Los Gatos Weekly-Times

The Meadows would like to serve fruit of the vine

By Clarence Cromwell

Los Gatos Meadows has appealed Planning Director Lee Bowman's decision refusing to allow service of alcohol at the Wood Road retirement home. The Planning Commission is scheduled to hear the appeal Nov. 12.

The Meadows simply wants to serve wine or beer to a few residents and their guests, administrator James Hempler said. He estimated that 10 to 15 percent of the facility's 205 residents would partake of wine if it were offered in the dining room.

The wine wouldn't be part of the regular dinner menu but would be available. Those who want wine with meals currently have to bring their own bottle to the cafeteria.

Selling beer and wine, however, is forbidden in residential areas, Bowman explained. Bowman turned down the application but said he's trying to help The Meadows sell beer and wine legally.

It won't be easy.

The only way for the town to give permission for beer and wine at The Meadows would be a change in the planned development ordinance that allows the facility to operate. A change in the ordinance requires hearings before both the Planning Commission and the Town Council, for which the application fee would be $9,000. The Meadows declined to apply for such a change and instead appealed Bowman's decision.

The appeal is scheduled for Nov. 12, after Hempler asked at an Oct. 8 meeting that it be postponed. Denial of the appeal is likely because Hempler has asked the commissioners to approve a land use prohibited by the town code.

"We're hoping to find a different way," Hempler said. "This is a unique problem that may not belong in the typical appeal process."

One possibility would be to change the law that forbids alcohol sales in residential areas, but the town staff has already advised planning commissioners not to do so because such a move would probably allow for beer and wine sales in all residential parts of the town.

In an Oct. 8 letter to the Planning Commission, Hempler explained that The Meadows needs town approval to receive a limited specialized license, one granted only to retirement homes, from the state department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

Since only residents and their guests use the dining room at The Meadows, the volume of alcohol sold would be minute, Hempler said.

Hempler argued that the residents live at the facility and should be able to drink wine in their home just as anyone else would. He added that a small amount of red wine with meals can improve health in a number of ways.

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