Editorials

Development offers community benefit

From the beginning, Bill Hirschman's proposed project at 330 University Ave. has been plagued by wildly diverse opinions about the best use for the lot and traffic studies that no one believed.

Planning staff and commissioners encouraged Hirschman to build higher density than he originally proposed--only to be told when he returned that density should be lower-- much lower.

Some neighbors were fine with the plan, but others wanted even lower density; some wanted no development. Period.

Planners encouraged higher density to help provide more housing, including below-market-price units; neighbors worried most about traffic congestion.

So Hirschman paid for traffic studies--four of them--using the town's designated traffic engineer. And every study concluded there would be no significant traffic impacts. Still, opposition continued because no one believed the traffic engineer.

Although traffic mitigation was not required based on traffic studies, Hirschman said he would "mitigate" the problem, and has offered a plan that will widen northbound University Avenue at Highway 9 and add a right-turn lane.

One of the requirements the town makes for a planned development is that "community benefit" must be provided.

In the case of the SummerHill project on Blossom Hill Road, the developer had a ready-made community benefit in significant hillside acreage much more suited to hiking trails than building houses.

For Hirschman, community benefit has been more elusive. Last week, a majority of the planning commissioners agreed that the improvements at the intersection should be deemed a community benefit.

There seems to be consensus that it's a good-looking project, and now that it can be justified on the basis of providing significant community benefit, we believe the Town Council should give the project its blessing.

It's about time

The Town Council has agreed to a scientific survey to learn what residents think about a variety of issues related to parking, including paid parking. For too long, town leaders have scratched their chins, cocked their heads and said, "This is the way Los Gatans feel about things." Worse, they've asked questions in unscientific ways and then proceeded to treat the information as if it were based on scientific methodology.

Done right, the research won't just determine whether residents want to pay for parking, but will shed light on many gray areas that the town and the business community can use to develop strategies for financing the parking lots that best suit the real needs in the community.

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