By Khalida Sarwari
Maintain the “small town charm” and historic character but fix the lack of parking and vibrancy was the resounding cry from residents as revealed in a recently completed outreach campaign that sought to gauge how Saratogans feel about the city’s downtown area.
The city launched a formal effort to gauge public opinion about the downtown, colloquially known as the Village, in January. The community outreach took place over a three-month period via a poll administered by professional polling firm Godbe Research and a survey by Peak Democracy, a social media platform that specializes in online community polling and surveying. The city also initiated a social media campaign through Facebook, Nextdoor and Twitter and met in person with business and property owners in March and April, according to community development director Erwin Ordonez.
“Basically, we’re looking to take their temperature about their views before we do any substantive review or update of the plan,” said Kirk Heinrichs, the project manager for the Village Plan update process. The Village Plan is a policy document that regulates and guides development and land use within the downtown area.
According to Ordonez, a total of 655 residents were polled and 290 people were surveyed. Data gathered from these efforts showed that most people are dissatisfied with the Village and that this demographic wants to see more stores and restaurants that are casual, inexpensive and offer variety. The data also pointed out that those who are generally satisfied with the downtown are apt to visit more frequently than those who are not. One reason for that, as cited by the dissatisfied group, is that the businesses don’t appeal to them and brand stores. This group also found parking to be a major issue, specifically the availability and convenience of parking spots.
“The overarching recommendation is that, as staff mulled over this information, we really saw a couple things that really jumped out at us,” said Heinrichs. “One was a sensitive issue of scale and small town charm and really preserving that. There was nothing in the survey that said that should be changed.
Continued Heinrichs, “The is- sues at concern really revolved around land use issues, bringing vibrancy to the Village, creating public spaces. [Residents] really saw it as kind of a civic center of the community.”
The results were presented to members of the heritage preservation and planning commissions at the end of April. Both commissions concluded that the Saratoga Village Specific Plan has “served its useful life” and no longer serves as a policy document, said Heinrichs.
Further recommendations were that the city council should look into improving marketing and promotion of the Village and consider expanding the boundaries of the Village to include areas to the south and east, which would encompass Neale’s Hollow, Sara- toga Federated Church, the His- tory Museum and Blaney Plaza. Planning commissioners also suggested holding workshops to iron out issues pertaining to parking, building height and density, circulation and opportunity sites.
Next, their recommendations will be presented to the council, which will likely direct city staff to put together a work plan and a schedule for next steps. The goal is to complete the work plan by early fall, said Ordonez.
City officials started updating the Village Plan last spring, a process they say is overdue as the plan hasn’t been touched since its adoption in 1988. Thus, they’re embarking on a comprehensive review and update of the plan that includes conducting outreach to gather insight from residents and stakeholders.
Those interested in following the progress of this project can visit saratogavillageplan.org.
The website contains information about the land use policies currently governing development in the Village and links regarding the Village and its activities.
