The Los Gatos Town Council will consider Monday night whether to lift the cap on how many homes can go in the North Forty, the 44-acre district at the town's northern edge.
The council meets at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2, in the Town Council Chambers at 110 E. Main St., with a Zoom option. A public hearing on amending the North Forty Specific Plan is the main item, and the Planning Commission voted unanimously on Sept. 23 to recommend it.
Three changes
The plan area is bounded by Highway 85 on the north, Lark Avenue on the south, Highway 17 on the west and Los Gatos Boulevard on the east. Under the proposed amendments:
- Housing would have to be built at no fewer than 30 and no more than 40 units per acre, and homes would have to take up at least half the floor area of any mixed-use project.
- References to a 270-unit housing cap would be removed throughout the plan, so projects could reach the maximum density plus any extra units allowed under the state density bonus law or other rules.
- The requirement for half a guest parking space per unit, which now applies to senior and affordable units, one-bedroom units and units with two or more bedrooms, would be dropped for all unit types. The staff report says that brings the plan in line with town code changes the council adopted in January 2025.
The town is making the changes to carry out Implementation Program D of its 2023-2031 Housing Element, which calls for added housing capacity in the North Forty. Senior Planner Jocelyn Shoopman's report says adopting the resolution has no budget impact on its own and that individual projects would still get their own environmental review.
What is already approved
The council approved the first phase of the North Forty in August 2017: 320 homes, 50 of them affordable senior units, and about 66,800 square feet of commercial space. In January of this year it approved Phase II, with 450 homes, 77 of them affordable, and about 15,074 square feet of commercial space.