Local businesses ready to revitalize downtown area
More than two dozen Los Gatos property and business owners, residents and town officials convened Tuesday for a meeting focused on revitalizing the downtown business district.
The meeting was called by the Chamber of Commerce in an effort to bring the different parties together for a common cause.
“I believe a lot of the responsibility and the evolution of what downtown will be in the next five years is up to the people who own the land,” Chamber Executive Director Catherine Somers said. “So, I encourage you to think about where we want to be in three years, five years, 10 years.”
Many had already thought about that and came to the meeting armed with suggestions.
Property owner Sue Farwell, for example, reiterated her call to make the downtown segment of North Santa Cruz Avenue a oneway street, with vehicles heading toward the southbound Highway 17 entrance at Wood Road.
“It’s been proven that one streets flow faster,” Farwell said.
Asked if University Avenue should be one-way in the opposite direction, Farwell said, “I don’t think it’s necessary.”
She also supports introducing angled parking on North Santa Cruz and widening the sidewalks to accommodate more outdoor dining.
Property owner representative John Machado would like to see more formula or chain retailers downtown.
“In today’s changing environment we need more formula stores to sustain rents,” Machado said. “The town also needs to re-think its conditional use permit policy. Restoration Hardware wants to expand next door, but they need a new conditional use permit to do that. They’re already here!”
Machado believes that requiring conditional use permits often results in empty storefronts.
Downtown resident Nick Goddard said conditional use permits are often too expensive for small businesses, pointing out that a Subway franchise owner went elsewhere after learning that town fees were going to be $79,000.
“The first thing you do is write a check to the town for $10,000,” Goddard said. “People want to be downtown, people want to walk around downtown. We can make this back to what it was 20 years ago, we just have to get out of our own way.”
The three hour parking lot limits are also an issue.
“People don’t have enough time to have lunch and shop,” Time Out owner Ginger Rowe said. “We have to fix traffic flow and parking—that’s the killer.”
But not everyone agreed that more downtown parking is needed.
“I look out my back door on Saturday nights and there are plenty of parking spaces,” Lexington House restaurant owner Stephen Shelton said. “Let’s be more forward thinking. With Uber and self-driving cars coming, building a parking garage is not the answer. Let’s re-configure what parking we have.”
Mayor Rob Rennie pointed out that the town has $4 million to put toward a new parking garage, but needs to find another $8.5 million to get it off the ground.
Parking for downtown employees was also discussed, with downtown resident Randi Chen suggesting her neighbors might consider allowing some permit parking for employees during the day.
That issue resonated with Hotel Los Gatos General Manager Brayton Gosling.
“I was in a coffee shop closing out my order twice last week, when the person at the register said, ‘I have to go move my car.’ Employees are so worried about parking tickets that they’re willing to inconvenience their customers,” Gosling said.
There was also talk of increased competition from Campbell, which has become a popular night time dining spot. But shopping in downtown Campbell remains a challenge, Somers said.
“I do know first-hand that Mountain View, Los Altos and Campbell are all trying to figure out how to bring small businesses back,” she said. “The restaurant model doesn’t attract people during the day.”
Somers plans to hold another downtown meeting in about a month.
In the meantime, she and others will look into reviving the Business Improvement District to promote downtown, and will also consider holding a workshop to better educate property and business owners on policies governing downtown.