By Linda Taaffe

City attorney says city can develop site

Movie theater plans for the parking lot adjacent to Bandera Restaurant in downtown Los Altos last week cleared initial legal hurdles that could have prevented the development of the city-owned site. An architect is scheduled to begin developing a Request for Proposal detailing the project’s specifics to developers.

Legal uncertainties regarding whether the city could develop the parking lot, which business owners funded through an assessment district, prevented the council from immediately moving forward on the project.

City Attorney Marc Hynes said last week that the council has the power to develop the property, create a new legal parcel and lease it to a theater owner without refunding merchants the money used to fund the parking lot.

“The manner in which the land was initially acquired does not limit the council from taking action,” he said.

The council chose David Gates and Associates to develop a scope of work for a Request for Proposal that the city plans to distribute to theater operators. Gates is already under contract with the city to assist with the evaluation of the First and Main streets project.

Traffic engineers Fehr and Peers are scheduled to conduct a two-day parking study in October and December as part of the scope of work.

The study will evaluate parking demand and whether the city would need to add 250 spaces anticipated for patrons or even recoup the 70 spaces it expects to lose with the construction of the theater, which could include 18,000 square feet with six- to seven-screens and about 950 seats.

The Los Altos City Council targeted Parking Lot C between San Antonio Road and Third Street as the best site to place a movie theater following a community study session earlier this year.