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District pauses, backs off making final decision on renovations
Superintendent apologizes, agrees to appease residents
Compromise may save tree
By Michelle Alaimo
After months of controversy, the Saratoga Union School District has decided to wait until March 23 before making a final decision on whether or not to accept a negative declaration for Saratoga School.
The board, acting on Superintendent Mary Gardner's recommendation, will wait until more research has been done on traffic- and tree-related issues stemming from construction plans scheduled to begin in June.
Because Saratoga School is a historical school, the initial study recommending a negative declaration had to be drawn up in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
The decision, made at a March 9 board meeting, came after a plea and apology from Gardner on what many, up until now, have said is a lack of communication between the board and community groups.
"I accept responsibility tonight for whatever I have not done that made the community feel that they are not included in the process," Gardner said.
She added that the board and district have been meeting with all the groups involved, and said she had no explanation why it wasn't done sooner.
"If we had met at an earlier stage, we might have avoided some of the hurt and anger from some of the decisions that we have made," Gardner said.The board decided late last year to go ahead with a plan that would level the school's playing field and add more play space along with remodeling the school and constructing a new building. Part of the plan includes removing two massive, century-old eucalyptus trees, plus a line of eight eucalyptuses on one side of the school.
Many people in the community are outraged with the decision, including former SUSD board member Jill Hunter, who resigned in protest over the decision in October. Since then, Hunter has led an effort to save the trees.
Gardner said at the March 9 meeting that the board and district are now looking at a compromise plan that would leave one of the 100-year-old trees near the playfield while removing the others.
Board member Stephanie Petrossi said the plan, introduced by architect Lee Salin of HMC Associates, would not allow for a fully level playing field, but it would be better than the current field, which has an 8-percent slope.
Gardner also announced that the district is looking into alternative plans for traffic-related issues, to appease the mostly Komina Avenue residents who have been vocal in opposing heavy traffic.
One includes making a walking and biking lane on Forest Hills Drive so students can access the school from a back entrance. She added that the district is working with the city's traffic engineer on alternative drop-off lanes.
Salin said the district needs to make its decision on the negative declaration by the end of the month, because risks have already been introduced into the construction bidding process. If the district waits any longer, it might have trouble finding qualified contractors to do the work. Bidding on projects like these is highly competitive and in full swing right now, he said.
For additions and changes to the initial study and negative declaration, the district will need to draw up an addendum to the study and present it at its March 23 meeting in the Redwood Middle School Library, when making its final decision.
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Saratoga, California Since 1975
