Photograph by Robert Scheer
Kookie Fitzsimmons tends plants in front of her flower shop, the proposed site for Starbucks.
By Sarah Lombardo
Sit back and grab a cup of coffee. This might take a while. The issue of whether Starbucks Coffee will move into the Saratoga Village has been continued to Feb. 12. After two hours of public testimony Wednesday night about why the coffeehouse should or shouldn't be located in the Saratoga Village, the commission agreed to let Starbucks try to address a parking issue raised during discussion.
In Starbucks' case, the commissioners are concerned about the parking lot for the proposed site, which now houses Corinthian Flowers, at the corner of Highway 9 and Big Basin Way, owned by Saratoga resident Kookie Fitzsimmons. Although commissioners Alfred Abshire and Mark Pierce said they would vote to approve the permit, some commissioners said they thought the lot was too small to carry the kind of traffic that Starbucks' traffic study predicted.
The continuance is legal and used often by the commission in the case of homeowners taking house designs back to the drawing board when it appears they will not be approved. But Saratoga Associate Planner James Walgren admitted the continuance seemed unusual in this case.
"They were on the verge of denying the permit when someone threw out the arbitrary idea that the parking lot actually hurt [Starbucks] instead of helping them," said Walgren.
The commissioners proposed closing off the parking lot altogether and looking into the possibility of finding 16 offsite parking spaces to bring Starbucks up to code. Starbucks agreed to look into that possibility.
Walgren said he doesn't think Starbucks will succeed in its search for offsite spaces.
"I can't believe they have any chance to do that," he said. "There aren't any businesses nearby who have surplus parking."
The commissioners weren't the only ones who voiced concerns about parking. Many merchants and residents said they feared Big Basin Way would turn into a parking nightmare. One woman said she used to work in the Village and often had to park several blocks away because it was the only available parking.
Others said parking wasn't the problem, but making people aware of available parking was. Many said that the parking lots behind the Big Basin Way buildings were often available, but the city should look into making the entrances to those lots more visible.
Traffic circulation caused the most discussion, with most people admitting that traffic would be significantly snagged with Starbucks patrons going in and out of that corner lot.
Mitch Cutler, owner of the coffeehouse Blue Rock Shoot, voiced many residents' opinion when he said that he was not opposed to Starbucks personally.
"I think Starbucks will come to Saratoga. It will happen," Cutler said. "But I don't think that this is an appropriate site. I don't believe we're saying no to Starbucks. I believe we're saying no to that site."
More than 100 people turned out to hear the Starbucks discussion.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, January 29, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.