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Published on 10/12/1998 All articles from this issue

Gas station closes, council OK's land subdivision

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue

Town Crier Staff Writer

Just days after the Gas-N-Save service station closed, the Los Altos City Council approved a subdivision of the station land into two residential lots.

At the Oct. 13 meeting, council members were eager to proceed with the changes but only upon condition that the station never re-open.

Scott Ruegg, one of the owners of the property, which is located on the corner of Grant Road and Fremont Avenue in south Los Altos, told the council that everything will be removed from the station by the first week of December.

Council members also OK'd a change in the city's general plan, from open space to residential, and began the zoning change from public community facilities to single-family residential.

Some hoped the two towering landmark oak trees beside the station might be saved. But the owners' arborist report as well as an inspection by the city showed that the trees are in poor health.

If healthy, "They are assets to the property," said Los Altos senior planner Jim Mackenzie. "But they are liabilities if in poor health."

Neighbors behind the station on Estate Drive had understood that the station would close when its use permit expired in 1994.

Instead, the station continued operation and was sold to new owners a year ago. Estate Drive residents brought the expired use permit to the city's attention.

On June 9 the city council denied the new owners' request to continue operating the 32-year-old station with a non-conforming use permit and gave it 30 days to close.

The station remained open. The city filed a lawsuit at the end of September.

When the station finally closed on Oct. 8, a sign implied the closing was temporary, upsetting council members.

But on the morning of Oct. 14, new signs were posted on the two doors, "Sorry, we're closed."

Drivers continued to turn in, looking for gas.

Like Carrie Barton, a 35-year-old from Mountain View.

"This was the best," she said. "It had the lowest price, they never ripped us off. The guy even filled my tank for me. None of the other places do that service. It's such a shame."

The 24-000-square-foot corner property will be divided into a 10,000-square-foot lot and the other slightly larger. The conceptual plans show a sound wall along Fremont and Grant and a landscaped plot on the corner on an easement to the city. Driveways will be as far from the corner as possible, planners said.