Members of the Los Gatos Planning Commission unanimously rejected a proposal to tear down three buildings at 401-409 Alberto Way and replace them with a two-story office building and an underground parking garage.

The current business park at the corner of Highway 9 and Alberto Way encompasses about 31,000 square feet.

Initially, developer Randy Lamb proposed building two new, two-story buildings totaling about 92,000 square feet, plus a 156,000-square-foot underground garage.

But last year, planning commissioners asked Lamb to reduce the size by one-third. When he returned to the planning commission May 10, he outlined how the proposed development had been downsized.

“In my opinion, we did 80 percent of what was asked. We were asked to take a third of the square footage off the building as an arbitrary number,” Lamb said. “We were already building within what the envelope allows: 35 square feet in height, two-story project, 50 percent coverage. We’re now 9,000 feet less than that.”

Lamb said 83,000 square feet is as small as he can go and still make a profit, and asked, “What didn’t we do?”

Commission Vice Chairman Michael Kane replied, “Make the neighbors happy.”

Nearby residents have consistently opposed the project.

“I understand you want to get a big building on here to make your money, but we’ve got a development across the street, the Los Gatos Lodge, that’s not going to stay that way,” Alberto Way resident Brad Martin said. “Eventually, that will turn—it’s way underutilized. And the guy at the end of our street—his property is underutilized—and the hotel got a lot of square footage on their property somehow. You develop all those properties along with this one and that’s going to be a nightmare intersection.”

The planning commission discussed many aspects of the project, including traffic and hydrology, but in the end planners agreed it was simply too big.

“The size that is currently being proposed is too large,” Commissioner Kendra Burch said.

Commissioner Kathryn Janoff agreed, “It is too large.” Commissioner Matthew Hudes said, “Not enough attention was paid to reducing the size of the structure.”

Commissioner Mary Badame was recused from voting since she lives within 500 feet of the proposed development.

The developer has until May 22 to appeal the planning commission’s ruling to the town council. As of May 16, no appeal had been filed.