By Clarence Cromwell
After concluding that the town's property on Villa Avenue won't be a library for at least another decade, the town decided to improve the houses there and is preparing to rent them out.
"We've sort of sat on these properties for years since we've bought them," said Scott Baker, director of Building and Engineering Services. "What we're looking at is, when is the town likely to have $6 million to build the library? At this juncture, given the town's financial situation, it's not likely we'd have a library on that site for 10 years."
The houses have been occupied since the town bought the land in 1990. But now the town has a plan to spend $80,000 over six years to make the houses into upper-end rentals.
In 1992, Los Gatos tried and failed to win a $5.8 million state grant to build a new library on Villa Avenue.
The two houses will rent for as much as $1,950 per month each and should bring in $314,700 during the same six-year period the upgrades are completed. There is a third house on the property which is occupied.
The town plans safety upgrades as well as improvements to the quality of the residences.
New electrical wiring, a safety-glass shower enclosure, a new furnace and an anti-scald mixer valve will make the house at 108 Villa safer for residents and will protect the city from potential liability claims.
Other improvements to that house include new tile floors, a refinishing job for the hardwood living-room floor, interior and exterior paint, kitchen cabinets and a new roof.
Community Development Director Regina Falkner said she discussed with Baker the possibility of using federal grants to improve the houses and renting them at below-market rates to low-income tenants. She said usually at least 20 units are needed to get federal grants for a low-rent housing project.
Falkner said it would be a bad idea simply to offer the houses for low rent, saying the town needs to have a return on its investment in the property.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, July 31, 1996.
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