As I sit here in my backyard in Los Gatos, I’m wondering how your summer is going? It’s a beautiful night after a pretty warm day. Although beach traffic is still bottlenecking our downtown streets, and in our neighborhoods in Los Gatos on the weekends, we are extremely fortunate to live on the edge of Silicon Valley at the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains in this beautiful, historic town.
How do you get around on the weekends? Saturdays seem pretty difficult to navigate, but if you’re a savvy local, you know the backstreets and parking lots and are able to navigate pretty swiftly. If you’re open to coming downtown before 10:00 AM, you’re golden. If you walk, you are not only rewarded with a picturesque landscape, you get the opportunity to talk to neighbors and experience Los Gatos. I will tell you as a retail business owner this is just another hurdle for our local businesses.
Something that’s been concerning me is the swift and reckless housing mandate that is effecting our town and every other town in California. Whether it’s fortunate for some and unfortunate for others, we are about to see a boom in high rise apartment buildings being constructed because there is a housing crisis in California.
Our California state government has left the lid off of the candy jar for all developers to come and develop with very little to no oversight. Because of the delays in approving the housing element, developers have been using the state law known as the “Builder’s Remedy” which allows them to bypass many local zoning rules and expedite housing projects.
Anyone who lives in Los Gatos and has experienced beach traffic on a weekend can only imagine when these new developments are built what our daily traffic will be like. But that doesn’t seem to matter, progress is marching on… damn the streets that can’t accommodate the traffic!
Did you know that the state required Los Gatos to plan to develop 1,993 new homes by 2031 with only 847 units designated as “affordable”. Why not make all 1,993 affordable if our state cares so much… it’s about MONEY people, not affordability. Los Gatos, our town, also has a plan to build over 3,900 homes in the future to accommodate future housing needs and potential population growth. It can be exhausting trying to stay on top of all of this but if you care about where you live and you care about the future, it’s not selfish to want to keep a small, historic town small and it’s not selfish to want to plan for the future in a responsible way.
Now, let me cast a light on Los Gatos, for whatever reason unknown to me our town government has decided to expedite these housing projects with a significant portion to start soon. The town has also received 18 applications for by-right housing proposals under Senate Bill 330, a streamlined process that encourages rapid development. Los Gatos is gearing up for a significant increase in housing development within the next year. If you live in Los Gatos you need to be concerned. Here is what we can do. Get involved.
1. Participate in Public Meetings
2. Join or Form Community Groups
3. Engage with local elected officials
4. Start a petition
5. Legal Action
6. Public Campaigns. (Social media, etc. use your voice)
7.Alternative Proposals
8. Environmental Reviews
