Story poles are now up for 3 new homes at Harwood and Almond Blossom at the site of the former Harwood Hills Preschool and more recently, a Spanish language school. I was told by long time neighbors that this was a tennis court club long ago, but the county records that I can access don’t go far enough back to know if that’s the case or not. What is clear, though, is that the new use will be housing.
This area is not in the Belwood of Los Gatos subdivision and not part of the areas served by the Belwood Cabana.
What do we know so far about the 3 new homes at Harwood and Almond Blossom?
First, the current property address is 16220 Harwood Road, Los Gatos 95032. Initially the story poles appeared only in the back corner of the property, but as of yesterday we saw all three sets of story poles in place. The poles were the first that we knew of a project that was being proposed.
The three sets of story poles confirm that 3 tall, detached structures are being proposed. It appears to be 3 two story homes are in the works.
Los Gatos Pending Planning Projects – Online Info
The Town of Los Gatos has quite a bit of information online. Pending Planning Projects has a link near the top of the page to the map of pending projects. The 3 new homes at Harwood and Almond Blossom show up as a green circle (close to one other nearby on Harwood – it’s more evident when you zoom in.)
Right now, it looks like this:
On the page you can click on the variously colored shapes and get info on that particular project. It’s actually a really neat tool as you can see what’s going on nearby. Today I learned that the Chevron at Harwood and Blossom Hill has applied to put in a drive through car wash.
If you click on the green circle at Harwood and Almond Blossom, it will reference only one of the 3 new homes:
Requesting Approval for Construction of a New Single-Family Residence for Lot B on Property Zoned R-1:10. APN 567-18-051. (Lot B)
If you skip the map and simply use the website’s directory, you’ll click on H (for Harwood – all streets with H will be on that page), the three different houses will appear. There, it shows that there are 3 single family homes, detached. When you look a little deeper, it appears that each proposed home will have a “Junior ADU”, too, on the first floor.
An ADU is an accessory dwelling unit (like a guest cottage). A Junior ADU is attached to the main home and is often smaller than a detached ADU, though that’s not always the case.
Details in the proposed construction:
- The three lots will all have between 11,000 and 12,000 SF.
- Each home will have 2 stories.
- Each house will have a 2 car garage with a permeable driveway.
- It appears that each home will have an attached ADU.
- Two houses will face Almond Blossom and one will have a flag lot with a long driveway to Harwood.
- Grading work will be required, low water landscaping will be required.
You can find the current plans via the Pending Planning Project link above, or use these links.
Here’s the link for Lot A.
Here’s the link for Lot B.
Here’s the link for Lot C.
How to learn more about the 3 new homes at Harwood and Almond Blossom
If you want to spot check the situation, use the Pending Planning Project link from above.
Right now there are no permits showing for this address or for this Assessor’s Parcel Number or APN, which is 567-18-051.
Once permits are filed, they ought to show up on the town’s permit search portal, which you can use here. However, by then there should be 3 new addresses and 3 new parcel numbers assigned, which you can obtain from the planning page.
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