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Creekside development fails to address the impacts
By Nathan R. Huff
Developers of a creekside property in Los Gatos came to the planning commission looking for direction on Dec. 6, and they got it--directions right back to the starting line.
Commissioners voted 5 to 1 to deny Pacific Diversified Company's plan to demolish four cottages and build four two-story homes on a 1 1/2-acre parcel on Monroe Court. Commissioners cited environmental impacts, lack of compliance with the General Plan, and a lack of community benefit as reasons for their denial.
The developer argued that he had received conflicting guidance regarding density from the town's conceptual development advisory committee, and wanted the commission to offer suggestions for the project. But the commission, noting that the applicant had not incorporated into the project any of the mitigation measures mandated in the initial environmental impact report, did not find enough value in the project to send it back for revision.
"The town had a negative declaration prepared that indicated that the proposed development would encroach within the existing riparian corridor," Commissioner Lee Quintana later said. "They had not responded to the direction given to them by the initial study." Quintana added that staff had already spent considerable time with the applicant, and the dramatic redesign necessary to make the project acceptable would require another initial study.
Neighbors of the proposed development were supportive of something being built on the parcel, saying the area was blighted and attracted homeless. But they weren't in favor of something as large as the proposed project. The four dilapidated cottages currently on the property cover a total of 4,700 square feet. The new homes would have covered 9,586 square feet.
More importantly to commissioners, one of the new homes sat within the riparian corridor along Los Gatos Creek. In the initial study, the town's environmental consultants said "project development would encroach into the existing riparian corridor" and the removal of trees--18 of 27 on-site--would result in "significant degradation of the riparian corridor."
Both the Santa Clara Valley Water District and Bay Area Regional Water Quality Board also expressed concerns with neither giving its certification to the project. While the normal setback required for new developments near riparian corridors is 100 feet, the initial study had suggested a 50-foot setback since the project is replacing a development that already encroaches into the corridor. The plans presented to the commission had one of the four new houses sitting directly inside the corridor.
Commissioner Peggy Marcucci was the sole holdout in the final vote, after the first motion to deny deadlocked 3 to 3. Marcucci said she wouldn't have wanted to approve the project, but by sending the applicant back to the starting point, it would take longer to eliminate what everyone agreed was an eyesore.
"I don't think the project was acceptable, or even complete as it stood," Marcucci said. "But I think a project there would remove the blight."
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
