By Clarence Cromwell
Town Council members on Nov. 4 took a look at parking north of Highway 9 and at the sale of alcohol in gas stations.
The council appeared agreeable to the proposed parking plan for the area north of Highway 9, but asked the city staff to put in writing its justification of the $4,000-per-space price tag for area landowners, as well as a report on how the parking money would be spent, when collected.
The spaces cost $1,500 apiece for the city to construct, but Director of Building and Engineering Scott Baker said he wants to also charge businesses for 25 years of parking lot maintenance and adjust the prices of the spaces to reflect inflation. That would amount to $5,500 per parking space, but Walgreen Drug Store dickered the price down by 27 percent.
The proposal of a parking plan arose when Walgreen's asked to remodel its store, 18 parking spaces short of the number the town requires.
Walgreen's occupies one of 19 parcels where improvements are forbidden because the property lacks sufficient parking.
Attorney Peggy O'Laughlin, representing Walgreen's, warned the council that the price may be too high for small merchants in that area.
Councilmember Steve Blanton questioned whether charging the fees would solve parking problems or "simply collect money."
The plan would put uptown landowners on the same footing as their neighbors south of Highway 9, who paid dearly for their nearby parking lots, Planning Director Lee Bowman said.
The council will take final action on the parking plan at its Nov. 18 meeting.
After five months of waiting, Los Gatos-Saratoga Road Chevron is in the home stretch on its application to turn what used to be one of its automobile service bays into a snack shop.
The station asked for a routine architectural and site approval on alterations to the building last June, but officials held up the project to make sure their approval wouldn't inadvertently open the door to liquor sales at gas stations.
Chevron managers say they don't intend to ever sell alcohol at that store.
But allowing gas stations to expand and sell more types of goods might make them convenience stores by definition, planning officials said, after consulting town codes. Convenience stores can sell liquor in Los Gatos.
They rewrote the "service station" description in the town zoning codes to encompass gas stations with a small selection of snacks and drinks, thereby preserving the ban on hard liquor sales at gas stations. The town also prohibits convenience stores from existing within gas stations, so liquor and gasoline are unlikely to be sold at the same business in Los Gatos.
The council introduced the ordinance Nov. 4. It must still hold a second reading Nov. 18, during which residents may still comment on the new ordinance. After the second reading, the council can accept the changes to Chevron's building.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, November 13, 1996.
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