The town had proposed to close half the road at the south end of Wraight and install a bulb-out at the intersection of Woodland Avenue and Highway 9.

But mobile home residents protested the proposal, saying the new features would cause traffic problems for the park. As a result, council members decided to delay approval, pending further study.

The dozen or so people who still live in the park showed up at the Dec. 16 Los Gatos Town Council meeting. The group said they had not been asked to participate in the planning process and were only asked for their votes in the final stages of approval.

"All of us would like traffic calming, but we'd like to be part of the neighborhood that we live in," said Bill Kraus. "We'd like to be part of the solution."

Martha Hoffman said none of the residents had been invited to the two neighborhood meetings earlier in the year, at which town staff and residents collaborated to come up with the proposed remedies. Like many of the mobile home residents, the first time Hoffman heard about the traffic calming was when she received the ballot in September.

"It was never the intention to exclude anyone," said Los Gatos Director of Parks and Public Works John Curtis. "The whole point of this is to provide something the neighborhood can work with. If this is something the neighborhood cannot work with, then I wouldn't recommend that we go ahead with it."

While Curtis said the mobile home park was included in the final neighborhood vote, he said he did not know why they were not invited to the meetings. Curtis pointed out, however, that in other neighborhoods, town staff has worked with smaller groups to "craft some of the ideas" for traffic calming and then involved all neighbors in the voting.

Some residents also expressed doubt that any kind of traffic calming is needed on Wraight.

Hoffman said she had not heard of any accidents caused by the alleged cut-through traffic that uses Wraight to get from Highway 9 to University Avenue. Other neighbors agreed and said they did not see the excessive speeding that the town had reported.

According to Curtis, neighbors and staff had come up with the ideas for a bulb-out, road closure, and additional half-road closure at the southern end of Woodland. Bulb-outs are an extension of the curb into the street, narrowing the road and slowing the speed of vehicles.

The town had then sent out ballots to the entire affected neighborhood—including the mobile home park—and results indicated that 67 percent of voters supported the former two proposals but not the Woodland closure.

The bulb-out and Wraight closure "would essentially prevent traffic coming in from Highway 9," Curtis said.

Kraus maintained that closing off Wraight in one direction would prevent park residents from driving through their own neighborhood to reach University. Kraus said it is virtually impossible to make a right turn from the park onto narrow Woodland Avenue. Closing northbound Wraight would force drivers—some of them elderly and with large cars—onto Highway 9 and thus cause accidents.

Patricia Kaufmann-Pittraff suggested eliminating parking on Woodland to widen the road and allow those coming out of the mobile home park to make a right turn.

While Councilman Joe Pirzynski said the intent was not to cause accidents but "to put people out on Highway 9," he proposed cutting the corner of the driveway as part of the rehabilitation plan for the park.

"If I lived in that mobile home park, I would want to get to my amenities without going onto Highway 9," said Vice Mayor Steve Glickman.

Jeff Major, representing the developer of the mobile home park, was agreeable to the idea. Major also encouraged the town to keep communicating with all the area residents.

Council members were, for the most part, sympathetic with the mobile home park residents.

"In the meetings that I went to, the voices that I hear tonight I didn't hear before," Glickman said. Glickman said that he wanted to take another look at the proposed traffic solutions, but he acknowledged that Wraight neighbors' concerns needed to be addressed.

Councilman Mike Wasserman added that there were many details—such as the length and shape of the bulb-outs—missing in the drawings.

The council directed Curtis to work with the mobile home park residents and come up with solutions that will be acceptable to everyone, as well as work with Major to resolve the issue of the park driveway. Curtis said the earliest he could bring the resolution before the council is February.

"I'm not convinced that it has to be done terribly expeditiously, but what we need to do is, we need to do it thoroughly," said Mayor Sandy Decker.

Decker said she wanted to emphasize that the town is not ignoring the Wraight neighborhood's concerns. "Enroll everyone at this point, so those that think they have a decision still know that we're looking to make this right for everyone," she told Curtis.

"We are not denying their request but merely asking for further study," Pirzynski echoed.