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Published on 11/30/1998 All articles from this issue

Council considers Sherwood plan for improving north end of town

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue

Town Crier Staff Writer

After months of work by an advisory committee, followed by public hearings and a planning commission review, the plan for spiffing up the Sherwood area of Los Altos comes to city council next Tuesday.

The Sherwood Gateway Specific Plan, which includes the triangle of town bounded by El Camino Real, San Antonio Road and Sherwood Lane, includes many elements for economic revitalization.

The goal is to "provide an overall framework for business owners in the area to work together to help the area achieve it's best potential," said Jim Mackenzie, senior planner with the city of Los Altos.

One of those elements is housing density. And Kate Disney and Jo Anne Estill, who served on the advisory committee, are not happy. Their committee recommended a housing density of seven units per acre.

But the planning commission did not support that. Instead, the commission is recommending 38 housing units per acre, as already designated in the city's general plan. Commissioners said they did not want to redo the general plan, which had come after years of work and public hearings, and wanted to stay with the higher number.

"We can't handle that kind of density at this corner," Estill said, as she tried to cross San Antonio Road at Loucks Avenue. Late afternoon traffic streamed past. "We're already maxed out."

She and Disney worry about the effects of the higher density, which they see as increased traffic and impacts on the schools.

Disney lives in the area and Estill has owned Estill Travel on San Antonio Road for 30 years. Both women know the area well.

As they walked along Sherwood Lane, Disney dreamed of one-story cottages and craftsman bungalows lining the lane.

"We want something congruous with what's (already) around here," Disney said, and pointed down the lane.

"We want this as a center for this end of town," Estill said.

They both are frustrated, feeling as though the voice of the advisory committee - that recommended the lower density - is not being heard.

"Disagreeing with one element of a report doesn't mean we weren't heard," said Dennis Young, a Los Altos accountant who was chairman of the advisory committee. "The only thing the planning commission took exception to was the density. I feel good that they accepted all but one part of the report."

Young said he favors the higher density per the general plan and was one of the few on the advisory committee who voted against the low density.

The Sherwood area is near a transit hub on El Camino Real. And "you don't build single-family homes that butt up against El Camino Real. That's not the best use of the property," Young said.

Mackenzie said the advisory committee did not spend much time on the density issue.

"The general plan can be amended, but the planning commission didn't want to recommend doing it," he said.

When the general plan was redone in 1987, the residential area of the Sherwood triangle was designated for a senior care facility, Mackenzie said.

In 1995, the city rezoned the area to multi-family, with a density of up to 38 units per acre, in response to state mandates to have sufficient sites zoned to meet the state's housing requirements, including those for affordable housing.

"Getting sufficient density was one way" to work toward the requirements, Mackenzie said.

This came at a time the city was facing a lawsuit for not complying with state requirements to provide opportunities for affordable housing.

The city council will be considering the Sherwood Gateway Specific Plan at its meeting, 7:30 p.m., next Tuesday, in the City Hall council chambers, 1 N. San Antonio Road.