Annexation protests enough to end effort in three areas

By Nathan R. Huff

Residents in five of the eight pockets Santa Clara County wants to hand over to the town will vote next year to determine whether these areas will become part of Los Gatos. None of the pockets will be annexed automatically.

Residents of county pockets Camino Del Cerro No. 10, Marchmont Drive No. 1, Robie Lane No. 3 and Blossom Hill Manor No. 7 and No. 8 may vote for or against annexation on March 7, 2000. The annexation efforts for Peacock Lane No. 2, Shannon Road No. 20 and La Rinconada No. 6 will be terminated.

Only one county resident, former Los Gatos Town Council member and La Rinconada resident Brent Ventura, spoke to the council. He asked whether a subset of his pocket could be annexed.

Ventura said that, although the majority of La Rinconada residents opposed annexation, a group of his neighbors who live contiguous to the town would like to be annexed--if the town can pay the relatively expensive fees.

Ventura said his motives for wanting to be annexed to Los Gatos include better law-enforcement response times and more responsive local government.

"Our people want to come into the town, and we don't have the opportunity to vote," Ventura told The Los Gatos Weekly Times. "Because of the way the system is set up, we can't come into the town without paying fees, and fees are a disincentive to many of our people."

Former Planning Director Lee Bowman said the cost of annexation ranges from $3,700 to $5,000 per applicant, depending on the number of households that annex together.

The town or county cannot initiate another annexation drive for La Rinconada No. 6 until next year, but Bowman said a subset of the area could be annexed.

Council member Linda Lubeck said she would be willing to spend town money already set aside for La Rinconada's annexation to allow Ventura and his group to enter the town without paying the fees. Other council members indicated preliminary support for the idea, and staff was asked to report back at the Nov. 22 meeting on the logistics of a subset annexation.

Santa Clara County has pushed this latest annexation effort in an effort to free itself from the costly and inefficient service responsibilities county pockets present. Los Gatos has more unincorporated parcels within its service area than all county municipalities except San Jose.

The county and town waged an educational campaign to correct what officials described as extensive misinformation and rumors regarding the effects of annexation--namely increased property taxes and mandated sidewalk construction.

However, their efforts were not enough to persuade more than 75 percent of residents against protesting. If less than 25 percent of any pocket's residents had filed protests, annexation would have occurred automatically. Protests from between 25 percent and 50 percent of residents forces an election. If more than 50 percent of residents protest, as was the case with three of the eight pockets, annexation efforts are dropped.

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