By Clarence Cromwell
Winding up the environmental study on Old Town's proposed expansion, the Planning Commission closed its final public hearing on the subject Nov. 13.
It recommended that the Town Council accept the environmental-impact report--including the testimony commissioners heard--which will allow the town to move on to deciding whether Old Town owners Deke Hunter and Ed Storm can remodel their shopping center and construct two new buildings on top of their sunken parking lot across the street.
The most frequently raised concerns at the three public hearings the Planning Commission held were over potential parking shortages, traffic problems on University Avenue and on Edelen Avenue--the back way to Old Town--and loss of the auditorium that some Los Gatans want preserved as a community theater.
Storm said he's willing to deal with theater lovers, if they can come up with a tenant who will pay rent for the auditorium. Members of Los Gatos Friends of the Arts say they have more than one theater company interested in calling Old Town home. They've met with Storm to try to cut a deal, but don't want to reveal who the interested groups are until arrangements are firm.
Members of the group say a theater will bring plenty of evening and nighttime business to the area.
The traffic and parking concerns have been noted in the EIR, but the document says there will be no significant impact in traffic. Parking problems during construction or in nearby neighborhoods may be significant, the EIR says.
Planners considered a barrier across the end of Edelen Avenue, near the center, to keep shoppers from speeding down the residential street en route to stores.
Some University Avenue residents and business owners added last week that they think the project will create more traffic on that street than the EIR indicates.
Parking during construction will be eased by working on the project in phases, limiting delivery hours for construction materials, and providing off-site parking for construction workers.
The EIR acknowledges that the 30,000 square feet of new retail buildings will require more parking when completed, but concludes that the increased numbers of shoppers will park in downtown lots, since Old Town has 463 unused parking credits that will allow it to rely on town lots.
The document calls for tougher parking restrictions in nearby neighborhoods, to prevent on-street parking.
Most of the parking testimony came up at an April meeting, where commissioners hashed over a preliminary draft of the report.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, November 20, 1996.
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