Council Begins Discussions About Revitalizing The Business Districts
City to go ahead with plans for Gateway improvements
Merchants' ideas wanted
By Kara Chalmers
Whether the Saratoga City Council decides to form a redevelopment agency or take some other action, members agree that two of the city's business districts--the Village and the Gateway--need revitalization.
At an April 5 meeting, the council began a discussion on economic redevelopment in these areas. A recent council decision to place a moratorium on converting commercially zoned areas to residential zoning brought Saratoga's business districts to the forefront in recent weeks.
According to interim city manager William Norton, City Council members are wondering what they can do to be proactive and positive, since the moratorium was a reactive measure. "The council wants to provide something positive because some people have said negative things about the council imposing a moratorium," Norton said later in a phone interview.
Norton said he did not want the council to make a decision on anything at the April 5 meeting, partly because there were no merchants at the meeting who spoke publicly on the issue. He said he wanted to make sure he had input from all merchants and property owners in the two areas. He suggested sending out a survey to residents to find out what kinds of retail they would support in Saratoga. He also wanted to hold many more public hearings.
But the council did make one decision on April 5--to get planned Gateway improvements under way. A task force developed the Gateway Specific Plan in 1996 for improving the Gateway. The council talked of reestablishing the task force at the meeting.
"There are some great ideas in here, unfortunately that happened to come up right before we lost the utility tax," councilman Nick Streit said of the 1996 plan. "The homework is here, we just need to update it for the year 2000 and move on."
Also, with the handover of Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road to the city from the state, the city will receive $2 million. The city has an additional $1 million earmarked for other improvements to the Gateway area. Councilman Evan Baker said city officials should sit down with the merchants to plan how to spend that money for the Gateway, and then focus on the Village.
Baker said there are vacancies in the Village and the city needs to attract a diverse mix of daytime stores there, and work with Ken Carter of the EagleWing Theater Company on creating a performing arts theater on Big Basin Way.
Attorney David Madway, who is an expert on redevelopment agencies, spoke to the council at the meeting and advised them on how to proceed with possible plans for a redevelopment agency. According to Madway, redevelopment areas are formed to correct a blight that cannot be overcome without government intervention.
"It is hard to imagine the presence in the same sentence of 'Saratoga' and 'blight,'" Madway said. "But, in fact, one element of blight is the presence of fragmented parcels, which effectively prevent redevelopment." He said parts of the Gateway might fit into this "blighted" category.
"Whether the issues present there rise to the level of blight is something that some time would have to be devoted to examine," he said.
The advantage of forming a redevelopment area in Saratoga is that in this way, local governments can get back a larger portion of their city's property taxes from the state, to spend in the project area. But establishing a redevelopment agency would be expensive; the city would have to fund a program environmental impact report for about $300,000 to $500,000 and hire a consultant for about $200,000, Madway said.
Madway said the city's claim of blight might be vulnerable to a challenge from Santa Clara County, since it is the county that would lose tax dollars.
While Madway suggested that the finding of blight in the city may be a bit of a stretch, he encouraged the council to hire a consultant to look at the Gateway area and see if it would survive a challenge by the county.
Streit, who first suggested the redevelopment agency, said that after hearing how much one would cost, he feels one might not be necessary, especially since a lot of work has already been done with the Gateway Specific Plan. The council has not yet made a final decision on a redevelopment agency.
Another option, according to Norton, would be for the property owners themselves to form a business improvement district, in which they would pay for revitalization based on assessments.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
