Mixed-use commercial offers options

By Linda Lubeck

There seems to be a common misperception among many of our citizens and the editor of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times that the so-called North Forty was zoned mixed-use commercial with no residential primarily to "stabilize" or "bolster" the economic well-being of Los Gatos. As one who has been involved in the planning process for this area of town for almost 10 years, I would like to provide a different point of view.

Historically, the discussions about what uses should or should not be allowed in the North Forty were part of a much larger discussion of what uses should or should not be allowed along the section of Route 85 that is in Los Gatos. This larger discussion encompasses an area on both sides of Route 85, from the eastern town limits to Winchester Boulevard and from Vasona Park on the south to the northern town limits.

As the planning for this 400-acres-plus area proceeded, housing was discussed in depth. The area where A-Z Nursery is and the adjacent industrial area were discussed as being suitable for higher density housing sometime in the future--contingent on the Vasona Light Rail Corridor extending that far south. The areas around Oka Road were discussed and originally planned to be medium density housing. However, the public hearing process produced an abundance of testimony as to why this area should be low-density housing, including the pleas by the school districts not to zone too much for housing, to avoid adding to the over-crowding problems.

The area directly east of the North Forty, just across Los Gatos Boulevard was zoned for office and high density housing, with the hope by some that this area could then provide much needed apartments, condos and townhouses which would be a good adjunct to the North Forty.

When the North Forty area itself was discussed, much of the early discussion centered not around why commercial made so much sense, but rather why housing did not. The area is surrounded by two of the busiest streets in town and two freeways. As such, it will be subjected to noise levels higher than most areas of town.

Any pedestrian access into or out of the area is simply not safe for children. As mentioned previously, the school districts felt that the amount of housing being allowed in the total Route 85 area was as much if not more than they could handle.

The discussions about why commercial made sense in the North Forty included the fact that it did have easy access from two freeways and two major roads. Even in 1994 when the last discussions took place, no one envisioned the North Forty as strictly retail--that is why it was zoned mixed-use commercial. This zoning allows almost any type of "commercial" use that one can imagine, including hotel/conference center, office, education center, retail and, yes, even parks, open space, and civic uses. The idea was to look for uses that would complement and enhance the uses we already had in town--and hopefully encourage uses that don't currently exist in town.

The issue of and fear of "big box retail" was also discussed at length, both in committee discussions and during public hearings. It has always been the intent to find ways to prohibit big-box buildings in this area--through design review, through restrictions on size of buildings, and finally through adoption of a specific plan for the area which would outline what was envisioned for the area.

Obviously, there were discussions at the same time as to the potential economic effect of having commercial uses in the North Forty. Commercial uses would add to the coffers of the town. However, in the bigger scheme of things, none of the commercial uses envisioned for the North Forty has the potential to be a major contributor to the financial well-being of Los Gatos.

From a sales-tax perspective, Los Gatos receives the majority of its funds from the auto dealerships and their related businesses and from our grocery and pharmacy stores. If Los Gatos was really looking to the North Forty for a large influx of sales-tax dollars, it would be actively looking for more auto dealers or a Home Depot or Costco. Instead, the planning staff of the town constantly discourages any such uses, and the specific plan for the area also discourages such uses.

Now, five years later, there are those in the community who wish to discuss the possibility for some form of housing to be included in the North Forty. It is five years later, the valley as a whole has changed, and there have been advancements made in planning for residential and commercial uses to co-exist. Whether or not housing should be allowed in the North Forty, though, needs to be discussed within the context of the bigger picture--the planning for all of Los Gatos. This is the discussion currently under way as part of the overall general plan update, and it is in this context that potential housing in the North Forty, or for that matter anywhere in Los Gatos, needs to be discussed.

The general-plan discussions will be proceeding over the next few months, hopefully concluding in the adoption of an updated general plan sometime next spring or summer. As part of these discussions, I welcome discussions on housing in the North Forty and elsewhere in Los Gatos. In the meantime, however, we need a blueprint of some sort for those property owners who currently wish to develop along Los Gatos Boulevard. This is why we need to adopt the North Forty Specific Plan now. Absent such a plan, property owners are left in limbo, and planning staff is helpless to advise them as to what design guidelines to use, where to place buildings in relation to the Boulevard, what sort of sidewalk patterns are appropriate, and many other essential design issues.

Adoption of the plan does not preclude the potential for housing in the North Forty, if the updated general plan adopted next year allows housing. And the few parcels which will develop between now and then without housing components will not seriously affect whether housing is ultimately a viable component of the North Forty or not. So let's keep talking, but let's put a plan in place that will help us bring clarity to what is at the moment a blank slate.

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Linda Lubeck is on the Town Council and is a member of the General Plan Committee.

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