But Los Gatos Town Council members were not convinced that La Rinconada Country Club was a significant cause of that traffic, despite several hours of public testimony about the problem.

In fact, they said improvements included in the club's remodel plans should improve traffic flow and pedestrian safety along Wedgewood.

The council on Aug. 16 unanimously voted to uphold the planning commission's June 9 decision approving those plans and granting the club a new conditional-use permit.

Neighbor Chris Delaossa appealed the commission's decision, requesting that the town require La Rinconada to close its Wedgewood Avenue service-vehicle entry and direct all traffic to the member entrance on Clearview. He said truck traffic into the gate often backs up on the street because it is narrow and hard to negotiate. He also said club members often enter the Wedgewood gate because it is closer to the driving range.

A traffic count conducted by the town in July indicated that the gate receives on average 25 vehicles daily, four to five of which are trucks. The Clearview entrance receives 181 vehicles or approximately 88 percent of the total number of vehicles going to the club.

Councilwoman Sandy Decker asked Delaossa if limiting traffic to the Wedgewood entrance to trucks only—effectively cutting the traffic back to four or five vehicles per day—would help solve the problem.

"I think it would diminish the impact," he said. "If we receive that benefit, and that's a huge benefit, then we are just shifting another section of traffic."

Councilwoman Diane McNutt said there were three areas of traffic concerns in the neighborhood.

"One is what is produced by the country club," she said. "One is what can happen during the construction period, and then the third is just the general misery you seem to be suffering [due to] traffic on your streets ... Of course we can't solve the overall traffic problem this evening."

She also seemed a bit bewildered that Decker's suggestion didn't appear to please Delaossa and struggled to grasp the appellant's desires.

"If you were king of the world—what is it that you want?" McNutt asked. "Do you want that gate totally closed? Do you want the volume down? Is it the fact that there are five trucks out of the 25 vehicles? Tell me what your bottom line is."

Delaossa said he wanted the gate to be "shut completely and not ever opened."

But as remodel chairman Jim Rubnitz said and other council members referred to, the remodel includes moving the gate farther away from the street, widening it and adding a staging area. In addition, the club plans to add 1,500 feet of sidewalk and curb to the street and make improvements to a drainage system that has caused neighborhood flooding in the past.

"I think I can stand up here and say that as neighbors, La Rinconada is far better today with its neighbors both on Wedgewood and Clearview than it was some time ago," Rubnitz said. "We've met probably no less than seven or 10 times with neighbors on both sides discussing all the issues we've heard about tonight. Then we've met with [town] staff throughout this process again trying to brainstorm and come up with ideas that solve them."

Director of Community Development Bud Lortz did say the town would work with La Rinconada to ensure that construction is as least disruptive as possible. Decker also requested that staff review the success of the improvements six months after their completion.