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Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Residents stroll down a sidewalk on one edge of the Azule Park property. Saratogans and city officials are working on plans for an extensive makeover of the area.
Residents, park commission kick off Azule Park planning
Concerns voiced
By Oakley Brooks
Design planning for Azule Park began on June 4, with familiar comments from neighbors who say that they want the park simple and its activity limited.
The neighbors voiced their concerns at the first of four parks and recreation commission meetings aimed at shaping a finalized Azule plan for the city council to consider in mid-August.
Azule Park Neighborhood Association Chairwoman Katie Alexander stressed that any new activity areas, such as playgrounds or tennis courts, be placed a good distance from nearby homes. Alexander also suggested modest landscaping improvements in the park.
Parks Commissioner Sheila Ioannou said she understood the neighbors' vision for the park
"It should be nice but not in a way that might attract a high volume of people," said Ioannou
Local residents worry that features attracting a large number of people to Azule, including fields for soccer and baseball, would congest Goleta Avenue and surrounding streets. Alexander adds that there are plenty of specialty fields and courts elsewhere in the city.
"The goal is to have it developed in a way that fits the neighborhood," she said.
It's a not a new refrain from area residents, who several years ago shot down plans to put sports fields at Azule for similar reasons.
But they agree with city officials that some improvements need to be made on the abandoned orchard. The land has been dormant since the city acquired it in 1969 and the rotting walnut and oak groves play host to a healthy population of rodents.
Surveys from 126 homes returned to the city recently show that most Saratogans agree on simplicity for Azule. Though comments turned up a few pipe dreams--a roller hockey rink and a skatepark--the most popular requests were for the more mundane: benches, drinking fountains and picnic tables.
Landscape architect Steve Kikuchi of Greg G. Ing and Associates says Azule's narrow, deep shape will present some challenges in creating a user-friendly park. The back of the park, bordered by the highway 85 sound wall, is more than 700 feet from Goleta Avenue. Kikuchi says he'll have to use some creative, but minimal, landscaping to make that section of the park inviting but safe and free of vandalism.
"The trick is to pull people into the park so they don't get collected on Goleta," Kikuchi said after the June 4 meeting.
The city will continue to take comments at its next Azule Park meeting on June 25. At that gathering, Kikuchi will present two or three drawings of potential park plans. He hopes to narrow the design down to its final stages by the parks commission's July 16 meeting and then make the last adjustments and cost estimates at the Aug. 6 meeting.
Public Works Director John Cherbone says he's pushing to have the proposal finalized by early August, so the city council can consider Azule as part of a city-wide capital improvement effort. The capital improvement projects will be selected toward the end of August.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
