The culmination of all efforts by town employees and neighbors has resulted in a beautiful Fairview Plaza. The plaza can now be used to stroll through or sit and relax and "smell the roses." Those to be acknowledged from the public works department are Bruce Baker, Tim Boyer, Bob Charon, Gary Cordeiro, Ryan Crane, Ruben Galvan, Dave Gray, Tony Harding and Eric Olson. From this time onward, the plaza will need some help to keep it beautiful, and I hope citizens around town will take pride in this newfound jewel and help with its maintenance. Thanks to everyone—past, present and future—for keeping one little part of Los Gatos beautiful.

E Gary Schloh, chairman

Los Gatos Parks Commission

Artificial turf
grass answer
to lack of fields

Due to the explosive popularity of soccer as a children's sport, the ready availability of safe playing fields in Los Gatos has diminished proportionately. The problem isn't just the shortage of fields, but rather of the number of fields that are playable at any given time. Natural-grass fields are unavailable for use about 50 percent of the time because of mud (overuse, plus water), seeding, watering, mowing and often dangerous conditions such as gopher holes, rocks and deteriorating surfaces.

As a former (now retired) sport field surfaces technician, I can tell you that there is a solution to a good deal of this problem. With the installation of the new artificial turf grass (not the old Astro Turf), the availability of playable fields rises dramatically because there is literally no downtime. This type of field can be played 24/7, come rain or shine, which makes an artificial-grass soccer field equal in playing time to two or three grass fields.

Also, because there are no sprinkler heads or gopher holes, the safety factor is enhanced greatly and the savings in maintenance makes it cost-effective.

I would urge the town of Los Gatos and the parks and school departments to look into this as a possible solution to the shortage of soccer (and all sports) fields in Los Gatos.

Larry Brown

Auburn, Calif.

Questioning the
decision of the
town council

In the wee hours of Wednesday morning (Jan. 20), at approximately 12:20 a.m., the Los Gatos Town Council in a 3-2 vote approved the construction of the largest single development to be built within the town's boundaries.

The Los Gatos Planning Commission had rejected the current design submitted by the Sobrato Development Company for very good reasons, and the town council could have recommended the project go back to the planning commission for further edits, ensuring what is built is what Los Gatos wants and what Los Gatos can live with for decades to come.

Instead council members Diane McNutt, Joe Pirzynski and Steve Glickman voted to approve the Sobrato development as currently proposed. Council members Sandy Decker and Mike Wasserman voted against approving the current proposal, requesting further changes be made to the design.

The concerns I have about the Sobrato development, located on 12 acres at the Winchester Boulevard/Highway 85 interchange, are:

1—The quality of life for people living in the development and the surrounding communities. The first phase of construction includes 290 apartments, ranging in size from studio to three bedrooms. Using an average of two people per unit, approximately 580 people will be living in this new development. Included in phase two is the construction of two business complexes totaling 120,000 square feet of office space. In the existing design there is simply not enough usable open space for both the renters and the office commuters. The Los Gatos Creek Trail that abuts the apartment complex is the only feasible recreational space for these people to use. Also, the development does not include any planned retail space, forcing all residents and commuters to travel by car for all of their personal needs such as groceries, dry cleaning, etc. With only two driveways accessing the site (one on Knowles and one on Winchester), the residents, office commuters and surrounding communities of Los Gatos, Campbell and Monte Sereno will be heavily impacted by the increase in traffic.

2—The drain on the town's coffers to support a private development. The town's affordable-housing problem will benefit from this project since 51 of the 290 units will be rented at 80 percent of the county's rental rate for housing. The Sobrato Corporation will also pay $200,000 to the town for traffic mitigation. What is not spelled out is the financial cost of this development to the town of Los Gatos. It has been proven that the cost of services (police, fire, etc.) to residents exceeds the monies collected by the town in property taxes. With the approximate cost of a single traffic light being $150,000 (the price of the Daves/Winchester light), is $200,000 enough for traffic mitigation? In its agreement with the town, Sobrato does not have to build the office complex until they have secured tenants for it. If and when it is built, will the sales tax generated by the commercial business offset the costs of services that the town must provide? What is the fiscal responsibility of the three members of the town council who voted in favor of the current design? Should the town of Los Gatos approve a development that will end up costing the town money? Money spent on a private development that instead should be used for the common good?

The Los Gatos Planning Commission exists to ensure that the design and density of a project is right for the town. By voting for the project to go ahead as specified demonstrates that council members McNutt, Pirzynski and Glickman did not have confidence in the design process used by the town, and instead circumvented the process. Please remember this when the full impact of this development is upon us, and you ask yourself, how was this ever allowed? By that time, Sobrato will have moved on to its next development.

Kyle Lanza

Monte Sereno

Town council
goes against
planning

Do we even need a planning commission? [On Jan. 20] the Los Gatos Town Council voted 3-2 to disregard the recommendations of the planning commission and approve the new "and improved" Sobrato higher-density-housing project on Winchester Boulevard and Highway 85: 290 apartments, two office buildings and a park half the size of the Los Gatos Town Plaza, all on 14 acres.

What a slap in the face of the commissioners; what a waste of their time; what a lack of confidence in their knowledge and abilities! (Thank you to Mike Wasserman and Sandy Decker for their "no" votes.)

What is there left to say? The general plan for the town needs to be updated to correspond to the current needs of the community. A shuttle to Safeway cannot seriously be tolerated as a community benefit any longer.

What can I tell the Sobrato family? Of course, we are very disappointed. Sobrato felt it was not their responsibility to provide land for our youth and opted instead for a shuttle to Safeway. It was their right. Under the current restrictions of the general plan, they were under no legal obligation. They have planned their development by the book. They knew exactly what they could get away with. We were all just hoping for a change of heart. I do believe that in the long run, they will regret not taking an opportunity that might present itself only once in a lifetime—an opportunity that many of us can only dream of and would die for ... a chance to be a hometown hero.

Michele Jehenson

Monte Sereno

Local police come
through for
visitors to town

I hope this letter is too commonplace for you to print. But, I fear it is not. I spent an evening with some friends of mine visiting different clubs and bars in the Santa Cruz Avenue area a few weekends ago. We were having a great time until one of our friends got into a scuffle with another partygoer upon leaving for the evening.

Unfortunately, in the scuffle our colleague lost a black pearl that had a lot of sentimental value. After everyone calmed down, we finally went our separate ways for the evening. As I was searching for a taxi, one of the police officers drove up and told me they had done the impossible ... they found the pearl.

I was stunned. In how many cities would this happen? I was simply impressed with the way they endured some truly juvenile behavior and went the extra step to find someone's personal property. I would like to commend these officer.

Kerry Washington

Cupertino