North 40 project rejected
Planning commissioners say proposal does not fit character of Los Gatos
LOS GATOS — The Los Gatos Planning Commission has recommended that the town deny the massive North 40 housing and retail development that would replace what is now orchards along Highway 17.
Commissioners voted 4-2 on July 13 to recommend denial of the project’s architecture and site application, with Chairwoman Mary Badame, Vice Chairman Michael Kane and commissioners Matthew Hudes and Melanie Hanssen in the majority.
“The intensity is out of character for the town,” Badame said.
The Town Council has the final say on what is built at the North 40 and is scheduled to begin deliberations on Aug. 9.
Developers Grosvenor Americas and SummerHill Homes want to build 320 homes and 66,000 square feet of commercial space in the first phase of the project. Poles strung with red netting that rise above the trees on the site give passing motorists a sense of its scale.
In particular, Badame took issue with the size of some of
the proposed condominiums and rental units. A town staff report says they would be between 580 and 1,999 square feet.
“Scaling it back could have the effect of providing more open space, greater building articulation, possibly reduced building height, possibly reduced building footprint, quite possibly greater affordability and unmet housing needs, and it would protect hillside views,” Badame said.
Hudes, who led the project’s opposition, said the project’s economic impact study was flawed. He cited, among other things, the fact that North 40 businesses will not be required to obtain conditional use permits from the town.
Vice Chairman Kane piggybacked on that and said, “I just want to protect downtown.”
“The North 40 Specific Plan is telling me, the architect is telling me, the staff report is telling me that it does not have the look and feel of Los Gatos,” Kane said. “And I’d rather go to the Supreme Court definition of pornography: I don’t know what it is, but I know it when I look at it. It doesn’t look like anything that I’ve seen in Los Gatos.”
The North 40 Vision Statement that was adopted by the Town Council says, “The North 40 will look and feel like Los Gatos.”
Commissioners also took issue with plans for 50 low-income senior apartments, saying that part of the plan “doesn’t address unmet needs for senior housing.”
The developers’ attorneys have threatened legal action if the town makes significant changes to the plans.
Commissioners Charles Erekson and Tom O’Donnell opposed the motion for denial and Commissioner Kendra Burch was absent.
“If there’s ever been a project we’ve worked on that doesn’t have as strong a possibility of litigation as this one does, I don’t recall it,” O’Donnell said. “I can respect the motion and the reason for the motion. But I don’t think this motion will be of much assistance to the Town Council, but that may be OK. I’m just very glad we don’t have the ultimate responsibility.”
The North 40 development has been discussed for eight years. During that time members of the Yuki family, who are the primary property owners, have rarely spoken publicly about it. But family member Ed Morimoto spoke about the plans during an April hearing, and questioned what Los Gatos would be like today if the town’s forefathers had not allowed development.
“Many of us live in homes that were only farmland when my family first arrived here 75 years ago,” Morimoto said at the time. “Isn’t it possible — just possible — that thoughtful, selective use of higher density over our traditional sprawling, car-centric approach just might give us a better chance of preserving our quality of life?”