Over a pair of items that packed the Los Gatos Council Chambers on March 18, Los Gatos’ elected officials showed that, on some contentious issues, they’ll band together despite differences. On others, common ground is harder to find.
A developer’s proposal to extend Builder’s Remedy housing rights (which allow more intense construction than normal) drew unanimous Council support. The petitioner, Swenson Builders, sought a deadline extension in exchange for a promise to shelve its seven-story condo application, which has elicited neighborhood opposition.
However, when considering how to respond to federal threats to pull funding for municipalities and as part of the new administration’s initiatives to reshape American life in other ways, the body split along ideological lines.
For Swenson’s Newtown development, a pair of seven-story structures planned for 15495 Los Gatos Blvd., all Council members sought a solution to the Builder’s Remedy project, and were motivated by the offer of much lower building heights.
Which action to take in the moment, however, seemed less clear.
Because Los Gatos failed to get a Housing Element plan approved in a timely manner, it opened the door to the development in the first place.
But a key deadline was approaching, and Swenson still had more paperwork to file.
It was seeking a “tolling agreement” to essentially preserve the rights it had gained due to the Town’s foot-dragging on facilitating new housing.
(A tolling agreement is a deal between parties to extend a deadline period.)
In exchange, Swenson pledged to do away with the highrise and build three-story town homes instead. But the developer wanted to remove the deadlines.
There was a line of thinking that said the Town should allow the development rights to expire and force Swenson to return with a project that follows Los Gatos’ regular land use rules.
But during the course of the meeting, it became clear that the state no longer really considers this particular date much of a meaningful deadline at all.
“The Town’s view is that the 90-day periods are limited,” said Town Attorney Gabrielle Whelan, responding to a question from Councilmember Rob Rennie (appearing via Zoom) about the correspondence from the Department of Housing and Community Development, which, she said, suggests they feel these may go on indefinitely.
Given this new information, Rennie said it could be too much of a risk to rely on the developer not making the deadline at the last minute and that courts would side with the Town’s position.
“We’re really rolling the dice,” he said of the option to reject the tolling agreement.
Whelan said if Council went with the new agreement, this would give the applicant more time to work on a townhome project—but they could also keep working on the tower plan and bring it back later.
“There’s pros and cons for the Town Council to weigh,” she said.
Councilmember Mary Badame asked if it was typical for an agreement like this one to omit an end date.
Whelan said there was a mechanism either party could use to terminate the contract.
Several residents spoke against Newtown’s seven-story building during public comment, though there was disagreement about whether to go the tolling agreement route or not. Swenson Builders did not opt to speak during public comment.
So, Badame invited the company’s vp of development, Mark Pilarczyk, up to the podium, later on.
Pilarczyk claimed the company had everything ready to go, but was just trying to get a new option on the table that would please the community more.
“We have a Builder’s Remedy application for a seven-story building,” he said. “We’ve held off on submitting.”
“Why not come forth earlier with that, rather than wait five days before the Builder’s Remedy is due to expire?” retorted Badame.
Pilarczyk said his presence at Council, pushing for a tolling agreement, was proof the company is serious about charting a new course, and not just buying time.
“Are you planning on meeting with town residents?” Badame asked.
“Yes, we’ll be available to meet,” he said, adding they’d even accept a hard deadline for the town homes, too.
Councilmember Rennie asked if Swenson was planning on asking for an exception to the Town’s affordability requirements.
Pilarczyk responded by referring to an initial project concept (that was never officially submitted) that showed an 11-story building with around 500 units, which some neighbors believe was drawn-up to make the seven-story tower seem more palatable.
“We revised our application down,” he said, suggesting they probably would seek an exception from below-market-rate program rules. “We’re doing a substantial drop in total units.”
Pilarczyk told the Los Gatan Swenson was genuinely planning on building 11 stories in the first place, until after meeting with local residents.
He agreed to a Dec. 31, 2027 end to the tolling agreement (with an initial deadline of March 31, 2026 for submitting plans).
Given the Town’s weak bargaining position—due to HCD’s efforts to erode the power of the Builder’s Remedy deadline—and because of Swenson’s new project falling in line with what neighbors prefer, Council voted unanimously in support of the tolling agreement.
“I hope that other developers are listening,” said Mayor Matthew Hudes. “While we can’t declare victory at this point, I think we can celebrate progress.”
Federal Fears
Council was much less in harmony when it came to how to respond to the second Trump Administration, including its budget-slashing, immigration policy and other actions.
It’s not that there were elected officials who discounted the possibility of millions of federal dollars evaporating, potentially overnight.
But Mayor Hudes wanted to constrain future discussions on the topic to limited matters of funding in relation to Town services, while Vice Mayor Rob Moore and Councilmember Maria Ristow hoped to have more wide-ranging discussions.
Hudes and Councilmember Badame both argued having vent-sessions about things the body doesn’t even control wouldn’t be productive.
After hearing passionate contributions from a range of locals with divergent viewpoints, Council discussed instituting a regular staff check-in on the subject, every other month.
Rennie, often a swing vote, signaled he was planning to side with Hudes, this time.
The politicking got so complex that Vice Mayor Moore introduced an alternate motion to Hudes’ alternate motion.
When that failed, Ristow and Moore voted in support of Hudes’ motion, to at least get something official moving forward. Badame voted against.
During the discussion, Town Manager Chris Constantin said staff is already drawing-up a more conservative budget this year, so that Los Gatos isn’t caught flat-footed if federal funding disappears.
According to a staff report, of the $10 million awarded to the Town by the feds, about $7.7 million of this has yet to be received, putting funding for the library, emergency management and the Los Gatos Creek Trail-Highway 9 connector project at risk.
*Updated to include the project address on March 30, 2025.
