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Editorial
The new year will bring practical improvements.
If 2001 was a year for focusing on community and communication, 2002 is likely to be much more functional, a year to focus on infrastructure, transportation and capital improvements. The town plans an infrastructure needs assessment in the first quarter of the year, that will look at, among other things, the 100-year-old electrical system downtown.
The Town Plaza will be renovated with completion planned for early fall. With a major library expansion in the future for Los Gatos, look for the development of a master plan for the entire civic center complex. A new library cannot be built without considering its impact on the complex as a whole.
It is significant that as this year comes to a close, the town has hired its first redevelopment manager. The district, created in the wake of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, has now built up enough of a base that it can help finance major projects to improve the downtown area. Chances are a number of worthy causes will vie for the opportunity.
Highway improvements are slated to take place this year as the town looks for ways to discourage cut-through traffic from Highway 17, and Caltrans attempts to create a safer connection between highways 17 and 85.
With a light rail line to Los Gatos no longer a pipe dream, there is likely to be much exploration this year of how a transportation hub might be implemented to benefit both Los Gatos and the region. The proposed Sobrato development near the Vasona light rail station, will figure into any discussions about light rail.
Now that the General Plan revision has been completed, the town will dust off the preliminary work that was done in 1999 on the North Forty site specific plan.
Those who follow local politics will recall that two years ago, blood was nearly shed when factions of the community began exploring uses for the approximately 40 acres of land near Los Gatos Boulevard and Lark Avenue. Proposals ranged from soccer fields to schools to affordable housing to a children's hospital.
Problem was, said town officials, all the talk was premature; first the General Plan had to be finished.
Although the major portion of the land is a walnut orchard, and the owner does not seem eager to sell, completion of the site specific plan is intended to serve as a guideline for developers, who already have started developing bits and pieces of the North Forty incrementally.
The town promises that the work that's already been done, will not be lost, and that the process will pick up where it left off.
The community may be communicating better with each other and with their local government, and good feelings about the old-fashioned nature of the town may be bubbling up, but chances are the North Forty will still have the ability to bring about some good old-fashioned battles.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
