Los Gatos Continues Mulling Affordable Housing Plan

The Los Gatos General Plan Committee will be holding a special meeting at 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 10 at Council Chambers, 110 East Main St., to reconsider the original list of 41 potential so-called Affordable Housing Overlay Zones, or AHOZ.

The committee met March 27 and updated information regarding the town's remaining Regional Housing Need Allocation, or RHNA, a revised matrix consisting of the original sites, according to town staff.

Four sites suggested by the public were also reviewed with residents giving further testimony about the controversial issue which requires the municipality to come up with a plan to accommodate 346 affordable housing units. 

The committee requested staff review additional sites suggested by residents who live in the Knowles/Capri and Oak Road neighborhoods and 11 sites that have been suggested by the public are now under consideration.

While none of the sites are viable as AHOZ sites (i.e. with a minimum 20-dwelling unit per acre density), staff is recommending that six of the suggested sites be considered for further review in the future as part of the next 2007-14 Housing Element update, according to a staff report.

In January, the Los Gatos Town Council voted unanimously to return the plan for further study to the committee after public outcry.

The earlier plan repudiated by those who live in north Los Gatos included five properties, three on Oka Road, the former County Courthouse property on Knowles and Capri drives and the rear lot of the Southbay Development site on Knowles Drive and Winchester Boulevard for a total of almost 500 units.

On April 3, town officials received additional correspondence from the Oak and Knowles/Capri neighborhoods regarding the AHOZ where they state that the current distribution of affordable housing across town is "highly lopsided ... dense affordable housing dominates the north of town, impacting traffic through some of the worst intersections of Los Gatos."

The neighborhoods are asking the committee to nix the courthouse site, Southbay site, whether at a density of 20 or even 30 units per acre and Oka sites, based on their proximity to the largest collection of existing affordable housing units in Los Gatos as well as significant adverse impact on traffic.

The residents said the sites had earned an "F" rating due to the concerns.

The neighborhoods proposed the following four options:

The residents said the options fit the site selection criteria, meet RHNA targets, fair distribution across town, proximity to town businesses and services, manageable traffic impact and viable locations—to a much greater extent than previous options brought before the committee.

"We realize that the town needs to make the development of AHOZ attractive to developers, when compared to invoking the state density clauses in SB1818. However a balance should be struck among town, community, and developer interests," the residents wrote.

"As currently written, the guidelines offer four concessions, at the developer’s sole discretion. This subjects the local communities to excessive risk; instead, we recommend concessions be detailed and offered per the characteristics of each site," they added.