Loyola Corners is about to receive some serious attention.
After denying a high-profile commercial project last week, the Los Altos City Council agreed to consider freezing development while the city updates a 25-year-old plan for the area.
Councilwoman Megan Satterlee said she was “appalled” when she read the 1990 Loyola Corners Specific Plan.
“It’s been 25 years – almost nothing’s been implemented and there were holes that I could drive a truck through,” she said. “It needs massive work, in my opinion.”
As for the potential moratorium – on the agenda for Aug. 25 – Planning Services Manager David Kornfield said it would “more than likely” apply to all projects, including ones currently in the pipeline. Depending on the scope of the Specific Plan revision, a moratorium could last “several months or two years,” according to Kornfield.
“I think it’s a good idea if the council is concerned that the plan is out of step with the desires of the community,” he added. “If there’s a problem with the plan, (fixing it) will make future development more expeditious. … It doesn’t make sense to go through long a development review process, then conclude there are problems with the plan.”
Greg Bunker, the developer whose project the council denied last week, agrees, allowing that he feels “misled.”
“If the Specific Plan has that effect, I would’ve hoped that the staff and the city would have potentially told me that before I spent a quarter-million on this project,” Bunker told the Town Crier.
The Specific Plan describes the commercial area as “an architecturally undistinguished visual blur.” To remedy this, the plan envisioned forming a Parking Assessment District to fund projects and a Business Improvement District to support enhancements. But the assessment district was never formed and the improvement district “waned and disbanded,” according to the July 28 staff report to the council.
The city has already begun work on a Specific Plan update. The Planning and Transportation Commission (PTC) formed a subcommittee to develop recommendations for the council, Kornfield said. Councilmembers expressed a desire July 28 to collaborate with the PTC on developing a scope that would include either slight revisions or a total revamp.
Residents voice opposition
At the council’s July 28 meeting, councilmembers unanimously rejected Bunker’s mixed-use, three-story project at 999 Fremont Ave. Councilmembers directed staff to compile a list of findings for their denial of the application. The findings will return to the council this month for adoption.
In response to the proposed development, councilmembers heard from approximately 35 local residents – more than two-thirds of whom voiced opposition to the project.
The most recent plan iteration included 14 parking spaces, four condominiums and 1,792 square feet of commercial space and basement storage.
Those objecting to the project argued that it prioritizes residential offerings over a much-needed retail boost. Speakers also contested the amount of parking and limited maneuverability within the indoor elevator-parking system. Others said the building appeared oversized for the lot, and many contended that the project would hinder traffic circulation and pedestrian safety.
Santa Clara County’s Loyola Bridge widening project, now underway, includes an additional traffic lane and bicycle and pedestrian passage on A Street. Residents said the enhancements for cyclists would be squandered, as the project design doesn’t include bike lanes on A Street. They claimed that construction would also preclude a future realignment of Miramonte Avenue to include A Street – a desired project in the Specific Plan.
Conversely, those in favor of the project affirmed it as an asset to the commercial district. Los Altos resident and commercial property and business owner Elie Alcheck – who sat on the advisory committee for the Specific Plan – said commercial development “is being choked.”
“I strongly recommend that you let that dream that we had at that time come through … and get some life into this corner,” he told the council.
Requirements and next steps
The 999 Fremont Ave. project entered the public-review process in January 2014. After the PTC considered numerous redesigns on separate occasions, the commission June 4 deemed the project inconsistent with the General Plan and Specific Plan, despite city staff recommending approval.
Kornfield said staff initially advised denial but altered its stance because “we felt the applicant had substantively addressed the commission’s concerns.”
“This is a normal course,” Kornfield said of the lengthy process. “The application is made, it goes through the city’s development-review process, goes through staff review, then the commission’s review, then ultimately the council.”
But Bunker said he wishes the process involved more open communication.
“The whole planning staff and other legal council concluded that I met the Specific and General plans,” he said. “Two years later, four different designs, and they’re concluding that I can’t build anything. That is totally unfair.”
Moving forward, Bunker said he is exploring several options to build on his property, including a potential “land swap” – moving his property to include the city’s Miramonte Avenue, enabling the city to widen A Street for a Miramonte realignment.
Kornfield said the property exchange isn’t “something from a staff perspective that we’ve considered.”
The swap would be “complicated, in terms of abandoning street rights of way, relocating utilities, making changes to traffic circulation,” Kornfield added. “It would need to be studied more than the Specific Plan ever has.”
Bunker has also considered submitting additional redesigns with a “more articulated aesthetic,” still 30 feet in height but possibly featuring two stories. However, because the council denied his project, he would need to resubmit an application and begin the process anew.
