It often seems as if the root cause of many problems can be attributed to being heard and recently it seems as if the art of listening is a rare commodity.
Recent Los Gatos Town Council meetings have seen broad representation from residents, with varying concerns, all with passionate messages.
But I can’t help to think that the message is getting lost in translation. Town management, please take notice—we have safety issues resulting from Hillbrook School’s growing traffic! Los Gatans Concerned About Traffic and Safety (LG CATS) is askingMr. Greg Larson and our town management to hear us.
We need solutions to provide safety for anyone living on or using Marchmont Drive, Shannon, Kennedy, Englewood, Topping, Hilow, Stonybrook, Cardinal, Robin and the surrounding streets and cul de sacs impacted by Hillbrook's growing traffic.
Protect Our Neighborhoods
As a neighbor and friend to Hillbrook for the past 12 years, I can assure you I want Hillbrook to succeed in providing the very best educational experience to its students.
With that being said, I cannot understand why the Town Council would choose to consider the needs of a private institution over those of its residents.
Hillbrook School, its neighbors and the Town worked for more than 18 months in 2000-01 to fashion CUP provisions that balanced the school's and neighborhood's needs.
Those traffic mitigation measures worked well until 2009, when Hillbrook leadership simply began to ignore them. The ultimate denial of the CUP was Hillbrook’s decision to offer a drop-in day camp on their campus in 2011. The neighborhoods surrounding Hillbrook were flooded with a constant stream of traffic. In fact, the Town's count amounted to 1000 car trips per day on Marchmont Drive. Our neighborhoods had what felt like the El Camino running through it. The neighbors had to yield – children could not cross the street, dog walking became a novelty, and safely backing out of the drive way a trained skill. It was simply senseless and worse yet, Hillbrook was not cited. Why would town stewards allow this to happen?
Safety First
All of this has impacted pedestrian safety for many in Los Gatos. Town Council and Planning Commission should favor the citizens that live here and protect the quality of our life.
We urge the Town to take steps to require Hillbrook to decrease both the number of vehicles and the span of time each day our neighborhoods are impacted. Hillbrook's traffic impact has increased in recent years to unacceptable levels and must be reduced for the safety of our children and the health and safety of all the Town's residents.
Town Council and Planning Commission, please listen to our request to increase neighborhood safety! Say no to Hillbrook’s request to expand and please add further restrictions to Hillbrook’s conditional-use permit to preserve our community.
