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Consulting firm gives shape to the Task Force's document
By Jeff Kearns
General plan revisers are still plugging away. Although the second general plan task force went on hiatus in March after completing the bulk of its work, Paul Curtis of the RBF consulting firm, who is putting their thoughts into a new version of the document, says he'll be ready with the first parts of the plan this fall.
A rewrite subcommittee of the general plan committee, made up of Curtis and some committee members, met last week to go over the land-use element of the plan, and two key reports should be completed by the end of next month.
Curtis has been named to the newly created position of community development director for the town, replacing Lee Bowman who is retiring as planning director. The new title reflects some changes in staffing for the town. Although Curtis will no longer be with RBF when he begins working for the town in his new capacity as community development director, the company will continue working on the revision. The rewrite subcommittee is trying to group together similar activities, but anything that has to do with land use will go in that element of the plan. The subcommittee is also incorporating concepts and issues suggested by the main committee, which will later review a draft of the subcommittee's work.
The land-use element is one of the most important parts of the general plan, and because many topics covered in it also overlap other elements of the plan, the town's next plan will link related sections of the document through cross-referencing.
Curtis says the format, which has been used by Cupertino, Palo Alto and Claremont, among other cities, is more user-friendly.
The reason for that, according to assistant planning director Bud Lortz, is that the plan will have to serve a bigger audience than just town staff and officials.
"The public needs to be able to use the document, and we're trying to make it as user-friendly as possible for a wide variety of people," Lortz said.
Each city and county is required by state law to have a general plan that acts as a blueprint for growth.
Los Gatos' plan was last updated in 1985. Once the general plan committee has a final version, the document goes to the planning commission and the town council for approval.
When a final version is ready, an environmental impact report on the plan will be prepared and circulated. A public hearing will be held for the draft version of the EIR, and the public will have two months to comment on it.
Staff at RBF will also be preparing an existing conditions report on conditions (housing, streets, parks, etc.) in the town. That report will be considered along with the EIR.
Early versions of both reports should be ready by the end of June. Once they're ready, RBF will hand them over to planning department staff, which will bring them to the general plan committee.
Once the draft of the whole plan is completed this fall, Task Force II will be reconvened and given a chance to look at the finished product and then comment on it. After that, the general plan committee is expected to look at both reports and the final version of the entire plan sometime in January.
Meanwhile, on May 12, general plan committee members approved language for a revision to the section that deals with parking structures.
The town needs to update the plan before it makes a final decision on how and when it's going to build the next two parking structures. This is what the general plan committee came up with last week:
"Parking facilities in downtown Los Gatos shall be at or below grade. A parking structure may be acceptable on Lot 13 with one level above grade. All parking facilities must exhibit excellence in design, minimize impacts on adjacent properties and be consistent with the town's character."
That revision goes to the Planning Commission on May 26.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
