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Apparent lack of interest kills Villa Felice proposal
By Nathan R. Huff
The Los Gatos Planning Commission gave the development proposal for Villa Felice Hotel and Restaurant a lethal injection on March 8, after no movement on the application for almost a year.
Braddock and Logan Services Inc.'s most recent proposal had been for 36 to 39 houses or duplexes in place of the hotel and restaurant, both of which closed in the past two years. But, after making it as far as a failed appeal to the Town Council in April 1999, the project hit stagnant waters.
An 11th-hour letter from Marshall Torre of the Danville-based Braddock and Logan group failed to sway staff or Commissioners, who said they felt justified in denying the application. The letter made no reference to new or revised plans.
"It's really being treated as sort of an abandonment," Planning Commission chairwoman Laura Nachison said. "They just never got around to doing anything with it."
No one from Braddock and Logan was present at the meeting, and Torre failed to return repeated phone calls for this story.
Torre first came forward with a development proposal in early 1998, hoping to build 41 homes on the six-acre site. The development was both high density and high priced, and development review committee members balked at the proposal. Torre shrugged off the criticism at the time, saying, "all I hope to please in the end is three council people."
When Braddock and Logan came back in November 1998, the size of the development had dropped to no more than 39 homes, and included five below-market price units. Torre argued that the affordable housing, $150,000 school impact fee, and reduced traffic due to the hotel's closing made the project a community benefit.
After several neighborhood study sessions and Planning Commission continuances, the developers shocked the town by showing up empty-handed on April 28, 1999. They were issued a flat denial and strongly criticized by former Planning Commissioner Kathy Morgan for what amounted to a "waste of a lot of our time."
But the Town Council gave Braddock and Logan a last chance, offering the group an opportunity to return to the Planning Commission with new plans and to avoid the costly refiling process. However, the developers never took action on the council's decision, which led to the commission's March 8 decision to drop the application.
The Villa Felice Hotel may have been best known in recent times for hosting the Brazilian national soccer team during the 1994 World Cup.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
