Housing Element Law Prevails in Los Gatos
- Larry Sokoloff
- Aug 15, 2017
- 3 min read
Among the cities of Silicon Valley, large buildable lots are nearly as rare as unemployed programmers. Amid the regional housing crisis and strong slow-growth sentiment, battles over their fate have been fierce – few more so than in Los Gatos.
The Los Gatos Town Council approved plans to develop its last large undeveloped piece of land, 44 acres at the junction of Highway 85 and Highway 17, Aug. 1. Though public opinion on the fate of the parcel is far from settled, the decision was essentially forced after a judge ruled against the city earlier in the summer in a long-running legal battle concerning roughly half of the parcel.
By some measure, it’s a win for state housing laws that are often seen as powerless to compel cities to actually realize their housing allocations.
Currently the incongruous site of a walnut orchard, among single-family homes and strip commercial, the North 40 development is to include 320 residences and 68,000 square feet of retail on a 22-acre plot near the city’s border with San Jose. The project includes about 50 low-income and moderate-income apartments.
