It was to be a display of neighborly cooperation: Three city commissions arrived at the Saratoga Elementary School early in the morning on Feb. 8 for a meeting called by Saratoga Union School District Superintendent Mary Gardner. There, she would justify to her civic neighbors the need for vast renovations to the campus, including removal of two eucalyptus trees--trees the city says are historic--to make room for a new playfield.
Unfortunately for Gardner and the SUSD, the City Council, Heritage Preservation Commission and Public Safety Commission all left the meeting feeling not one bit better about what is going to happen at the school.
Not that the city has much say in the matter--the school is exempt from normal city building requirements. But that's not going to stop the city from voicing its opinion.
The meeting was held on the stormiest day of the year and commissioners saw the worst side of the school's problems--first having to park blocks away because of the heavy traffic from masses of parents dropping off their children. Later, during a campus tour they had to negotiate around the mess created by the night's storm, which caused the eucalyptus trees--notoriously messy anyway--to drop all kinds of debris on the playground.
The meeting did nothing to convince city officials they shouldn't prepare a response blasting the SUSD's initial environmental study, which outlines the impact of renovating the school.
All indications are that a resolution, to be filed before the district's Feb. 18 response deadline, won't contain kind words approving what the Board of Trustees has decided to do.
Citing a flawed and incomplete initial environmental study, the city will likely draft and pass the resolution this week condemning the board for its intent to issue a negative declaration on the project.
A negative declaration says the trustees believe no further environmental impact reports are needed for the site.
The SUSD Board of Trustees will likely make the declaration at its Feb. 23 meeting. The City Council will probably approve the city's resolution at its meeting scheduled for Feb. 17.
The resolution will be a sum of opinions held by the three commissions which visited the school.
At a City Council meeting Feb. 9, the City Council and Public Safety Commission agreed that the initial study drastically overlooked the potential for traffic congestion on Oak Street and Komina Way.
Public Safety Commissioner Hugh Hexamer told the council that the plans for the school "present an unrealistic appraisal" of the site now and in the future, when additional students will be attending school there.
Hexamer said the school district should use the opportunity of renovating the site to fix traffic problems that are drawing increasing complaints from neighbors of the school. Money could be spent building turnouts, among other things, that would take traffic off the streets.
At the school meeting Feb. 8, Public Safety Chairman Frank Lemmon told Gardner about the increasing traffic complaints and wanted to know the district's solution.
Gardner said they are still discussing traffic issues, and that the district may create a new drop-off area for students and a larger parking lot.
Others were more focused on the removal of the ten eucalyptus trees. Conversation quickly turned to the trees at the Feb. 9 City Council meeting as well.
The SUSD says it needs to remove the trees, which includes two in the middle of the playfield, to make way for a new field and basketball courts. According to the SUSD, any delays to the project could cost the district up to a million dollars a year.
Councilmember John Mehaffey said the SUSD needs to examine all the options before cutting the trees down.
"I'd like them to reconsider removing the line of trees," Mehaffey said. "They should leave them there until they become a problem, and if they do become a problem, then they can think about removing them. The trees are an asset to the community, and I believe the field can be made better whether they remove the trees or not."
James Walgren, the city's community development director, told the council that if the school district wasn't choosing to exempt itself from the normal design review process and standards set by the city for renovation projects, the city would probably object to the traffic situation, potential drainage and grading problems and the possibility of losing the trees, which are considered historical by the Heritage Preservation Commission.
Reporter Michelle Alaimo contributed to this report.
Saratoga, California Since 1975
