopular downtown, but they might be worth trying in a new area. If enough Boulevard businesses support the plan, they might be willing to pay for all or part of it.

If, on the other hand, residents roundly support a capital improvement expenditure to spruce up the boulevard, they should be provided with some financial details and given the chance to say so.

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