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General Plan goes to council for more public comments
Next hearing set for June 26
By Nathan R. Huff
The General Plan rounded the final turn and headed for the finish line two weeks ago, as the town's planning commission finished its leg of the public hearing and comment process.
The commission examined public and General Plan task force comments, before adding its own comments and recommendations to the General Plan draft. The plan is now in the hands of the town council, which will review the recommendations, hold more public hearings and adopt a revised version of the plan. The council has set mid July as its target for adoption.
Few people showed up to the commission's June 3 and two June 7 hearings on the draft General Plan and draft environmental impact report. Some community members submitted written suggestions, which the commission incorporated into its recommendation.
In general, both public and commission comments were positive, with many expressing gratitude for the work done by the two General Plan task forces and the General Plan committee.
"Thank you for using this vehicle of the General Plan to protect the town from economic and population pressures," former planning commissioner Kathy Morgan said, "which are only going to increase and accelerate as time goes on."
Morgan and others also commented on strengthening elements in the General Plan that protect neighborhoods from the impact of development, particularly traffic impacts. Neighbors who fought a Montessori preschool recently approved by the town council were among those who raised the traffic issue.
Members of the public and task force also pushed to include Task Force II's 30-page addendum to the draft in the commission's recommendation to council. Much of the addendum focuses on strengthening the diction--changing "should's" to "shall's"--to more adequately enforce the vision of the plan.
"I consider it an excellent document," Larry Arzie, merchant and Task Force II participant, said. "Alas [without the task force's additions], it is incomplete."
Commissioners discussed the 30 pages of add-ons and clarifications, and adopted all but a few of them. The commission examined innumerable small details of the whole plan, but made few large changes. Among those were suggestions to lower densities of hillside developments, to subject sloped lots to hillside development standards even if they aren't zoned as such, and to incorporate the community need for children's services into the section that enumerates senior service needs.
Other larger issues included consolidating all the portions scattered throughout the plan pertinent to the downtown area and creating a separate element in the document. It would include also a further limit on the height of new homes and add-ons in areas originally dominated by one-story houses.
One concern commissioners couldn't answer was what many speakers considered the overly ambitious timeline for adopting the new General Plan. Several speakers, including former planning commissioner Sandy Decker, expressed fears that it would be difficult for the commission to accurately express to the council the nonstop flow of public comments, which Decker called "public input by fire hose."
The town council, which hopes to have a plan in place by mid-summer, has scheduled public hearings for June 26 and July 10, at 7:30 p.m. in the council chambers.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
