By Khalida Sarwari
Saratoga’s elected officials may be undecided on whether the city’s building heights should be modified, but that didn’t stop residents from showing up in droves to a recent city council meeting to throw in their two cents.
The Saratoga City Council met May 15 to discuss an ordinance on a zoning amendment to modify building heights, setbacks and allowed uses in the commercial-visitor and commercial-neighborhood zoning districts and direct staff to place it on the consent calendar for adoption at the next scheduled meeting. Councilman Howard Miller proposed tabling the issue until June 5 and asked city staff to return with additional information about various setback options and how changes would affect density, among other things.
“This topic is complex,” said Miller. “It has been distilled by some down to one number, but that does not represent what we are considering. More detailed discussions are needed to explain the trade-off of residential versus commercial height limits, setbacks and limitations within each zoning district.”
Although the council did not come to any resolutions, the meeting served also as an opportunity for residents
to express their thoughts. About 30 people addressed the council and most of them opposed raising the height limits or making any changes. Many had concerns regarding the impact of raising the height limits on views of the hills, privacy, increased noise and density.
These residents called for keeping commercial building heights at 20 feet and either lowering multi-family heights to 20 feet or eliminating residential as an allowed use in the two commercial zoning districts.
“I, for one, do not want to find that I’m living in an urban jungle,” said resident Margaret Towns. “Please bear in mind changes should be for the benefit of the city and its residents.”
Prior to the start of the meeting, members of Restore Saratoga, an organization dedicated to “the preservation of Saratoga’s heritage and lifestyle,” passed out “Saratoga Resident Alert” pamphlets that list the risks of increasing building heights. Among those concerns are increased crime and decreased residential property values.
Addressing the council, Jeff Schwartz of Restore Saratoga said that while the difference between 26 and 20 feet may seem small, “in reality it’s between one and two stories.”
“People don’t want this,” he told the council.
Fellow group member Marcia Fariss argued that raising height limits would not increase the city’s commercial viability.
“You were elected to represent us, not property owners or developers,” she said. “Please listen to your constituents and preserve what makes Saratoga unique.”
A handful of residents also spoke in favor of a height increase. Chuck Bradley was one of them, stating that a change could result in improvements for the city. He commented also on some residents who have expressed concerns about Saratoga becoming the next Cupertino or Santana Row.
“That struck me as incredibly deceiving tactics to the public,” Bradley said. “I don’t think anything you’re doing tonight would result in even a fraction of Santana Row.”
At least one member of the council seemed to agree.
“I do think there’s a lot of misinformation floating around our city,” Miller said. “Some of it is grossly inaccurate, downright deceitful and sometimes bold-faced lies.”
While the council did not take a vote on the issue, at this point it appears that the Restore Saratoga group has a supporter in Mayor Jill Hunter, who said she disagreed with her fellow council members and with the recommendation of raising the building height limits in the Gateway from 20 feet to 26 feet.
“I’d like to commend all of you who come out and speak your mind,” she said. “I’m with you 100 percent and someday we’ll win.”
Before the issue came to the council, the planning commission made some recommendations last month that community development director James Lindsay then used to create the draft ordinance that went before the council on May 15. Their recommendations were to raise building heights from 20 feet to 26 feet along Sunnyvale-Saratoga Road, including all rooftop equipment, and increase the rear, side and front setbacks.
The commission also decided to remove the allowance of single use multi-family developments in the commercial-visitor and commercial-neighborhood districts and also to remove the allowance of ground level residential dwelling units in mixed-use developments in both zoning districts.
Other recommendations were to maintain the building height limit in the commercial-neighborhood district at 20 feet, maintaining height exceptions for appurtenances such as roof top equipment and roof screens, and requiring landscape buffers for commercial uses adjacent to or across from residential uses in the commercial-visitor and commercial-neighborhood districts as stated in the General Plan.
Per the city’s zoning code, the height limit is 30 feet for multi-family buildings and 20 feet for commercial buildings.
Saratoga residents turn out to share opinions about building height limits
