Los Gatos Weekly-Times

News

Planning doesn't like idea of new buildings by mansion

By Judy Peterson

A proposal to add two buildings to either side of the Coggeshall Mansion has been shot down by the Los Gatos Planning Commission.

The mansion is at 115 N. Santa Cruz Ave. It is the last remaining historic building on the street and houses the upscale Travese Restaurant.

The planning commission held a hearing on Jan. 23 to get input on the building proposal from both the public and the developers.

The developers' vision is to maintain the historic integrity of the mansion itself, with the flanking structures housing retail operations. An open garden area would be maintained at the front of the buildings. Grant Sedgewick, who is one of the developers and owners, said the garden would create "a public amenity where people could extend the sidewalk, stroll, people watch, eat a pastry, sit and relax."

But Leonard Pacheco, the vice chairman of the historic preservation committee, opposed the idea of any buildings being added to the property. He told commissioners, "The historic mansion, in my opinion, is a town icon and together with its landscape it is a package. The landscape actually is a platform for the mansion."

The HPC did not approve the plan for the two new structures. The chairwoman of the HPC, Kendra Burch, said it reached an impasse over the size of the structures, so the proposal was forwarded to the planning commission.

Sedgewick said, "The buildings were reduced in size. I think the north building ... moved from 780 square feet ... to our current proposal of 426 square feet. We went back three times to the HPC to seek their comment and to discuss with them this very, very sensitive challenge."

Also on the table was a proposal to reduce the seating at Travese from 198 seats to 135. By reducing seating, the restaurant would have lower parking requirements. So the developers asked to eliminate nine parking spaces at the back of the mansion and use the land to build a home at 112 Wilder Ave.

Longtime town resident Larry Arzie weighed in on the parking proposal, saying, "I think it's a bad concept at the moment, but I think it's a good concept down the road."

Arzie explained that 10 years ago, when he was on the General Plan review committee, members thought the small parking lot on Wilder should be removed. But he added, "Within that 10-year period we were supposed to build two more parking facilities. We didn't think we were going to give away the lot until at least we got more parking."

Commissioners agreed with Arzie and voted to keep the parking lot. They also rejected the plan to add the two buildings to the front of the mansion.

They did approve the plan to reduce the seating at Travese.

The planning commission's decision is actually a recommendation, which means the developers can appeal its rulings on the parking lot and the buildings to the town council.