Letters

Closing exit makes sense for downtown

Regarding Terry Clark's concern about closing the town exit at Santa Cruz Avenue in the Sept. 6 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times: The author pointed out that mountain residents, too, have a similar problem with drivers trying to avoid traffic on Highway 17, and using the mountain roads.

I am the last one who would like to see the Santa Cruz Avenue exit closed as it may not be good for business (I am a retailer), and it is not convenient for me to double back to get out of town going south. Perhaps Terry does not realize that Sandy Decker is not saying to shut down the entrance on Santa Cruz, but only the exit to avoid the problem Terry has, only ours is more severe.

During Highway 17 jam-ups circulation often comes to a halt in the downtown. It recently took me 15 minutes just to travel four blocks.

It boils down to a safety hazard in that emergency vehicles are being restricted. Bravo to Sandy Decker for saying what the sitting council is too politically oriented to have the courage to say.

Keep it up, Sandy, we need your forthright honesty and willingness to explore solutions to ongoing problems that council is loathe to tackle. I am voting for you. Don't back off; say what you feel.

Larry Arzie
Los Gatos

Dividend should not be permitted to have its way

It was a total sham. Dividends Homes came to the study session with a completely closed mind. Had Dividend not been facing denial by the town council they never would have met with the very concerned neighbors. The majority of the neighbors met previously and determined three homes would be acceptable instead of four, as proposed, if one driveway off Nina and two off Pinta were used.

This proposal was termed very possible by Paul Curtis who chaired the meeting at town council chambers on Aug. 24. The neighbors have gone from one home to two homes and now three homes as an acceptable alternative. The developer has gone for four homes, that's it. No give. This would set a terrible precedent if a developer could ram this down our throats without any regard for the neighborhood.

A. Scott Radonich
Los Gatos

The golden rule: Does it mean goodness or greed?

The Los Gatos Weekly-Times on September 6, quotes Councilman Jan Hutchins as saying "I have a certain amount of golden rule in me." Hopefully, we all learned that "golden" stands for goodness not greed.

Our town council will have the opportunity to apply the golden rule based on the goodness or greed of the developer's tentative map on Sept. 18, when it next hears Dividend Homes' appeal of the planning commission's denial to subdivide 130 Nina Court.

Goodness in this case is defined by the values and quality of life we enjoy by living here in Los Gatos. That goodness is described clearly in our new General Plan, the Hillside Specific Plan and the town's In-fill Policy. Our town code and development guidelines add even more clarity to this definition of goodness.

Greed in this case is the out-of-town developer's plan to create four lots on this narrow sloping property.

To achieve their greedy goal, Dividend Homes is proposing a new substandard road that is inconsistent with town policy, introducing a known hazard to children, pedestrians and motorists by creating an intersection of two substandard roads in a location of restricted stop sighting distance and by skirting issues of environmental responsibility.

The developer's tentative map hangs together weakly based on exceptions to town policy, pro-development interpretations of town building ordinances, a mixed and inconsistent application of general and hillside specific plan guidelines, a traffic study rife with issues of conflict of interest and the perceived threat of a lawsuit if the developer doesn't get his way.

This property is too narrow for a road and residential lots. A road and subdivision in this configuration is inconsistent with town subdivision code because the alignment of homes will create double fronted lots on existing homes along Pinta Court ,and the configuration forces the building envelopes of the new lots into positions of privacy encroachment of homes on Via Santa Maria, which is inconsistent with the intent of development of sloping lots in the new General Plan.

Therefore, as the planning commission found, the property is physically unsuitable for a subdivision based on the developers' current tentative map. Vehicle access via a new road to this property, because of its sloping character, requires grading and earth movement that is not minimal and therefore inconsistent with town policy. Fewer homes could potentially be placed on this property in a legal subdivision without requiring a road, and thereby substantially reducing the amount of grading required for vehicle access making it more consistent with town policy. Let's not forget that the proposed road is substandard, creates a dangerous intersection and the town has no obligation to grant this exception to the developer.

The State Subdivision Map Act is clear in granting authority to local government (our town) to deny subdivision proposals that are inconsistent with its general or specific plans. It also allows local government latitude in determining physical suitability of property for development based on its general and specific plans. Local government has no obligation under the Subdivision Map Act to grant exception to its policies to appease a developer's greed.

As our town attorney says, this is a common law state where reasonable people can have differences of opinion about our laws. Let's count the reasonable people who believe this subdivision proposal should be legally denied: all five planning commissioners who voted on June 28, two council members who voted on Aug. 7, dozens of neighborhood residents and myself.

On Sept. 18, those votes will be counted again. We will also have the opportunity to see whether the town council learned the golden rule to mean goodness or greed.

Willis Flood
Los Gatos

Opponants understand the issues

The writers of letters in the Aug. 23 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times supporting Longs Drugs' second attempt to establish a store in this small neighborhood shopping center have missed the main issues (the Los Gatos Planning Commission denied Longs' conditional-use permit last year on a vote of 5 to 1). Instead, they focus on their own personal agendas, recklessly making disparaging and erroneous statements to support their positions.

The planning commission stopped Longs from establishing a chain drugstore in the shopping center based on elements specified in the General Plan. They included concerns about increased traffic, noise, congestion, the lack of community benefit and the loss of small, local-serving businesses. They were consistent with the goal of preserving, promoting and protecting the existing small town character and quality of life within Los Gatos.

What issues of substance have changed since then? None! Are we to trade our quality of life for simply more shopping convenience? There are four Longs, including two in Los Gatos, and four other chain pharmacies within a few minutes drive of the proposed Rinconada Hills site. Should we bring the traffic and congestion that another mass merchandise operation generates into the area?

What guarantees do we have that the Los Angeles-based landlord won't displace other small tenants and recruit more chain outlets that will further increase traffic and congestion?

As the former pharmacy manager of Rinconada Pharmacy, I suppose that I should be flattered that the letter writers credit me for having great influence on the over 1,000 people who signed the petitions opposing Longs last year. In fact, petitions circulated throughout the shopping center and neighborhood. It's more plausible that these individuals understood the issues and acted accordingly. I would also like to point out that the Campbell Union School District opposed Longs application as did the Rinconada Hills Homeowners Association Board of Directors.

The General Plan 2000 has a wonderfully composed introduction. It states, "Los Gatos is home," and goes on to describe the sense of belonging it instills and how our town is an "oasis of calm" in the Silicon Valley.

It reminds us to protect our community from increasing developmental pressures and to use "extreme care" in approving all new development applications. That includes our neighborhoods as well as downtown. People don't appreciate what they have until its gone.

David Matsuo
Los Gatos

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