The developers behind proposed housing at the site of the Los Gatos Lodge are working with the Los Gatos Saratoga Union High School District to construct an emergency vehicle access road through the development property and Los Gatos High School.
The Santa Clara County Fire Department is requiring developers SummerHill Homes to construct a secondary emergency vehicle access road through the property at 50 Los Gatos-Saratoga Road, and the developer opted to include its front-door neighbor, Los Gatos High School, in the project. The high school district’s board of trustees voted unanimously at their Sept. 24 meeting to approve an agreement between the developer and the district to fund and construct the road. SummerHill will front the roughly $450,000 the project is estimate to cost, with the district ponying up $200,000 in contingency funds.
The agreement also means that both the housing development and the high school will have reciprocal access to the road in the event of an emergency.
The district said that SummerHill has also committed to adding a pedestrian and bicycle path along the perimeter of the property, with a gate that will allow students to come and go from campus at the beginning and end of the school day.
The project was met with support from the community and trustees, who said the access road would improve safety in the event of an emergency at the school, which already borders major thoroughfares in town.
“SummerHill already has a number of sites that they’re developing in the boundary of Los Gatos, and to work with the school district to come up with some safe alternatives in this area I think has been very encouraging, very positive,” resident Lee Fagot said.
“The significance of this is really big, because, for instance, the Loma Prieta earthquake, when Main Street buildings collapsed, there was no way for traffic to exit town to get to Highway 17 other than go around to Los Gatos Boulevard,” trustee Alex Shultz said. “During emergencies, this is a great alternative for cars to exit, students to exit.”
The proposed mixed-use housing development in front of Los Gatos High will consist of 155 housing units on roughly 8 acres. The emergency vehicle access road is slated to pass through the SummerHill Homes property starting at Los Gatos-Saratoga Road, through the Los Gatos High campus, and open out at the intersection of Pleasant Street and New York Avenue.
The high school district will likely approve the designs for the project in the early part of next year, with construction set to begin next summer.
