It was two days shy of a year ago that we gave La Rinconada credit in this space for being a good neighbor to the residents on Wedgewood Avenue by making adjustments to its driving range so as not to disturb those living just over the fence from the golf course.
A year later, though, we're starting to wonder—is La Rinconada really a good neighbor? It didn't appear that way at the June 9 Los Gatos Planning Commission meeting.
The country club went before the planning commissioners with hopes of gaining approval for a proposal to remodel its facilities and expand its membership. Neighbors, while apparently not all that concerned about the potential remodel, took advantage of the opportunity to voice their concerns over where and when deliveries are made to the club.
Since 1988, deliveries to the country club have been made on a members' access road off of Wedgewood. Prior to that, delivery vehicles had access to the club through the main entrance off of Clearview Drive.
Area residents turned out for the public meeting to voice their concerns over delivery traffic through their neighborhoods—some from the Wimbledon Drive and Wedgewood Avenue route, others from the La Rinconada Drive and Clearview Drive side.
While residents on the Wedgewood side would rather see trucks use the Clearview entrance, that makes little sense. Clearview and La Rinconada drives are quiet, unmarked residential streets that should not be used for delivery vehicles. Wedgewood, on the other hand, is a relatively busy, clearly marked two-lane arterial better designed for such use.
Most Wedgewood residents understand that such a change to club access is not probable, but they would like to see the country club limit the times deliveries would be accepted so that school children would not be placed in harm's way. They only ask that delivery vehicles service the club during the hours when children are in school and avoid those times before and after school when children may be present.
That's when La Rinconada took a less than neighborly stance. General Manager Rick Forney indicated that requiring vendors to make their deliveries during specified hours would be difficult because the companies set their own schedules. What's more, he went on to say that most of the deliveries that are made now are when children are in school.
When Planning Commissioner Joanne Talesfore pointed out that 10 of the club's 31 weekly deliveries are made between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. and another 10 after 2 p.m., Forney could only sit speechless.
It would seem that La Rinconada Country Club, as the customer, would have some leverage over its vendors in requesting delivery times more convenient for the neighbors.
La Rinconada needs to do the right thing and require its vendors to minimize their impact on the local residents. After all, it's the neighborly thing to do.
