By Clarence Cromwell
An Anderson Chevrolet truck store will be allowed open on the lot at Shannon Road and Los Gatos Boulevard that has stood vacant for six years, the Town Council decided Oct. 21.
Councilmembers overturned the Planning Commission's decision that the dealership would not fit into the Los Gatos Boulevard Plan, despite continued pressure from area residents to junk the proposal.
The council did not, however, give Maxim Investments permission to knock down the vacant building on the lot and construct a flat-roofed sales building. On a 3-1 vote, with Steve Blanton dissenting and Patrick O'Laughlin absent, it granted permission for the dealer to use the site, if it designs a better building. It asked the company to design a building that will fit in with the surrounding residential neighborhood--something with a pitched roof.
The council also added restrictions to the dealer's permit, in response to neighbors concerns. A dozen residents of nearby streets asked the council not to approve the truck store because they feared a handful of ill effects: noise from power washers early in the morning, increased traffic from test drives, bright lights from the lot reflecting into nearby back yards and complications for traffic at the Shannon-Los Gatos Boulevard intersection. And although residents are displeased with the building that stands on the lot now, they also called the building Maxim planned to build a potential eyesore and unbefitting their residential area. Of 22 speakers, 12 opposed the dealership; the rest were mostly other car dealers or local business people who supported Anderson Chevrolet.
Councilmember Linda Lubeck, who made the motion to grant Anderson Chevrolet a use permit, added some restrictions to address the neighbors' concerns. She said a traffic study of the area should be required. She also said that: lighting must not unreasonably affect neighbors; test drives may not pass through nearby residential streets; semi trucks that deliver vehicles to the dealer must drop them off at Anderson's main lot on Los Gatos Boulevard; customers must not be allowed to park on Shannon Road; and the truck shop cannot service vehicles.
The town staff had already proposed to ban the dealership from using power washers or loudspeaker paging systems, both of which have angered neighbors of other Los Gatos car dealers.
In addition, the debate continued over whether the project is true to the boulevard plan. Although the Planning Commission found that it is not, Lubeck, a member of the General Committee that wrote the boulevard plan, said the project conforms. Writers of the boulevard plan concluded at one meeting that a dealership would be appropriate for that site, Lubeck said.
Blanton said he opposed the project because he believes that, after six years of peace, neighbors have a right to expect that a potentially intrusive use won't be restored on the property.
When the truck shop opens, it will also bring the city $129,000 in sales tax each a year, according to Anderson Chevrolet's figures. That's the tax on the 60 trucks per month the dealer expects to sell.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, October 30, 1996.
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