There are eight (8) property owners on Phase II of the North 40. The Yuki family continues to own most of the land (roughly 15 acres) and has granted Grosvenor an option to purchase the property for development. The other property owners are mostly along Burton Road on the northernmost portion of the area. The existing commercial building at the corner of Los Gatos Boulevard and Highway 85 will remain as is.
As for the other properties, the North 40 team will include them in a comprehensive plan for the re-envisioned Phase II development with the intent of not decreasing the development potential of any property.
Our calculations show that approximately 128 residential units or 149,235 net square feet of condominium style housing and 113,285 gross square feet of rowhouses or garden clusters remain. For commercial, there is over 443,478 square feet of development program left.
However, the North 40 Specific Plan was amended on September 4, 2018 after nearly 2 years of deliberation (starting on September 27, 2016 with a special meeting of Town Council). The Amendment was to Section 6.4.1 of the Specific Plan and it now allows that proposed developments within the Specific Plan “may request to enter into a Development Agreement reviewed pursuant to the established Architecture and Site Review approval process or the Planned Development Overlay process”.
With this amendment and based on a new view of Phase II, which is informed by over a decade’s worth of conversations in Town and the General Plan Update Advisory Committee’s work over the past two-and-one-half years, it is reasonably foreseeable that the vision for the North 40 may look different than it does today. Our plan is to work with the community for the bulk of this year to re-envision the Phase II.
No. Our plan is to undergo a community dialogue through most of 2021 to understand if there is a specific direction that the Town would like to go. After listening to the Town’s General Plan update process for the past 2-and-a-half years, it appears that the Town’s focus will be on racial and social justice, and environmental concerns including the reduction of vehicle miles traveled to reduce our carbon footprint and the ever-present housing crisis. The alternative concepts that we are showing now are an attempt to show how Phase II can potentially help with these concerns. Only after engaging with the community and hopefully gaining more insight into what the Town stakeholders want, will we submit a development application.
Although the Town Council in 2018 amended the Specific Plan in anticipation of a re-envisioning of Phase II, the Specific Plan may need to be amended to accommodate a development program that is different. We will be transparent about what technical documents or amendments are needed as we move further into the process. These include documents related to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
The Town’s requirement for a project in size similar to Phase I is to provide a minimum number of Below-Market-Price (BMP) units equal to twenty percent (20%) of the market rate units. Fifty percent (50%) of the BMP units in a project should be priced to be affordable to Moderate Income Households; and fifty percent (50%) should be priced to be affordable to Low Income Households.
The total number of approved housing units on Phase I is 320. Of this, 237 housing units are considered to be the baseline market rate units of which the 20% affordable requirement should be calculated. This results in a requirement for 47.4 affordable units. Phase I provides 50 affordable units within the Eden housing program located at Market Hall—over the 20% requirement. The remaining 83 units (320 – 237 = 83) are units that were granted through the State Density Bonus program. The Density Bonus was achieved because over 5% of the residential units on Phase I were reserved for those at the Very Low Income threshold. In fact, over the past decade and likely longer, the North 40 is the only source of building permits for affordable housing at the Very Low Income threshold, which is for residents who earn between 30 and 50% of area median income.
Phase I of the North 40 is spending 10x the Environmental Impact Report (EIR)-required offsite traffic mitigations to reduce Los Gatos/Lark Avenue traffic delay. The estimated cost for EIR-required improvements needed to mitigate traffic caused by the North 40 was $950K. The additional improvements that were required by the Town in approving Phase I was $10.25M.
24 projects were approved by the Town of Los Gatos other than the North 40 between 2012 and 2016. Those projects are estimated to cause 13% more congestion, though no traffic upgrades were required. The EIR for the North 40 estimated that the it will add to congestion by only 2%. With the traffic upgrades required of the North 40, delay will be reduced by 26%.
Los Gatos Blvd
Lark Ave
Multi-Use Paths
SummerHill Homes is responsible for the current construction that is underway. The timing and hours of operation for their work is regulated by the Town of Los Gatos and they must also coordinate with work by PG&E which is not related to the North 40.
The North 40 Specific Plan Environmental Impact Report traffic mitigations contemplated the entire North 40 being developed per the current Specific Plan. An allocation of over 440,000 sf of commercial space and 128 residential units remain under the current North 40 Specific Plan. It is unlikely, from a traffic perspective, that more trips will be generated in a re-envisioned development program on Phase II. This means, it is very likely that the required traffic improvements to achieve the 26% delay discussed in the previous question are front-loaded—constructed before the actual traffic generating uses are even built.
Multi-family residential – average 1.5 spaces per unit
Townhomes – self-parked at 1 or 2 spaces per unit
Hotel – 1 space per room
Office – 3 spaces per 1000 sq. ft.
Retail/community – 3 spaces per 1000 sq. ft.
Note: These ratios are subject to change as we proceed with refining the concept and working with the Town and community.
Phase II is currently in the Campbell High School and Cambrian School District.
The Environmental Impact Report for the North 40 Specific Plan provides the following and further explanation of growth projections on page 3-173:
The Los Gatos Union School District’s master plan includes two future growth scenarios that include development of the Plan Area. One scenario predicts half density residential development at build-out and one predicts maximum residential development at build-out. The growth scenarios include the already approved residential projects and residential development at the Oka Road property and within the Plan Area. Projections for additional students from these projects range from about 100 to 200, with a total school district enrollment of up to 3,830 students by 2022. Combined development at Oka Road and the Plan Area would increase Louise Van Meter School enrollment by 25 to 50 students, and would increase Fisher Middle School enrollment by 40 to90 students by 2022 (Los Gatos Union School District 2012, pages 25 to 30).
Don Capobres, a Principal at Harmonie Park Development, was previously employed by Grosvenor and managed the company’s involvement in the North 40 and relationship with the Yuki family since 2008. In 2016, Don founded Harmonie Park and entered into an agreement with Grosvenor to continue as a lead consultant on the project. The firm represented Grosvenor’s interest in Phase I of the North 40 until it was sold to SummerHill Homes in 2018. During that transition, Harmonie Park also became the developer for the retail portion of Phase I, which is now called The Junction. Harmonie Park continues to manage Grosvenor’s involvement Phase II of the North 40.
No. The Principals of Harmonie Park Development, Wendi Baker and Don Capobres, have been involved in the North 40 since 2008. They are pleased to implement the vision for the retail portion of The Junction as they and the Los Gatos community have always envisioned it.
The cornerstone of The Junction is still Market Hall, which continues to be envisioned as a place for friends and family to gather and enjoy food and products from local and regional purveyors. MB Partners (Manresa, Manresa Bread and Mentoneca) continue to work with Harmonie Park on designing Market Hall.
To enhance the vision, Harmonie Park is proposing to move the Gianandrea House (https://harmoniepark.com/projects/gianandrea-house-at-the-junction/) from Phase II of the North 40 to The Junction,to be an anchor to the district and to embrace and enhance the Town’s agrarian roots.