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An End Comes In Saratoga School Renovation Talks; Agreement Ok'd
District will keep eucalyptus trees until construction ends
City gets compromise letter
By Michelle Alaimo
More than nine months of controversy surrounding Saratoga School's construction plans came to an anticlimactic end on April 27 when the Saratoga Union School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve a negative declaration and begin the construction bidding process.
Only a handful of residents attended the meeting, when just weeks ago board meetings were packed with parents voicing their concerns over the fate of several eucalyptus trees and the traffic that would be affected by the construction.
Although the board's negative declaration decision was held up for several months while the district worked with community groups on resolving traffic and tree issues, Superintendent Mary Gardner said the project is still on schedule and will begin this June.
The SUSD added an addendum to its draft negative declaration report that came out in January. The addendum includes consultant Wilbur Smith's traffic study recommending ways to improve traffic around the school. It also contains a report detailing what will be done with 10 eucalyptus trees that were scheduled to be removed.
The addendum also contains a letter to the city specifying what the district plans to do at the school.
"I think we all feel we've made a good effort to work with the community," board president Cindy Ruby said.
She added that when the board began voting on plans last summer, she never anticipated all the community response but said the board has learned something from it.
The district plans to contact surrounding neighbors of Argonaut and Foothill schools before deciding on plans for upcoming construction set to begin in the summer of 2000.
Throughout the Saratoga School public meetings regarding construction plans, many parents and neighboring residents expressed concerns that the district did not include them in the planning process.
A compromise was made with community groups on the controversial issue of the removal of 10 eucalyptus trees, eight wedged between two classroom buildings and two massive trees near the playground.
The district has temporarily agreed to keep the two large eucalyptus trees near the playground until May 2000. Gardner said that at that time, an arborist will recommend the removal of one of the two trees, keeping only the healthiest.
She said that the arborist will also evaluate the four eucalyptus trees near the classrooms and determine if any are unhealthy. Any found to be unhealthy or unsafe will be removed.
To help ensure the trees' safety during construction, Lee Salin, regional vice president of HMC Architects in San Jose said work under the trees' dripline will be done by hand.
In Ruby's letter to the city dated April 26, she said any contractor who "negligently" causes destruction of either of the two largest trees will be fines $15,000 per tree. The contractor will also be required to obtain a performance bond which ensures that the terms and conditions of the contract will be met satisfactorily, including tree protection measures.
The letter was sent despite the city's call for a more strict memorandum of understanding between the SUSD and the city that would have legally bound the school district to the city's compromise agreement.
Now that the project plans have been approved with modifications, Salin said that the project will go out to bid the first week of May and he expects no delays in construction.
He said that modernization of current buildings will begin in June and all construction should be completed prior to the start of the 2000-01 school year.
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Saratoga, California Since 1975
