North 40 development becomes the ‘North 20’
LOS GATOS » The controversial North 40 has a new identity. Since there are just more than 20 acres left that can be developed on the 44-acre site that borders Los Gatos Boulevard, Lark Avenue, and highways 17 and 85, the Town Council has renamed the slimmer version the North 20.
Just more than 21 acres of the original property will be developed by Grosvenor Americas, with 320 homes and 66,000 square feet of commercial and retail space.
The City Council held an Oct. 3 study session and public hearing to discuss the remaining acreage and what residents would like to see built there. The original specific plan that was developed for the North 20 allowed for 33 homes and 367,000 square feet of combined hotel, office and commercial space.
But the council is revising the specific plan to better reflect residents’ wishes.
Several people who addressed the council called for more housing, including former mayor Brent Ventura, who represents a North 20 property owner.
“I think we want more residential, and I really think a mixed-use type of approach is the way to go there,” Ventura said. “If we could have ground floor commercial with up-story, smaller residential units, I think that would be something of a self-contained village, more self-sustaining.”
Town leaders are well aware that the state legislature is in the process of approving housing bills that may impact the town’s control over housing decisions, so they asked for more information on possible impacts.
“Let’s imagine that we increase our housing,” Councilwoman Marcia Jensen said. “Have we now obligated ourselves to something under the new laws that, if we don’t make it, we get penalized later? So, I’d like know what the affect may be.”
The idea of putting a hotel on the North 20 has been talked about for many years and received support from several residents.
“There is a great need for a hotel that has meeting facilities for Netflix and all this other stuff within the area,” resident Rod Teague said. “So, I’m asking that we cut back the commercial/retail to a maximum of 300,000 square feet, and that’s with a 200,000-square-foot hotel and a maximum of 100,000 square feet for retail and office.”
Planning Commissioner Matthew Hudes put that hat aside when he addressed the council, saying he was speaking only as a resident.
“How can we create more of an innovation center around an incubator or accelerator in conjunction with office and hotel?” Hudes said. “It’s not really more than that, but it’s thinking it through, how do we brand it and market it so that Los Gatos is known as an innovation hub?”
These are just some of the ideas the council will consider when it returns to the North 20 discussion, tentatively scheduled for Nov. 7.
Between now and then, town staff has been tasked with researching the answers to several questions, including what use would bring the most money to the town with the least impact.
Council members also asked for more information on the types of hotels that might be appropriate for the North 20.