Town leaders know that residents are divided in their opinions about the issue. Still, they are waiting to hear from Santa Clara County officials about whether barriers to annexation--both in monetary cost and public perception--can be removed.

If the county can waive or lower costs and convince residents that it would be a positive action, the council may initiate the annexation of any or all of 15 unincorporated county areas within the town borders.

Recent changes to state law have made it possible for cities and towns to annex such areas without holding special protest proceedings that were formerly required.

Shannon Susick lives across the street from Carroll on Shady View Lane in the largest county "island" eligible for the new process. She says she wants her neighborhood to become part of the town because the county's building regulations are not as strict as those in Los Gatos. The home next to hers was recently demolished to make way for a new one, which she says will be unreasonably large. She says the developer's blueprints call for a 5,000-square-foot home that she says will not fit the small-town neighborhood designs of the other houses on the street.

"I don't think the town would have permitted something like this," Susick says. "It's going to be built to the property lines."

Carroll says she is disappointed that the county does not require that input from neighbors be considered or even solicited when approving residential plans. She says she, too, is worried about the new home and others like it.

"It could be a big pink house with no windows, for all we know," she says. "I think we're going to lose our character and it's going to differentiate us even more."

On the other hand, some say the Los Gatos building and development regulations are too restrictive.

"I just think [the town is] so dictatorial," says MacRostie, who lives on a portion of La Rinconada Drive that is in the county's jurisdiction.

She says friends who live in the town have complained that it is more difficult to get building permits and other property changes approved. The town should relax its regulations, she says, because initial objections to visual elements often fade with time.

"Our neighbor wanted to put an addition on that blocked our view of the valley," she says. "We were upset at first, but we've learned to live with it. It's not such a big deal."

Though development regulations have generally been the central issue in past disputes over annexation, the county may change its regulations such that they mirror those of the which ever city or town borders an unincorporated area.

Los Gatos Mayor Mike Wasserman said at an April 4 town council meeting that he expected opposition would lessen or even disappear if the development process became the same for county and town residents.

Shady View Lane resident Missy Fox has always been opposed to annexation. However, she says that if the building requirements were made the same as the town's, she might change her mind.

"At that point, I would start to consider it," she says. "As long as we wouldn't have to put in street lights and sidewalks."

At the council meeting, Parks and Public Works Director John Curtis said sidewalks, gutters and street lamps would not be installed unless the residents of a neighborhood wanted them, in which case they would vote on the issue and pay for the changes through a tax if approved.

Part of the trouble with past annexation attempts initiated by residents is that they have polarized neighborhoods split by the issue.

Lydia Muzeck says she and her husband, Alfred, signed a neighbor's petition opposing annexation a few years ago in order to avoid ruffling any feathers but would really like their home on Peacock Lane to be part of the town. The former town employee says problems in the past with neighbors parking rundown cars on the street for extended periods of time would not go unnoticed by town police or code enforcement officers.

"I know one house was appraised for $100,000 less because the neighbor had cars parked out there," Muzeck says.