By Clarence Cromwell
The owners of Old Town must touch up their renovation plans to comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act before submitting them to the Planning Commission.
The Development Review Committee asked Hunter Storm partner Ed Storm for those and other minor changes at its May 14 meeting.
Hunter Storm proposes to build about 35,150 square feet onto the center, in addition to renovating some of the older buildings. When work is completed, Old Town will total 102,419 square feet, about two and a half acres of indoor floor area.
The most visible change will be the 30,550-square-foot building that will go up above the Old Town parking lot. The low-lying lot will become an underground garage.
Senior Engineering Technician Trish Duarte said, "ADA could be an ugly issue."
Duarte explained that it will be tough to modify the historic building Old Town occupies, because no part of it is level with the ground--a challenge in terms of handicapped access. And a few local activists understand ADA requirements and monitor building projects closely, Duarte said.
Hunter Storm plans to provide handicapped access to all the shopping levels of the center and the underground garage with elevators or ramps.
Duarte asked the developer to change the designs of handicapped parking spaces so that the drivers who use them won't have to pass behind any parked cars except their own. The measure prevents handicapped people from being run over by drivers backing up.
Duarte asked for six-foot-wide sidewalks in front of handicapped spaces that would allow drivers to pass in front of two handicapped parking spaces to a nearby elevator.
Duarte also asked the developers to move to a nearby corner a mid-block crosswalk that would connect the existing shopping center to a new building and parking garage planned across University Avenue. Duarte said the crosswalks are dangerous, especially to elderly or disabled pedestrians who can't move quickly, because drivers usually can't see a mid-block crosswalk until they're too close to stop.
"You're safer when you jaywalk," Duarte said. "You pick your time and you hustle across the street."
The proposed development goes to the Planning Commission as soon as the environmental impact report is complete. The commission already reviewed an administrative draft of the document.
The town's one-year period to review the application and make a decision will run out in September. If the town adds a 90-day extension to the review period, it will have until the week before Christmas.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, May 22, 1996.
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