Parking garage moves forward despite some money quibbles

By Nathan R. Huff

Los Gatos' Town Council took a big step toward solving the downtown parking shortage at its May 22 meeting, giving the go-ahead for final designs on a three-level parking garage.

Despite remaining uncertainty on exactly how the town will pay for the garage--estimates have ballooned from $3.5 million to almost $11 million--the council felt the time had come to move forward. Gordon H. Chong and Partners, the town's contracted design team, will now prepare its final drawings, as well as list cost-saving design measures the town could exercise.

After months of pushing the council to take action on the garages--a smaller structure is also planned for town lot #6--speakers from the business community and parking commission urged the town not to approve a final design with such a high price tag.

"We can't afford a 'pretty' design," Parking Commission Chairman Rex Morton said. Los Gatos Porch owner Larry Arzie and former Councilman Egon Jensen echoed Morton, saying the town could not afford the garage as designed.

But council members felt confident to proceed with the design and worry about the financing later. "This does not set into concrete that this is exactly how the garage is going to be financed," Councilwoman Linda Lubeck said. "We will be finishing working that out over the next couple of months, but it's time to move forward."

Other council members agreed, arguing that cost-cutting steps could be taken once the design is finished, and some sort of balance between affordability and aesthetics could be reached.

"When we ask for a design, we want a design that's workable and aesthetically pleasing," Councilman Joe Pirzynski said. "But this community is not asking for every aesthetic nuance that money can buy."

Councilman Randy Attaway, who made the motion to proceed with designs, later said that he was disappointed in the community response to the council's action. "We've taken so much criticism for not making a decision with the parking structure," he said, "and then when we finally do, we take criticism for making the decision."

Jan Hutchins, the lone nay vote and a long-time advocate of two smaller structures, disagreed, saying that if the town was intent on building such an expensive, large garage, it shouldn't skimp on the architectural details. All together, the architectural amenities add anywhere from $942,000 to $1.38 million to the total cost.

Lubeck said a happy middle ground could be reached, but she rejected the idea of imitating the underground structure on lot #4. "Lot #4 is not bad," Lubeck later said, "but it could be dressed up to be a little more user-friendly."

The garage, as now proposed, includes two underground levels and one at street level. It will have a circular ramp in the middle and will provide approximately 250 spaces. Reducing the number of underground levels or building one level up could significantly lower the cost. While the latter has been discussed on several occasions, council members rejected building above ground for aesthetic reasons.

According to Chong, the cost of the garage has risen for several reasons. The original consulting group underestimated the price, according to Chong, and construction costs have increased substantially over the past several years.

While both the council and town staff stress that the financing options being discussed are strictly preliminary, funding will inevitably come from a number of sources. Old plans called for $2 million from the general fund, $4.7 million from the Redevelopment Agency and $2.5 million from an assessment district of downtown business owners.

A more recent option factors is the potential revenue stream of paid and permit parking, both of which are aspects of the draft Downtown Parking Management Plan. While a potential revenue base of $2.4 million per year is suggested, that number will likely decrease as the paid parking component of the plan is reduced.

Sheri Lewis, executive director of the Town of Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce, said she was glad the town was advancing but shared Morton's and Arzie's concern about the cost. She questioned why the consultants had not returned with a less expensive design, as they had been asked to do at previous meetings.

"Frankly," she said. "I think [Chong] went a little overboard."

Councilman Joe Pirzynski said the consultants did come back with cheaper options. After removing various architectural features, a number of companies presented new bottom lines in the Chong report. Pirzynski added that the council majority specifically said they were looking for affordability at this point.

"We want to make it very clear up front that the council is going for a less expensive model," Pirzynski said. "We're not going to get an ugly product for seven, eight, nine or ten million dollars."

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