By Khalida Sarwari
A number of Saratoga residents are frustrated and upset by the Santa Clara Valley Water District’s recent announcement of a plan to build a fence along the Calabazas Creek, on land that some residents have for many years regarded as part of their back yards.
The water district says the project is intended to address encroachment by some residents onto water district property. But some residents counter that for decades they have been encouraged by the water district to use the space for landscaping, and others bought their homes unaware that their back fences extended onto water district property.
Resident Caroline Schuyler said she doesn’t understand why the water district is focusing on her and her neighbors and neglecting more pressing issues, such as an erosion problem in the area.
“We really haven’t been given a very good reason, and what it appears to me is they’re being very shortsighted,” Schuyler said. “They’re not working with residents to be able to resolve whatever issue they have.”
The decision seems to have been prompted by a recent incident when the limb of a large oak tree located on water district property fell onto a neighboring home on the bank of Calabazas Creek. No one was injured and crews removed the fallen tree, but the water district said it had difficulty safely accessing the site because “numerous fences bordering the creek along Arroyo de Arguello between Verde Moor and Norado courts have been extended beyond their property lines onto water district property.”
But that wasn’t the only reason given to residents, said Schuyler. At a Nov. 7 community meeting at Argonaut Elementary School, board members also cited liability concerns, saying the water district could be sued if someone were injured on their property, and addressed the need for land to provide mitigation for other projects.
“We said we’d work with you; we have no problem with that,” Schuyler said was the message from residents who attended the meeting. “Their response to that was, ‘You’re still going to have to take down all your stuff.'”
SCVWD sent a notice in October to residents stating that district crews would be surveying property lines along Arroyo de Arguello, and with the message, “Should your existing fences be determined to encroach on water district property, you will be notified and provided further information on our next steps, which will include installation of a 42-inch black chain link fence.”
The fence, said Schuyler, would serve as nothing more than an “annoyance.”
“For us it wouldn’t serve any protection from vagrants along the creek,” she said, adding that residents have been asked to take down their own fences and remove any landscaping to make way for the chain link fence. The water district has indicated that residents would be responsible for covering the expenses associated with removing their fences and landscaping, Schuyler said.
She and her neighbors believe this action would diminish their property values. “People would move,” she said. “It’s going to bring down the neighborhood.”
Schuyler said she and her neighbors plan to seek a resolution for a six-month moratorium so that both residents and the water district can negotiate a mutually satisfactory compromise.
