Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Bob Binkley and his two brothers inherited this property three years ago. He says they are looking forward to selling it after a boundary change which may require an election under Measure G.

Measure G proponents criticize city's proposal

By Julie Mehta

Measure G is continuing to cause as much contention between its proponents and the city as it did during the campaign. The city's system for adding the measure, which takes effect on May 3, to the planning process was presented to the public at the April 20 Town Hall meeting.

Under the city's model, developers would have to foot the bill for putting their proposals on the ballot. That cost could range from $4,000 if coinciding with a City Council election to $70,000 for a special, stand-alone vote.

Save Our Neighborhoods Initiative Committee (SONIC), the group that put Measure G on the ballot, agreed that developers should pay for an election, but that was the only major point on which the two sides agreed. When it came to the issue of whether to stage a Measure G election after an application has been heard by the council and Planning Commission or skip directly to an election, the meeting deteriorated into a war of words.

City officials maintained they have the right to have an applicant take his proposal directly to the voters and to conduct environmental and design reviews only if it passed. But representatives of SONIC said this was not the intent of the measure's authors.

"I urge the city not to shoot itself in the foot by bending over backwards to find something not implied in Measure G or parallel initiatives," said Jeff Schwartz of SONIC.

"At the point where the city says no, the answer should be no. To do anything else would be to penalize the city and its residents."

Mayor Paul Jacobs strongly disagreed, saying the city should not be forced to spend time and money on an application that might be shot down by voters.

"It's incumbent on property owners to go to the voters and if they can sell their proposal to the general public, that's fine. If not, it's their problem," Jacobs said.

"If the city must put the stamp of approval on it, we may be forced to defend a project in which we have no financial or personal interest," Jacobs added.

He said that the city will still make environmental and design-review decisions, but only after a project has been approved by voters.

Another disputed point is whether Measure G should be applied to home remodeling projects. SONIC says it was not meant to do so and that the city agreed during the campaign that this would be unfair. But city officials now say they must adhere strictly to the language of the law.

Community Development Director Paul Curtis said Measure G has more potential to snag home remodeling applications than Napa's similar law because it has a clause requiring that any variances or use permits granted by the city can only be issued if consistent with Measure G.

Curtis added that the measure contains limits on impervious coverage (areas through which water cannot percolate, such as homes and pavement) that might be exceeded by an addition even though it would not increase density. The city's hands would be tied in such an instance, Curtis said.

Other minor projects also could fall under Measure G, including the case of a lot-line adjustment proposed by Bob Binkley that will likely be the first application requiring an election under the new law.

Binkley would like to move the boundary between his two lots on Pierce Road to make the vacant one a better building site. But the city would need to change a small piece of the other parcel to a more intense zoning designation to be in sync with the line adjustment--an act requiring an election under Measure G.

As the applicant, Binkley would have to pay for that election and for educating voters about his plans.

"I kind of wonder how many people would turn out to vote on any of these issues," Binkley said. "This is all new territory for me. It may cause us to change our plans."

His application has already obtained the Planning Commission's recommendation and is scheduled to be heard by the City Council on May 15. If the city tells him he must go to an election, Binkley can appeal that determination to the council. If he does decide to go through with an election and wins approval for his project, it still cannot be carried out until next year because, with the recent insertion of Measure G into the General Plan, the city has reached the maximum of four General Plan amendments it is allowed each year.