By Lauren McSherry

Opening up some of the downtown’s perimeter businesses, those located off Main Street, to uses other than restaurants and retail isn’t in the city council’s crystal ball.

The council decided Oct. 25 not to rezone five properties in the city’s downtown.

The planning commission had recommended last month broadening the zoning to allow offices on five properties’ first floors.

The change would keep the properties from sitting vacant, and employees brought in by those offices would attract more revenue to downtown businesses, planning commissioners said.

The properties up for rezoning were a Second Street office building, Walgreen’s and Alabasta florist, the former Bank of the West building, Akane Restaurant and Los Altos Grill.

Only one of the business sites up for zoning realignment, the former Bank of the West building, is vacant.

Harry Price, president of the Los Altos Village Association (LAVA) board of directors, supported the council’s decision, particularly because the Bank of the West building is ideal for retail.

“We thought that a potential mistake would be made by changing the zoning,” he said. “LAVA wants to expand toward San Antonio and First Street with contiguous retail. If you put in an office, it defeats that.”

Ron Labetich, a commercial real estate broker who negotiates lease transactions in the downtown, said he didn’t think the changes would have had any effect on the retail district.

“I don’t know if it would have made any difference,” he said. “We want to have contiguous retail, but it’s not an ideal world. We have to be practical in our approach.”

Labetich isn’t opposed to first-floor office space, because “it helps fill up downtown and helps commerce.”

Julie Rose, president of the Los Altos Chamber of Commerce, said in her personal opinion it was a good decision to hold off on zoning changes until the city completes a study of the entire downtown business district.

“I think (the council) should look at the big picture,” she said. “Their intention is to expand and I think it needs to be done as a package, not piecemeal.”

The five properties will remain zoned for commercial retail sales, meaning they can be occupied for commercial, retail or restaurant use.