By Khalida Sarwari
The Saratoga Planning Commission is asking residents to chime in on building height limits within two of the city’s zoning districts at an upcoming outreach meeting in the Quito Village Shopping Center.
Per the city council’s request, the commission will hold the second and last of its two outreach meetings on March 12 to gather opinions from the public on inconsistencies in height limits for commercial and for multi-family buildings in the commercial-visitor and neighborhood-commercial zoning districts.
The commercial visitor district is located along Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road between Prospect Road and the railroad tracks. The commercial zoning district includes both the Argonaut and Quito Village shopping centers. The focus of the meeting will be on the discrepancy in height limits in both zoning districts. For instance, the limit is 30 feet for multi-family buildings, 20 feet for commercial buildings and 26 feet for single family homes.
Historically, several commercial buildings along Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road have been granted height exceptions, which have resulted in the creation of different architectural styles along the road and raises the question of whether the current height limit is appropriate.
The outreach meetings will give members of the community an opportunity to provide their perspective on the existing provisions about height limits in the zoning districts. Residents will be asked to especially consider whether the varying height limits incentivize certain building types, whether 30 feet is the appropriate height limit for multi-family buildings and whether 20 feet is the appropriate height limit for commercial buildings in the two zoning districts.
Some residents and property owners within the zoning districts have voiced concerns regarding the impact of raising the height limits on views of the hills, privacy, increased noise and density.
The Saratoga City Council last took up the issue at its meeting on Feb. 6, and prior to that at its annual retreat in January, where the council had authorized the planning commission to review height differences in the zoning districts. The commission had asked to study the issue as part of its proposed 2013 community development work plan.
The issue will go before the council again sometime in the spring, said James Lindsay, community development director.
The outreach meeting will take place at 7 p.m. on March 12 in the former Saratoga Health Food Store tenant space at 18800 Cox Ave. in Saratoga.
For more information, call Michael Fossati in the city’s planning department at 408.868.1212 or email him at mfossati@saratoga.ca.us.
