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After 10 years, city says it's time for wall to go up
By Oakley Brooks
You can run from Saratoga city officials, but you can't hide.
At least, not for longer than 10 years.
A decade ago property owner John Oliver was ordered by the Saratoga City Council to construct a sound wall behind his commercial building on Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road. But he ignored the mandate. Now, it looks as if he'll finally have to build the wall.
The latest city council, with many members put off by Oliver's delay, recently voted to uphold the 1991 decision.
"I would hope that any decision of the city council or the planning commission will not be pocket vetoed by property owners," Vice Mayor Evan Baker said.
And city staffers promised the wall would be constructed rapidly.
"It will not be blown off," Community Development Director Tom Sullivan said.
The issue landed on Sullivan's plate when he arrived at the city last May, after Oliver somehow escaped the long arm of the city for a long time.
In 1991, city officials decided that he should put up an 8-foot-high masonry wall to separate the back of his commercial property at 12240-12250 Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road from surrounding homes. Neighbors had complained that barking dogs at a veterinarian's kennel and trucks from contracting firms--all tenants of Oliver's--were a nuisance.
But Oliver told the current city council on Jan. 16 that following the 1991 decision, estimates for the wall ran more than $15,000. Rather than absorb the cost, Oliver, who lives in Mendocino, decided to try to evict the problem tenants.
He admitted that it took until 1996 to evict the loudest problem--the kennel.
Meanwhile, neighbors' complaints to the city died down some, but they still had problems associated with activity at Oliver's building and notified the city in 1994, 1996 and 2000. Sullivan said Jan. 16 that the city record did not indicate why officials did nothing about the situation.
Recent noise studies conducted by Oliver at his expense show that noise from a new kennel currently at the site exceeds the city's standard.
Neighbors at the most recent city council meeting also told officials that Oliver's current fence was decaying, with old wood stacked against it.
Several contracting firms--including roofing, plumbing and countertop outfits--lease space from Oliver.
His son attempted to negotiate with neighbors to allow a cheaper fence to be built, but they would not relent.
Oliver's lawyer's attempts to get the city council to agree to less-expensive materials also fell short.
And when his legal counsel attempted to prove that there wasn't a need for a fence at all, she was stonewalled.
"That's irrelevant," Vice Mayor Baker said.
Sullivan said that if Oliver didn't construct the wall in a reasonable amount of time, the city could put it up and put the cost on Oliver's tax bill.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
