LGHS design renovations address many of concerns
By Nathan R. Huff
Criticism over the new building proposed immediately adjacent to the historic main building at Los Gatos High School seems to have tapered off, as school officials head toward the final design stages of the 27 classroom building.
The proposed foreign language/mathematics building, built with the use of 1998 Measure B funds, now moves to the Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District. There, the board of trustees and superintendent's office will crunch numbers, weigh design and needs concerns, and approve a design that will likely return early next year for one final, nonbinding public review.
Criticisms of the three story building--namely that it would compete with the prominence of the main building--have largely disappeared, as the design has gone through numerous configurations. The building has also been reduced in size and moved further from the main building. As currently proposed, it would replace the existing building with a rectangular, 27 classroom building that would be architecturally similar, but less dramatic, in design, than the main building.
"If you had been through these meetings," Los Gatos High School Principal Trudy McCulloch said, "the drawings answered the concerns each time."
Still, district officials declined to offer drawings for publication in The Los Gatos Weekly Times, saying the design should be finalized first, so the community does not see one thing in the paper and a different building upon construction.
"We need to know what the school district wants or needs before we go to the community," LG-SHSUSD director of building Richard Myer said at the committee meeting. He later added that the project had extensive input from members of both the high school and general public, including members of the town's planning commission and historic preservation committee. While it is not required to do so, Myer said the district plans to have another public meeting in the not-so-distant future.
Los Gatos High School teacher and former planning commissioner Kathy Morgan pushed for immediate disclosure. Morgan has been one of the strongest critics of the three-story design, saying it takes away from the main building. While she said the numerous design changes and attention to architectural detail have mostly mitigated her concerns, she also felt an obligation to the public.
"The people who approve these bonds should know what they're going to get," Morgan said at the committee meeting.
Since the Measure B bond was approved in 1998, the new foreign languages/mathematics building has been the most talked about of more than a dozen new projects on Los Gatos High School's campus. Concerns about overshadowing the main building, designed by noted architect William Weeks in the 1920s, conflicted with the school district's needs to maximize the size of the building to prepare for more students and reduced class sizes.
The campus is currently in a state of controlled chaos--construction and preparation for construction is everywhere. Parking has been severely impacted ever since the school placed a number of portable classrooms in a former parking lot. The situation is largely due to the district's desire to get as much done as quickly as possible, using Measure B funds, town redevelopment money, state capital improvement funds and developer mitigation fees.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
