Developers financed North 40 Specific Plan, attorney reveals
The North 40 developers paid for the North 40 Specific Plan, the same one approved by the Los Gatos town council in 2015. That comment raised a few eyebrows at Monday night’s North 40 public hearing held at Los Gatos Town Hall.
The hearing was the first since Superior Court Judge Drew Takaichi ruled the town was wrong to reject the developers’ plan and must reconsider its decision. He ordered town officials to reconsider the proposal, saying the town must cite objective reasons if it rejects the plan a second time. The North 40 sits on the last walnut orchard in Los Gatos and its development into a multiuse complex has been a contentious issue in this upscale Silicon Valley town.
The North 40 Specific Plan serves as a guide to future development on the site. The council rejected the development proposal last year, saying it did not comply with the specific plan. But the developers’ attorney Andrew Faber argued that it does.
“It’s not surprising the project they came up with fully meets the requirements of the specific plan because they participated for years,” Faber said. “They even financed the specific plan, even though they had no control over it.”
That comment brought “Town Not City” member Tony Alarcon to the speaker’s podium.
“Fact—and I’d like to quote Mr. Faber—the developers financed the specific plan. If that’s not a fox in the henhouse, I don’t know what is. The specific plan was intended not to serve the developers; it was intended to serve our constituents.”
But it’s not at all uncommon for developers to pay for a municipality’s specific plan, San Jose land use attorney Peggy O’Laughlin said.
“All cities, town and counties in California engage in what is known as cost recovery for development applications and the review process,” O’Laughlin said in an email. “While the jurisdiction oversees the process and ultimately decides to approve or deny the development application, the developer is responsible for the costs for the land use entitlements that are required for its specific development project.
For example, if a developer needs a specific plan for its development or it must amend the existing specific plan, it is responsible for the costs incurred to prepare that plan.”
The North 40 Specific Plan was prepared by RRM Design Group, which has an office in San Leandro.
The town also hired Berkeley-based consultant BAE Urban Economics, which specializes in housing elements and transit-oriented mixed use developments. The BAE website lists the town of Los Gatos as a client.
The environmental graphic design group Graphic Solutions, based in San Diego, was also hired as a consultant for the town.
Town Not City, meantime, is calling for a moratorium on all development in Los Gatos until the town’s traffic issues can be resolved.
However, the developers maintain the project will ease traffic congestion because they’re investing $5 million in transportation improvements. The development is also expected to generate more than $12 million in traffic impact fees.
Many speakers were in favor of the proposed development, including resident Anne Fisher, who spoke on behalf of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition.
“We’re very pleased with the bicycle elements the developers have incorporated,” Fisher said. “The developers have worked for a long time to put a development in place that meets the needs and requirements articulated by the town, and yet the town has rejected it. So, we feel it’s time for the town to approve the project and stop wasting any further time or money on the delay.”
There was also strong support for the proposal to build 49 low-income apartments for seniors.
“My mother right now is 70 years old and she’s homeless,” resident Stacy Hatfield said. “She lives between the siblings’ houses. For her to have a place to live would be amazing. I feel like it’s the town’s duty to help with the housing crisis we have in this valley. We’re not immune to this problem.”
Project opponents, however, continued to hammer away at the traffic issue, saying excessive traffic causes health problems that can be proved with objective data.
“The public safety and public health issues continue to be real and worsen,” Dr. Rosaline Vasquez said. “The worsened traffic creates objective harmful effects. As you know, it causes many objective effects such as worsened air pollution, worsened air quality, which is known to cause many health effects, including worsened asthma, causing increased hospitalizations and even death.”
Yet another speaker quoted a recent New England Journal of Medicine article as saying there was a significant increase in death rates among people who live within 1,000 feet of a highway.
The North 40 borders highways 17 and 85, Los Gatos Boulevard and Lark Avenue.
The developers’ plan says, “Some residential units (all or part of about six units) would be closer than 50 feet from State Route 17.” It goes on to say that the required ventilation system “would be enough to reduce average cancer rates at the residences to below 10 cases per million, with or without a 50-foot setback.”
The public speaking portion of the hearing concluded Monday night. However, community members can still send written comments to the town by emailing jpaulson@losgatosca.gov.
The town council is scheduled to begin deliberating the North 40 on Aug. 1 at 7 p.m.