Photograph by Robert Scheer
Retired physician Phil Blumenthal says he's shopped at Argonaut center since it opened.
By Sarah Lombardo
The Argonaut Shopping Center may get a facelift in the spring, if the Saratoga Planning Commission ever finds what they are looking for.
After advising the project's architect, Alex DeLeon, and the applicants at a November meeting to look around Saratoga and Los Gatos for ideas, many commissioners said the proposed project was missing something. But they didn't know what.
"I don't see anything special about this design and I still would like to see something different. I'm not sure what that means," said Commissioner Margaret Patrick.
"There's one thing that seems to be lacking, in my opinion. This is all well-designed and so forth, but there's not a feature that attracts your eye," said Commissioner Alfred Abshire. When asked what feature he could recommend, Abshire was at a loss. "I am not the type of person to make a positive comment about what kind of feature we need," he said.
The project was continued again to a public study session at 5 p.m., Jan. 22, in the administration conference room at City Hall on Allendale Avenue.
The Argonaut Shopping Center project involves renovating the existing shopping structure and building two new, free-standing buildings to be located on either side of Blauer Drive where it meets Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road. The Safeway store located in the center is to be enlarged by 10, 643 square feet, from 30,972 sq. ft.
The project first came before the commission in November, but concerns with the proposed color scheme, building height, landscaping and architectural design sent the issue back to the drawing board.
At last week's Planning Commission meeting, DeLeon presented a more "woodsy" shopping center. The revised plans included the use of earth tones on the buildings, wood siding, stone veneer, trellises and planter boxes, more trees than exist now in the parking lot, a bus turnout on Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road and a shelter at the stop, a soundwall along the north and east property lines to protect neighbors living in townhomes near the shopping center and landscaping on the first Blauer Drive median strip and resurfacing of the second median. The new plans incorporated many, but not all, of the staff and Planning Commission's suggestions.
Addressing the safety concerns of drivers making left turns out of the center onto Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road, the project's engineer recommended building a median on Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road that made left turns out of the parking lot impossible. But Saratoga Public Works Director said that would prohibit residents of Brandywine Drive, located directly across from the center's main driveway, from turning left onto Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road. He suggested instead a median in the driveway that would prevent left turns.
Ed Storm, one of the developers with Argonaut Associates, said they would like to have the design approved as soon as possible so construction can begin in the spring.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, January 15, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.