An approved Swenson Builders memory care and assisted living facility, planned for Los Gatos, survived a challenge that featured two mayoral voices from neighboring Monte Sereno, during the Sept. 19 Town Council meeting.
Former mayor and recent State Assembly candidate Liz Lawler and current mayor Bryan Mekechuk spoke against the proposal, contending the three-story building was too big for the area at 15860-15894 Winchester Blvd. and 17484 Shelburne Way, but ultimately lost after a 3-2 split vote decided the Planning Commission was right to approve it.
“The founding mayor of Monte Sereno, Thomas Inglis, gave this advice, ‘Variances should be viewed skeptically and granted sparingly,’” Mekechuk told the Los Gatan in the days afterwards. “My observation is that three Councilmembers don’t listen to the community nor do they listen to their constituents. Since they don’t listen to residents of Los Gatos, we can’t expect those councilmembers to listen to what residents of Monte Sereno say.”
Councilmember Matthew Hudes and Vice Mayor Mary Badame voted to support the appeal (and against the project approval).
The other three councilmembers were brought on-side after the developer gave a presentation in which it said it was likely to return with a much taller housing project if Los Gatos were to reject the memory care and assisted living facility.
Everyone on Council seemed to agree that the building itself was quite attractive and possibly better than what might be forced through if Swenson returned with a residential tower that could take advantage of one State-sponsored fast-track process or another.
But a variance of a couple of feet above the 35-foot maximum for the property was a bridge too far for opponents—who noted the back of the site (facing industrial land) is actually 50 feet high, due to downward sloping ground.
The appellant, a neighbor, said he would have no problem with the project if it didn’t request those extra feet, among other concessions.
Mayor Maria Ristow said she was not a fan of designing projects on-the-fly—which is what had already occurred at Planning Commission, where Swenson had agreed to drop the height of the building by two-and-a-half feet.
Hudes said it would be worth asking Swenson’s planners to rework its designs.
The developer said due to disability rules about elevators, if some of the suggested changes were made, they’d likely have to eliminate the entire top floor and the project might not be feasible.
Ristow said she was concerned if the developer was forced to redesign the project it might languish, as the Los Gatos Meadows senior housing plan has.
