Cold Stone Creamery, a nationwide ice cream parlor, has made plans to serve the town with a store in the Cornerstone Shopping Center, on Los Gatos Boulevard and Blossom Hill Road.

Cold Stone specializes in "custom-made" desserts; customers pick a base flavor of ice cream, made in-store daily, which is then mixed with the customer's choice of fruit, candy or flavoring.

Cornerstone co-owner Carl Cilker says the center has had the vacant space on the corner "for some time."

"We've been pretty selective about the uses that we've had in the shopping center," Cilker said. When he first heard about leasing the space to Cold Stone, Cilker says, he found the idea "intriguing."

According to Cilker, the plans for the store have already been drawn up, but Cold Stone will need to obtain a conditional-use permit from the town, as well as approval of the plans. As a result, Cilker says he does not have an estimated timeline for the opening of the shop.

"We'll try to get that done as quickly as possible. Right now it's hanging on town approval rather than anything we're doing," Cilker said.

Bud Lortz, Los Gatos' director of community development, says the planning process could take as little as 30 days.

A conditional-use permit for a "minor restaurant can be approved by the development review committee," Lortz said. The store would have to meet specific criteria, however, in order to be deemed a "minor restaurant." Those criteria refer to the amount of traffic generated by customers and the number of seats, alcohol service and exterior improvements.

If Cold Stone cannot be approved at committee level, the application will have to go to higher-level town officials, and the process will take more than 30 days.

Currently, the Cold Stone Creamery closest to town is in the Pruneyard Shopping Center in Campbell.