Stan Bogosian
Saratoga Weighs A Commercial Conversion Moratorium
Mayor Bogosian pushes for an extension of Measure G
He wants 'breathing room'
By Kara Chalmers
The community dialogue about a moratorium on converting commercial land uses to residential got under way March 1, but with widely diverse opinions . The City Council decided to continue the public hearing to March 15, the regular council meeting date.
The council is considering the moratorium while it discusses placing a measure on the November ballot that would expand Measure G to include commercial areas. Mayor Stan Bogosian outlined plans to expand Measure G to include commercially zoned districts as soon as he took office in December.
Measure G, a voter initiative, requires a popular vote in order to change residential and open-space land-use designations in the General Plan. As it stands, Measure G cannot block changing commercial areas to residential ones. That type of change still requires a conditional-use permit. Presently, the city has control over these permits.
In Saratoga, the 1 percent of commercially designated land can include residences if the developer has a conditional-use permit, City Attorney Richard Taylor said. In Saratoga the only place for additional residences is in areas that are commercially zoned. If voters approve a Measure G extension, any proposal to change a General Plan commercial designation to anything other than commercial would have to be approved by voters.
On Jan. 25, the council and the Planning Commission at a joint meeting discussed the measure and settled on discussing a draft moratorium on proposals to convert commercial land uses to residential ones. On Jan. 25, the council also directed Taylor, who helped draft Measure G in 1996, to write up a draft moratorium for March 1.
The conversion of commercial land for residential uses concerns many council members, as was evident during the Azule Crossing proposal's hearings. The Azule Crossing development was first approved by the Planning Commission, called up and denied by the council. The development finally was approved by the council in February, since the developer added more commercial area to the plan.
At the March 1 meeting, a majority of the council was clearly in favor of a moratorium. Bogosian said that he wants the City Council to take the opportunity in front of them to do something while they still can. "This, I think, ranks right up there with Measure G as a very important land-use decision," Bogosian said. "I believe that the findings are there for us to take urgency action on it. ... I think we've met the threshold in this particular market situation."
There was concern from some in the audience about a moratorium, however. The Chamber of Commerce board of directors would not support a moratorium, said Chamber executive director Abby Krimotat, because it is unclear how such an extreme measure in Saratoga could be justified.
Some Saratoga business owners said that a moratorium would not solve the problems that businesses in Saratoga face. "Saratoga citizens do not support the businesses here in Saratoga ... that's the real issue," Kristin Davis, owner of the Front Window in Azule Crossing, said. She would prefer to see the council focus on revitalizing the existing commercial districts. Others said that a moratorium is just not necessary.
Former Councilman Victor Monia said, "I think it is important for us to recognize that these commercial districts are a vital part of Saratoga." He said he would support a ballot measure on a moratorium. Other residents, including Planning Commissioner Lisa Kurasch, noted that a moratorium would give the city time to figure out a more comprehensive plan for protecting its commercial areas.
Resident Jeff Schwartz said that if left unattended, the marketplace may allow housing to replace the commercial spaces in the city. "We've simply got to the place where many properties are worth more money if developed for residential than if developed for retail or other commercial uses," he noted when voicing his support for a moratorium.
The exact details of a measure are yet to be worked out. One course of action Taylor suggested was that the council adopt an interim urgency ordinance for a moratorium that would last only 45 days. Later, he suggested the interim ordinance could be extended until after the November election, possibly to Dec. 31. Concurently, an additional extension of the moratorium could be placed on the November ballot. If the measure is voted down in the November election, the moratorium would be in effect for less than a year. The maximum time a moratorium would stay in effect, if aproved by voters, would be until March 1, 2002, two years from now, according to Taylor.
Nick Streit was the only council member who said he did not favor a moratorium, because it would not make sense in a town like Saratoga that is not experiencing a rush of development.
"I don't see the urgency here," he said, noting that in the past five years, there have been only four major projects approved in Saratoga. "So I'm concerned about this interim urgency [moratorium] when there's nothing happening."
Streit said later in the meeting that he has faith in the council to make decisions that would not allow housing to replace all the commercial land in the city.
"I think it's more important that we should be spending our time revitalizing the commercial districts here in Saratoga, not worrying about putting a moratorium on some of the building," he said, noting the many businesses that have closed or sold recently. "I think we ought to take a big step and go ahead and form a redevelopment agency."
Evan Baker said that he would favor a two-pronged approach--that the council should do its best to revitalize existing commercial spaces but also work to retain them.
"I don't like moratoria," he said. "But I also don't like the agonizingly slow speed at which government is forced to work. ... If we don't put the moratorium in effect for two years, we'll have more damage done before we figure out what is the right final control that has to be placed to not only preserve the commercial land in this city, but also to revitalize the very activity that we're all hoping to keep."
Although Bogosian favors a moratorium to give the city breathing room on the issue, he made it clear that it would be arbitrary and unfair to apply it to applications already in the works, including any were submitted March 1 to the community development department.
A property owner and developer had submitted an application on March 1 for a mixed-use development on Big Basin Way in the upper Village area. The developer, Stan Gamble, spoke at the meeting and said he purchased the land in January, which was before the council began deliberating a possible extension of Measure G.
According to community development director James Walgren, the development would have a commercial component in the front and town homes in the back extending to Oak Street. The project would be subject to a Village specific plan, which allows, and in some cases encourages, mixed-use developments, Walgren said.
The public hearing on the moratorium was continued to the council's regular meeting March 15, although some council members feared an influx of applications between March 1 and 15. According to Walgren, it is very unlikely that any new applications for major developments will come in before March 15.
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