Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Annabelle Frederickson of Saratoga plays doubles at the Saratoga Tennis Club which is scheduled for a renovation. She has been a member since 1966.
Neighbors drop appeal of club
By Kara Chalmers
A group of Komina Avenue residents, neighbors of the Saratoga Tennis Club, have decided to drop their appeal of the Saratoga Planning Commission's approval of the club's expansion and new fence, according to Arthur Anderson, the neighbor whose name appears on the appeal.
When the neighbors realized that the most the city council could legally do would be to require that the club provide off-street parking as a condition of the project's approval, they decided to withdraw the appeal filed on June 29, Anderson said. The neighbors opted not to hold up the club's expansion plans, according to him.
Anderson, who lives across the street from the club on Komina Avenue, has been a member for 12 years. He said previously that the expansion might preclude some major, large-scale improvements that the club needs.
According to the appeal, the neighbors thought the courts should be set back from the street, and they wanted the club to provide more on-site parking. But Anderson said it became clear to the neighbors that the city would not or could not compel the club to create off-street parking.
The club's plans include a 34-foot addition to the back of the three courts which would bring the courts up to regulation size, and replacement of the 12-foot high wire and wood fence with a vinyl-clad chain-link fence. Shorter fences, ranging from three to 10 feet high, will be constructed between the courts.
According to club president, Cliff Barrett, work on the courts could start in mid-October, or the club might opt to wait until next spring. The tennis club members will pay some $750 each to fund the project. Today, there are 83 members, which is three less than on June 14, when the planning commission approved the project 3 to 2.
The club has been at 20571 Komina Ave, in the middle of a residential neighborhood, for more than 70 years.
Saratoga Union School District Superintendent Mary Gardner said the SUSD offered to pay the tennis club $80,000 for part of the half-acre of open space in back of the courts, about a year and a half ago. She said that Saratoga School, located on Oak Street near the tennis club, could have used the space for either parking or playground space or both. But she said the club then decided they weren't interested in selling the space.
Saratoga School is undergoing a renovation and expansion, which is expected to be completed this fall. According to Gardner, the new facility will have 43 parking spaces. The school used to have 25 places. Last year, 398 students attended Saratoga School, and this school year Gardner is expecting at least 450 students to attend.
Anderson said he would like to see the school purchase or lease the space so that teachers and school staff would not have to park on the street.
Saratoga City Councilman John Mehaffey is scheduled to convene a meeting with representatives of the SUSD, the tennis club, the neighbors and maybe more city officials, to try to work out some compromises concerning off-street parking, according to Mayor Stan Bogosian.
In July 1999, the planning commission granted the club a use permit, but prior to that time, the club, which has been around since before the city was incorporated, had been called a "legal nonconforming use." The commission could have approved the expansion but chose not to until the club conducted a parking study and surveyed its members to see if the majority backed the expansion.
According to Barrett, a survey he conducted showed that about 72 percent of members support the expansion and the added cost. Barrett also said that a survey of parking that he conducted shows that there is no parking problem. According to him, six cars--parked back to back--can fit in the 20 by 60-foot driveway.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
