By Linda Taaffe
Los Altos
The development of the city-owned lot at the corner of First and Main streets could mean chopping down the pine tree that marks downtown Los Altos’ Main Street entrance.
The hotel and movie theater projects proposed for the .78-acre site could require widening Main street to prevent traffic turning on and off Foothill Expressway from bottle-necking at the First and Main street intersection, according to a $15,250 city-funded traffic study by Korve Engineering.
The report says, “None of the land use alternatives can be accommodated within the existing intersection storage available on Main between Foothill and First.”
The report suggests extending Main Street’s eastbound turn lane back to Foothill Expressway to increase the area from 45 feet to 135 feet.
The only way to maximize the left-turn lanes would be to remove the tree in the median in front of The Consignment Center. According to the traffic study, the left westbound turn lane on Main Street heading onto Foothill Expressway would exceed the available vehicle storage during the afternoon peak hours by about 80 feet, or three to four cars, engineer Dennis Struecker told the Los Altos City Council March 27.
None of the projects is expected to exceed the level of service thresholds established for surrounding intersections in the city’s General Plan, according to the report.
“Generally, the project alternatives have very little effect on intersection operations,” except for changes at First and West Edith and Foothill and West Edith.
The distribution of traffic for both proposed land uses would not be the same, according to the report. A hotel project would create more regional trips, with guests functioning much like residents. In this scenario, guests would use Foothill as a commute route. A theater would create more local traffic, according to the report.
The study indicated that the proposal for a 90-room hotel would generate about 494 new vehicle trips per day; the 90-room hotel with a 150-seat restaurant would generate about 1,218 new trips; the six-screen, 600-seat theater and 30 residential units would generate 787 new trips; and the expanded parking lot and office space would generate 2,493 new trips. It was unclear how Korve determined these numbers.
The trip generation for the restaurant, assumed a one-hour customer turnover.
The trip generation for the theater was based on the number of screens rather than the number of seats.
The council was scheduled to choose one of four proposals currently on the table by March 13, but delayed action until consulting firm Keyser- Marston Associates completes an analysis of the economic impact a theater and a hotel could have on downtown. The proposals include three plans with hotel/restaurant/retail combinations from developers Roxy Rapp & Company, Kelly Associates and Barry Swenson Builder and one theater/housing combination from Barry Swenson.
Roxy Rapp could include a small French cafe in the plans that James Maltby, co-owner of Maltby’s on State Street, would operate. Developers said they plan to charge about $250-325 per room. Kelly Associates plans to include a full-service upscale restaurant and charge about $200 per hotel room. Safeway has also remained a contender, with possible plans to partner with developers and build a two-level parking garage.
The city purchased the First and Main property in 1995 with the long-term goal of improving the appearance of Main Street and creating more downtown parking. The city has been negotiating with developers since 1999 to find a project that would best fit the lot, which houses The Home Consignment Center, Nielsen’s Martinizing Dry Cleaning and a 55-space parking lot.
