Los Gatos' Albright Way Project Continued Until June 3

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A total of 47 speakers were in support of the project, including the applicant; and 32 speakers were against, or wanting a smaller project.

The Council must decide the fate of the project's development application, its architecture and site application and Environmental Impact Report for the four acres of land located at 90-160 Albright Way and 14600 Winchester Blvd.

The property owner is Los Gatos Business Park, LLC and the applicant is developer John R. Shenk. 

On April 24, the Los Gatos Planning Commission voted 4-3 against recommending the project for approval to the Council.

The project would demolish the 10 existing buildings at Los Gatos Business Park totaling approximately 250,000 square feet of office/research and development space and allow the construction of four new office/research and development 65-foot tall buildings at full build out.

Netflix, headquartered in Los Gatos at 100 Winchester Circle, has leased the first building and has options on the entire project, according to Shenk, who wants to build up to 550,000 square feet of new office/research and development space and a new three-story parking garage.

Those who spoke against the project, due to how large it is and because it's located next to the Charter Oaks townhome complex, asked for the plan to be returned to town planners for revisions that would reduce its size and height of the buildings.

Those who spoke in favor of the project, due to its promise to house a growing Netflix and additional tax dollars for local public schools, asked the Council to approve it.

However, after a five-hour-plus meeting and with about 20 speaker cards left, the Council gave itself more time to study the issue.
 
Project supporters wore small bright green, pink and yellow stickers on their chests that said, “Support Albright,” while opponents pinned signs on the front of their shirts and blouses that said, “Consistent with general plan.”

Ginger Rowe, owner of Time Out Clothing in Los Gatos, was one of the project's supporters. She said small businesses in town have benefited from Netflix due to its sales tax revenue and employees' patronage of local shops, stores and restaurants.

David Wells, a Los Gatos resident and the chief financial officer of Netflix in charge of facilities, said the company feels the town's love and support for the popular business.

However, he said, although Netflix would like to stay in its current building, the company has outgrown the location.

He stressed the proposed business park would allow the company to remain in town. "I can testify that if you want to provide Class A office space, you've heard from commercial real estate brokers and others that this is exactly the type of space we're looking for ... large floor plates, collaborative space, speed of communication is essential. That's why all of these companies are looking for the same thing, which is a lot of space together where you can put large engineering teams together."

He added the company values the space expansion potential. "Not only have we taken the first building lease, but we've taken rights on all the other buildings and if we continue to grow, it's our intention to expand in those other buildings."

Wells said the company barely met its current expansion needs with the current buildings across from the Courtside Club at Winchester Circle. "We moved in at 95 percent capacity," he noted. "We're a year later and even with the best case ... we're 18 to 20 months away from having expansion space so timing does matter."

Wells also said the company would work to mitigate traffic to the Charter Oaks neighborhood by continuing to run shuttles and bringing lunch to employees to minimize car trips. "I urge you to support this compromise," he said.

Wells also said it's estimated more than $3 million a year is invested in Los Gatos by Netflix employees who patronize town businesses.

Kris Lamson, who's lived in Los Gatos for 18 years and who serves as president of the Los Gatos High School New Millennium Foundation, said the nonprofit was in support of the project because the local public school districts are underfunded.

"If we want more for our children we fundraise for our children ... It's hard for us to fathom turning away a project that will generate more than $1.4 million in annual property tax revenue to the Town of Los Gatos, much of which will support public schools," Lamson said. "This is not a project on which we can take a pass. Opportunities like this don't come along every day. The timing is right. The project is right. Los Gatos needs this for its community and for its schools."

However, Lee Quintana, who represents the group Los Gatos Citizens for Responsible Development, which sued the town and the developer over the lack of an environmental impact report for the project in September of 2011, urged the Council to deny the project or refer it back to the Los Gatos Planning Commission for "significant redesign."

"Some compromise in height may be acceptable," she said, "But only if all the conditions of the Citizens' group are met." Some of those conditions are that the project be consistent with the town's general plan. "At no time during the research I've been doing lately have I found ... specific exceptions to the general plan height ... for any other area in town."

Similarly, Woody Needom asked the Council to be careful with the development. "We're in the middle of a historic amount of building in this town," he said. "We've already made mistakes ... This isn't in keeping with the small town image that we say we cherish."