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Residents offer some resistance but mixed-use list gets approval
By Oakley Brooks
Two pockets of residents recently convinced the city to drop certain properties off a list of potential mixed-use housing sites in the city, but, for the most part, the list stayed intact. That will give Saratoga a crack at getting its housing plan approved by the state in the near future.
The city has accounted for the vast majority of the 539 units that Saratoga must plan for over the period 1999-2006 under state housing law. However, Saratoga officials have determined that 42 mixed-use units should round out the plan--known as a housing element.
Representatives of the state housing office told Community Development Director Tom Sullivan in late 2001 that in order for the city to get the mixed-use portion of its plan approved, the city had to identify potential sites for new combined housing and commercial developments.
Sullivan gathered a list of properties throughout the city that had not been developed since the mid-1980s. Some developments, such as the Quito Village shopping center, were struck from the list because they had been viable for an extended period of time.
The community development director brought a final list of 28 properties to the city council on March 6.
Residents near two designated parcels on Blauer Drive near the Argonaut Center voiced concerns that two-story housing complexes might be built in place of the current one-story office buildings.
"These new units should be built in places that won't affect surrounding homeowners," said Tricia Way resident Doug Sullivan, who worried about new second-floor residents peering into his backyard.
Neighbors in the Gateway region also said several parcels there were too small to support larger mixed-use development.
Council members responded by striking all four parcels from the list.
The amended list will now be added to the housing element document, which will be sent to the state housing office in the coming weeks for a final review. Saratoga is operating on a three-month extension from the Dec. 31, 2001, state deadline for approval of its housing element.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
