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Public safety center will require major rethinking
Drawings to be shown at public hearing Feb.20
By Oakley Brooks
Public agencies and civic groups involved with ongoing planning discussions about a Village public safety center have been considering shifting property, parking spaces and even entire operations to make the center a reality.
Since mid-December, local fire, sheriff's, and U.S. Postal Service officials have worked alongside the Saratoga Federated Church and nearby neighbors to develop schematics for the center, with assistance from the city and Danville-based ATI Architects and Engineers.
The committee expects to present its drawings in various stages to the city council and the public beginning on Feb. 20.
The area under study, bounded by Saratoga Avenue, Highway 9 and Park Place, is jointly owned by four different entities--the city, the Saratoga Fire District, the Postal Service and the Federated Church.
From the beginning of discussions, the committee and architects considered shared Saratoga Fire District and county sheriff's facilities, as well as moving the Village postal station completely off the property. It also looked at relocating the fire station to Highway 9, opposite Oak Street. And ATI developed several different configurations of underground parking.
All of those options remain viable, constrained by the three public agencies' need for at least 135 parking spaces. The final center will also be limited by building costs, including underground parking--city officials estimate that underground spaces cost about $35,000 each, compared to $10,000 for ground-level spaces.
"We have to keep in mind the dollars and cents," said Mayor Nick Streit, a member of the committee, at a Jan. 28 meeting. Streit noted that Saratogans might be reluctant to approve a substantial construction bond, after passing school, library and fire station bonds in recent years and with a community college and another school bond looming.
Recently, representatives of the agencies and groups involved have been working behind the scenes to broaden the possibilities of the center.
To accommodate a modified version of the fire district's planned station (its original design was rejected by the city in September 2001), the city and the Postal Service have been in discussions about the sale of the postal building, which also houses the sheriff's substation.
Under one scenario, the fire district might sell a portion of the former Contempo Realty on Highway 9 to the Federated Church, and then use the proceeds to buy the postal building.
The fire district might then knock the aging postal building down and shift its station farther off the Saratoga Avenue-Highway 9 corner. In adjusting the new station, Fire Chief Ernie Kraule said recently that the district might also be able to pull the building away from the street to allow a fire truck to pull into the station without holding up traffic on Saratoga Avenue. Mayor Nick Streit said at a Jan. 28 meeting that this might allay concerns the city council raised in September about firefighters standing in traffic while fire trucks backed into their bays.
Next to the fire station, the city could construct facilities to house the sheriff's substation, and lease the building out to the sheriff.
Postal operations could be moved into a newly constructed building on the site or set up across the street in the old Wells Fargo building. Postal officials have also considered contracting out their Village operations to a local business. Postmaster Curtis Jewell said last week, he had "mixed feelings" about contracting because it would take a full-time postal employee out of the Village.
"It's good from a financial standpoint," said Jewell. "But they won't have the training of Linda [Edwards, the Village postal employee for more than a decade]. She does a great job."
Committee members did explore moving the sheriff's substation, possibly to another city. But Saratoga and sheriff's officials anticipate that residents will not support that decision.
"[The substation] is something that's good for the community to have located near the Village," Sheriff's Cmdr. Jeff Miles said. "And it's a marriage made that emergency services work together on this site."
In order to stay in the proposed center, the sheriff's station might have to reduce its current 80-spot parking requirement. The city is studying an option to have sheriff's employees park their personal vehicles in about 30 spaces behind CoAmerica Bank on Big Basin Way.
In the event that cost severely restrains new construction, fire and sheriff's officials even agreed Jan. 28 to designate the bare minimum square footage they would need.
"I don't know what was going on with the moon or what, but the talks are progressing better than expected," said Dave Dolloff, chairman of the Firefighter and Citizen Task force and a member of the safety center committee.
The committee plans to meet once more, on Feb. 19, before ATI architect Francis Chan makes a presentation to the city council the next night. Chan hopes to finalize the master plan for a comprehensive council and public review on March 20.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
