Friday, September 19, 2008

More Research Needed

From MercuryNews.com:

We have lived on the corner of Bachman and Massol for the past 37 years and have attended many town council meetings. Last night we attended the council meeting where the condo-conversion project at Bay Tree Apartments was debated. We listened in amazement that this large-scale project has gone so far without any specific town rules in place to guide the town staff, the town council, the developer and the residents.

There are many gray areas such as the treatment of renters, parking provisions and building code upgrading that has put everyone at a disadvantage, and there are no rules to guide them. We were also shocked to learn from Mr. Cole's statement that Lyon Development has had this project in the works here for three years.

Our question is simple. Why didn't the town start developing condo-conversion guidelines at the time the Bay Tree application was submitted? Rather than reinvent the wheel, why didn't the town research and cherry-pick best practices from other communities nearby with experience with condo-conversion guidelines (codes, ordinances or whatever they are properly called) from Palo Alto, Saratoga, Campbell and San Jose?

Spencer and Elli Anderson

Los Gatos

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