Neighbors battle Swanson's plan to remodel dealership

By Nathan R. Huff

Swanson Ford's plan to remodel its three existing buildings and construct a new, two-story garage for car storage has come under fire from neighbors behind the Blossom Hill Road dealership.

Neighbors on Placer Oaks Drive have complained steadily to both the town and Swanson about alleged violations of the dealership's conditional use permit. Neighbors say Swanson Ford test drives vehicles in the neighborhood, parks and unloads on residential streets and projects light into the residential area.

"We're fighting it tooth and nail," Placer Oaks Homeowners' Association president Marc Jensen said, referring to the expansion plan. "Swanson Ford has been a bad neighbor for quite a while."

Bruce Swanson of Swanson Ford said the neighbors have stopped talking with the dealership. "The neighbors have gotten hostile and nothing is acceptable to them anymore," he said.

He added that several new technicians have been hired recently, and while they have been instructed not to test drive in the neighborhoods, Swanson said sometimes new employees have to be caught before they change their behavior. He also said that the employees are allowed to park their cars wherever they want, and that pictures neighbors submitted to the planning department of dealer-owned cars on the street actually show only Swanson family members' personal automobiles.

A Los Gatos business since 1938, Swanson's most recent proposal was submitted in April 1998. It proposes a complete remodel of the showroom, which Swanson says looks out of place with the Hollywood Video and Cornerstone shopping centers on the adjacent corners. A tower element and a new pedestrian entrance are also proposed, and the building will be moved back from the corner. Swanson was quick to say the architecture would be more in line with Cornerstone than the much maligned Hollywood Video dome.

A one-story open parking structure is proposed for the rear of the property. In his letter of justification, Swanson says sales are down because of lack of room for vehicle inventory. The structure would be screened from nearby residences by various trees and bushes, and would not be visible from Los Gatos Boulevard, according to the letter.

Jensen doubts the structure will be hidden from view, and also said he feared a substantial increase in noise and fumes from increased volume. The neighbors have asked that new construction, particularly service construction, be placed toward the front of the property. Jensen said the new plan will create a "sound amplification chamber" and the lights on the new building a "football stadium effect."

But according to Swanson, car dealerships cannot put buildings in the front and hide their inventory in the back. He said the dealership sells 25 fewer trucks a week than it did when Swanson Ford was able to display vehicles in what is now the Hollywood Video Center.

"[The back] is where we have to build," Swanson said. "If you hide the cars in the back you don't sell anything."

Unfortunately, it looks as if things are going to get uglier before they get better. Jensen said the neighborhood is close to taking the dealer to court over conditional use permit violations. Swanson, who said new plans will be submitted in the next several weeks, also acknowledged the tension.

"It's going to be a heated issue, we know that," he said. "There's strong opinions on all sides."

The dealership has already learned that change comes slowly in Los Gatos. In a May 19, 1998 letter to the planning department following a planning commission meeting at which Swanson's application was continued, a frustrated Bruce Swanson wrote: "I guess we should just let [commissioner] Len Pacheco draw what you would like and the town can issue a bond to pay for the new World Trade Center!"

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