Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Travis Driver, 14 months (left) and Marc Salisbury, 8 months, came from Sunnyvale to visit Hakone with their moms.

Foundation to take over management of Gardens

By Sarah Lombardo

Plans are under way for the Hakone Foundation to take over full management of the Hakone Gardens starting in July.

Saratoga city officials met with foundation members on Friday to discuss a draft proposal outlining plans for the foundation to take over responsibilities for the gardens, from hiring staff and paying for utilities to covering the cost of the caretaker's facilities and maintaining the buildings.

Foundation Treasurer Daryl Becker said the city seemed excited about the proposal.

"Things went really well," Becker said. "We're basically agreeing in principle. There were a few little minor details to work out, but there were no real show-stoppers, at least."

Although self-management of the 16-acre Japanese gardens has always been a goal of the Hakone Foundation, foundation president Kay Duffy said the timing of the plan just seemed right.

"We looked at our budget and what we're expecting with the expansion of the business rental program and we thought it was a good time to try it," she said.

Becker said the timing also seemed right for the city, which is struggling with its budget and looking for ways to cut expenditures. The plan would mean that city could be spared the more than $140,000 in personnel and operations costs it currently pays to manage the gardens.

"We felt it would be a good time to assist the city in the reduction of its costs," Becker said.

Becker said no details of the agreement will be released until it's signed, but the foundation's draft proposal does request that the city continue to provide fire insurance for the facility and liability coverage for the foundation's trustees, volunteers and employees. It also asks the city to keep the responsibility for repairing and maintaining the access road to the gardens and the parking lots and driveways, and to continue ensuring compliance with federal and state laws on disabled access.

Details have yet to be worked out about changes in the lease and themanagement and operations agreements, but in its proposal, the foundation requests that the city waive and cancel the principal and interest payments the foundation paid the city under the current agreement.

"We're asking that we're no longer responsible to pay that money, and instead take over the gardens," said Duffy. "This sort of gets Hakone out of the city's budget, so to speak."

Saratoga bought Hakone in 1966 to protect it from development. The original buildings date back to 1918, and a reproduction of a 19th-century Japanese merchant's home and shop was placed on the grounds in 1991, after being built in Japan using traditional tools and methods and disassembled for the voyage to the states. Hakone is also home to the Japan Bamboo Society of Saratoga, founded in 1980.

The move to self-management represents quite a bit of added financial responsibility for the foundation and a venture into new territory. "We're biting off a big chunk here," said Duffy. "I hope we can do it."