Azule Crossing Gets A Second Chance To Make Its Case

Developers tell of revised plan during comments

Public hearing scheduled

By Kara Chalmers

When the Planning Commission approved the proposal to renovate and expand Azule Crossing, it looked as if the developers could get to work. Then the City Council called it up for review and unceremoniously dumped the project in spite of a groundswell of support for the plan.

Now council members say they're ready to reconsider.

At its Jan. 5 meeting, the council unanimously voted to place the plan on the agenda for its Jan. 19 meeting as a public hearing item. At that time, council members will consider a modified plan for the site that would include a 2,700-square-foot second story over a portion of the one-story commercial building. Developers are in the process of preparing this new plan.

When the council denied the plan for a mixed-use redevelopment of the existing four-acre Azule Crossing property at 12312 Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road on Dec. 15, it voted 3-2 to overturn the Planning Commission approval. Councilmen Nick Streit and Evan Baker voted to approve the project. There was a strong neighborhood showing at that meeting, and everyone who spoke favored the project.

The proposal that the council rejected called for the front retail building at Azule Crossing to be refurbished and expanded, but to remain a single-story building. The other three office buildings in the back were to be demolished so that 20 residences could be constructed in their places.

According to the proposal the developers are now prepared to present, parking would be increased to accommodate the additional commercial space but be located in the same place as before. The residential component would stay the same as well: 22 units including two below-market-rate homes, or 20 units without below market-rate homes.

Scott Ward, vice president of the development company, Classic Communities, said the modified plan is an effort to respond to some of the issues the council raised in denying the plan. The council majority had expressed concern that the new design lacked sufficient commercial space.

In Saratoga, only 1 percent of land is designated commercial, and council members had said they were reluctant to use any of it for residential purposes.

Although the revised proposal was not on the agenda, Owen Byrd, an attorney representing Classic Communities, brought the new plan to the council's attendtion during the oral communications segment of the Jan. 5 meeting.

Because Mayor Stan Bogosian, who voted to deny the project last month, pulled the item from the council's consent calendar for discussion, the previous resolution of denial can now be placed back on the agenda for reconsideration.

Bogosian said after the Dec. 15, he received a number of letters from people who did not support his position. He said that he responded to them that he hoped the developer would come forward with some alternatives that would increase the project's commercial component.

"I want to see something that's a fair solution for the property owners and the city," he said. "The [revised] project deserves some consideration. I characterize it as a step in the right direction."

Kristin Davis, daughter of one of the property owners, Zorka Ficovich, said that the owners are trying hard to work with the city and come up with a plan on which everyone can agree.

The public hearing is scheduled for Jan. 19, the next regular city council meeting, according to law. There is a chance it may be postponed at that time to a future council meeting. Baker asked that it be postponed because he will not be present at the Jan. 19 meeting.

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