With a large public turnout anticipated, the Jan. 20 council meeting—the last one before the retreat—may offer a glimpse of the council's vision for the upcoming year.

While the question of who has use of Los Gatos parks is nothing new—skateboarders and soccer enthusiasts have long complained about the need for some space in the town—the bold and aggressive response to address the issue may be. After professional skateboarder Donovan Dresti addressed the council on Jan. 5 during verbal communications to reopen the skateboard park issue, Mayor Steve Glickman moved to immediately push the issue onto the council's next agenda.

The lack of space for other organized sports—including soccer—is also intended to be part of the discussion next week. Glickman sees this issue as the council's opportunity to respond to community members.

"I think we need to take some action," he said. "I think we have discussed things for a while and the public is looking for us to stand up. I'm looking to do that."

However, Glickman cautioned that decisive action might be driven by what the council hears at the next meeting.

"We're thinking of a significant change in the direction of the use of our parks and we aren't going to do that without a significant amount of discussion with the public," he said.

Over the last few years, there have been several attempts to address the needs of organized sports groups in terms of park use. Skateboarders, in particular, have been at the forefront of the discussion as they pushed for a skateboarding park. The issue came before the council in 2001, when members decided to work with the county to find locations. The town initially proposed building a skateboard facility on county property at Vasona Lake County Park, but the effort failed.

In 2002, the town addressed the skateboard park issue again by proposing to build a facility at Blossom Hill Park. This plan, however, met with overwhelming protests from local residents.

Dresti, who has been campaigning for a skateboard park since 1999, said that frustration drove him to address the council last week.

"In 1999, that whole town council chamber was packed and I just realized that it was 2004 and nothing has happened," he said. "It's a new time, new generation and things are changing—it's time for Los Gatos to step up to the norm."

Skateboarders have not been alone, however, in pressing the town for a place to play. Soccer enthusiasts have recently also confronted council members about a lack of recreational playing fields. While there are designated fields for baseball—the Pony League has Fisher Middle School and the Little League has Blossom Hill Park—there are no designated fields for soccer. Confined to school grounds and any other space they can find, enthusiasts called to add a field to the Sobrato development last year.

Also on the agenda Jan. 20 is final consideration of the Sobrato development. The development company's second proposal for a mixed-unit complex on its 12.3-acre lot on Winchester Boulevard near Highway 85 will appear before the council at the next meeting. While Sobrato already has council approval for a previous set of plans, the company is looking to add more housing units while reducing office space. The planning commission did not recommend this second plan for approval by the council.