Editorials

The timing is lousy, but discussion is valuable

Former planning commissioner Mike Abkin brought a far-out idea to last week's meeting on the North Forty. He thinks it would be nice to incorporate community gardens and edible landscaping into the design guidelines.

Los Gatos Union School District would like the commission to consider putting aside land for a new school.

Others suggested civic and community uses ranging from a community theater to playfields for youth sports.

One might ask what these off-the-wall ideas have to do with the proposed commercial-retail mix in the North Forty Specific Plan now before the Planning Commission.

The answer is that they have very little to do with the plan the town is hoping will be adopted in short order. And everything to do with what Los Gatans want their community to become.

True, the timing could be better. The town wants this specific plan in the record books as soon as possible. The concern is that even though most of the area being considered in the plan is still a walnut orchard and there are no immediate plans to sell, portions of the North Forty are likely to be developed much sooner.

The town says that without a specific plan there will be no guidelines for development. Without guidelines, development will be haphazard.

Still, the discussion about the North Forty is as healthy an airing of this community's vision as we've had in Los Gatos in a long time.

For that, we can thank the malcontents who started the Neighborhood Alliance. They didn't care what the time frame for adoption of the North Forty Specific Plan was; they wanted the community to have a say, even if it was inconvenient.

It turns out the community has plenty to say. One of the most important questions being asked is: What happened to the Los Gatos Boulevard Plan that came about after intense community involvement--and which placed a high priority on public uses for the North Forty?

Los Gatos is one of the few communities with no facility for community theater; some residents see the North Forty as an opportunity to remedy that situation. A new school?

Well, it turns out the LGUSD has been collecting interest on some $5 million it picked up from the sale of Berry School in 1986. Perhaps a school isn't as wild an idea as it might sound at first blush.

There might even be a creative way to incorporate school and theater.

Edible landscaping and community gardens? What better way to encourage a sense of community among Los Gatos apartment dwellers? Or to teach school children to value plants?

The timing is lousy, but there are too many interesting ideas coming out of this discussion for the town to put the kibosh on it because of a self-imposed deadline.

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