A proposal for a brand new residential development that will lead to the demolition of a long-established ironmongery store in Los Gatos is causing concern amongst residents.
The developer, Arya Properties LLC, filed a proper application in May for a seven-story project that may include 182 residential units, 37 of which will likely be inexpensive housing, in addition to business space on the constructing's ground floor and roof. The project would come with over 46,500 square feet of constructing space on a lower than 8,000-square-foot lot at 15300 Los Gatos Blvd., the present location of Ace Hardware.
Several members of the general public spoke out against the applying at a council meeting last month, criticising each the scale of the proposed development and the potential lack of the shop.
The application invokes the developer's right, a provision of state law that permits developers to propose buildings of any size and height if there isn’t any plan for all of the housing units, also often called the residential element. Arya submitted his application before the City Council approved his residential element in June.
Kurt Anderson, the architect accountable for the project, said that local people may have the chance to comment on the project.
“We will contact the neighbors to find out what their concerns are,” he said.
Zack Franz, a longtime Los Gatos resident who has also been a store manager at Ace Hardware for over 20 years, said the shop is a staple locally, a spot where locals working on home improvement projects can turn for advice and supplies despite the rise of online shopping.
“The more we advance technologically, the more we lose our little places like this, where people can just go and work on their projects themselves and not have to go to YouTube to learn how to do something and then go to Amazon,” Franz said.
Franz, a neighborhood resident, said the seven-story constructing would put a strain on an area that’s already heavily trafficked. It would bring a whole bunch of recent residents to a busy stretch of Los Gatos Boulevard and congest a key community gathering place where a lot of Los Gatos' young people get their first jobs.
“If you continue to do this, I would suggest that we remove every single one of you, because this is insane,” he told the council at its June meeting, drawing applause from the audience.
Council member Rob Moore, who lives inside walking distance of the shop, said Ace Hardware provides a vital service in a city without major retailers like Target and Walmart.
“It sounds kind of silly, it sounds corny, but Ace Hardware is my Target (and) sometimes my drugstore; I buy everything I need there,” Moore said. “I'm an avid gardener, so I buy all kinds of hardware, supplies and soil there. To me, the loss of Ace Hardware is an absolute tragedy.”
Moore said the proposal represents an “unfortunate situation” since the store's large car parking zone makes it a main location for redevelopment and it is going to largely rely on the owner and developer whether or not they ultimately decide to go ahead with it.
“If the property owner finds a developer willing to redevelop the site, there is nothing anyone can do to prevent redevelopment,” Moore said.
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