Commission orders added hearings for traffic element

More public comment would be helpful

By Kara Chalmers

When just one member of the public showed up at the updated Circulation Element's hearing, the Saratoga Planning Commission decided to schedule two more hearings and to improve the city's public outreach.

The city hired transportation consultants Fehr & Peers Associates to update the circulation and scenic highway element, which is one part of the city's General Plan, and to review existing traffic and transit conditions in Saratoga. There have been two major changes since the element was last updated in 1983: Highway 85 opened and the Santa Clara Valley has grown in general. The update also includes revising the details on future traffic and transit conditions in the city.

"We took all that information and said, 'here's where the city is now,' and asked, 'where do we want to see Saratoga and how do we get there?'" said Sohrab Rashid, the project manager from Fehr & Peers. Some Planning Commissioners at the hearing on May 24 suggested the document be more specific than it is.

"I think we'll get there," Rashid said, "but not through the circulation element." The city is funding a traffic study of the Pride's Crossing neighborhood, which is intended to serve as a model for future neighborhood-specific traffic plans. The circulation element is intended to be more general, Rashid said.

Some commissioners made it clear they wanted more public input on the document before signing off on it and recommending it to the City Council. The council will make the final decision on whether to accept the update.

One section of the document assesses the impact in the city of two new interchanges for Highway 85, one at Quito Road and one at Prospect Road. Rashid terms the ramps to and from the south as "half interchanges." He said that while he does not advocate more interchanges, because of congestion at the Saratoga Avenue interchange of Highway 85 and increased traffic in the future, more interchanges are one possibility.

He said that while an interchange at either location would reduce traffic congestion at Saratoga Avenue, a Quito Road interchange would be more of a benefit to Saratoga than one at Prospect Road.

"It would shift some of the traffic and provide additional access to the freeway," Rashid said. "Prospect Road doesn't necessarily benefit Saratoga as much."

He noted that if any specific changes or improvements contained in the document, such as an interchange, were implemented, there would be formal public hearings and much more environmental review at that time.

The commission did not direct the consultants to make any changes to the updated document, but it scheduled two more public hearings for June 14 and 28

When asked if the public turnout for the element so far has been out of the ordinary, Rashid said it was normal. "Planning documents at this level, which are very general, don't generate a lot of public interest unless they propose something controversial," he said.

While Rashid said some commissioners obviously did not feel there was enough public input on the document, after his meeting with the commission on May 16 and the hearing May 24, he thought most commissioners felt that the document itself is in good shape.

There were three public meetings, in September, November and on May 16, before the hearing on May 24. The Community Development Department noticed the meetings and the hearing. Director of the department James Walgren said he would send out an additional mailing for the upcoming hearings.

There are two copies of the updated Circulation and Scenic Highway Element at City Hall and two at the Saratoga Community Library. They are also available for purchase in the Community Development Department for the cost of photocopying.

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