Update on Hillbrook School 2-19-13

posted in: Hillbrook School | 0

UPDATE: First There Was No News … and Now There Is Too Much News!

Hello, CATS. First of all, the Town Council hearing on the Hillbrook CUP violations has now been tentatively rescheduled for Monday, March 18. The gun shop moratorium is on the March 4 agenda and pushed us to the later date. Please mark the date on your calendars. We will need as big a turnout as we can get!

In brief, two very important things are happening:
• The hearing on CUP violations on March 18
• The time period to respond to a Notice of Preparation (NOP) for a Focused Environmental Impact Report
THE HEARING ON MARCH 18
At the hearing on March 18, we will have the opportunity to talk to the Council about the violations we’ve seen Hillbrook committing. If we can convince the Council that violations have taken place, we can expect that some action will be taken. It’s possible that we might even see a reduction in afternoon traffic.

We will be reporting and describing more than 15 violations. Among them are the following current violations:
Violations of the CUP. (1) Allowing the third-party Breakthrough Silicon Valley to use the campus for 6 weeks during the summer; (2) failing to limit weekend activities to those allowed by the CUP; (3) failing to promote carpooling during the summer; (4) failing to limit nighttime activities to a maximum of 10.
Violations of the Town Code: (1) increasing afternoon activities to levels far exceeding those in existence in 2001 when the current CUP was adopted; (2) creating a teacher training program without first requesting permission from the Town; (3) holding activities during winter break.

We will be reporting past violations as well, including Steve & Kate’s Camp and the failure to file required carpooling reports between 2007 and 2011. Let me know if you would like a complete list of the violations we will be claiming.

NOP: FOCUSED ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REVIEW
The Town has now filed a Notice of Preparation (NOP); it has notified us that it will be generating a Focused Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Legally, we have 30 days to make comments and suggestions “regarding the preparation of the EIR, environmental issues to be addressed in the EIR, and any related issues.” The deadline for submitting comments and suggestions is March 14, 2013. After that, the study will take 4-5 months. We will be able to review the draft EIR at that time.

Please think about issues such as traffic, noise, air quality, and greenhouse gases. If you have an issue you want to have investigated, send a letter to the following address: Jennifer L. Savage, AICP, Project Manager, Town of Los Gatos, 110 E. Main Street, Los Gatos, CA 95030.

According to the NOP, “the content and timeliness of your NOP comments may limit your ability to challenge the EIR.” So it is important to get all of our issues out there now; we won’t be able to do it later in the event of a lawsuit.

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