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Shuttle service suggested at traffic study meeting
By Kara Chalmers
The public got a third chance on May 16 to give its two cents worth on the Circulation and Scenic Highway Element, which is intended to improve the flow of traffic in the city. The Planning Commission and the City Council are scheduled to hold hearings on the draft document, which is one of the seven elements of Saratoga's General Plan.
The Circulation and Scenic Highway plan was last updated in 1983, 11 years before Highway 85 opened, which brings much more traffic into Saratoga, according to Community Development Director James Walgren. The Santa Clara Valley's growth is another reason the city needs to update the document, Walgren said.
At the May 16 meeting, transportation consultant Sohrab Rashid from Fehr & Peers Associates Inc. in San Jose, answered questions on the draft element from several members of the public and Saratoga Planning Commissioners. Walgren also attended the meeting.
"The beauty of this is, this is your document," Rashid said to the attendees. "You get to design it."
At the first public meeting on the subject last September, city staff presented the project's timeline and scope. At the second meeting, in November, residents voiced specific concerns.
One idea proposed at the second meeting was that the city explore a shuttle service to reduce traffic and increase parking. Almost 90 percent of the city's residents use cars as their mode of transportation, according to the draft element.
"This is ideal. I've seen it in Monterey and it's wonderful, it's just terrific," Planning Commissioner Mary-Lynne Bernald said. But she asked how the city would fund such a program. "If this is pie in the sky, then is it wise to put it in [the document]?"
Rashid said the city could obtain shuttle funding from air quality management districts or from other state or federal funds to reduce vehicular traffic. He said the circulation plan is the appropriate place to include the idea.
Bernald also asked Rashid about the recommendation that truck-loading zones be in effect only during certain hours to free more parking in the Village at other times. Rashid suggested that in the evenings, when cars flood the Village for its restaurants, the loading zones could be made available for parking.
Planning Commissioner Lisa Kurasch suggested that the plan address traffic near schools and safe ways to walk and bike to schools. She noted that many parents in Saratoga drive their children to school because they perceive that streets are unsafe because there are so many cars on them.
The traffic plan is scheduled to come before the Planning Commission on May 24, for recommendation to the City Council. If the commission approves the plan, it will be up to the City Council to make it part of the General Plan. Saratoga's Public Safety Commission gave its okay to the draft element on May 11, according to Chris Korn, city staff liaison to the commission.
The city is also paying CCS Planning and Engineering Inc. to do a parallel traffic study for the Prides Crossing neighborhood in Saratoga, a location where "cut through" and speedy drivers often use the residential streets to get to main city thoroughfares. Prides Crossing includes the streets between Prospect Road, Highway 85, Cox Avenue and the Calabazas Creek.
The study will likely suggest "traffic calming" devices, such as speed bumps, to help alleviate the residents' traffic problems.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
