By Cecily Barnes
West Valley trustees voted unanimously last Thursday to exempt the college from the city of Saratoga's zoning laws and other ordinances, thus reopening a controversy as old as the college itself. The new "exempted" status entitles the college to ignore the city and build such things as a new football stadium, night-time lighting or score boards, college trustees claim.
However, the city disagrees.
Trustee Arne Lunde assured that there are no plans to build anything. "We have at this time no money to build anything," he said.
But West Valley spokesperson Ruth Carlson admitted, "If we decided to build a stadium, we could."
Antagonism between the city and West Valley has been growing since the college first moved to Saratoga in 1968. When the Saratoga Planning Commission consented to the construction of West Valley College in January 1967, it was under the condition that there would be no stadium.
"The campus shall not include an outdoor sports stadium designed for large-scale public attendance at intercollegiate games or events," the building permit states.
But in 1977, the college reapplied to the Planning Commission for the stadium. The college was denied within one month, and the whole ordeal spurred the city to enact a "no stadiums anywhere" ordinance for Saratoga. A lawsuit filed against West Valley College by the City of Saratoga this past March alleges that the college has been holding football games with makeshift stadium materials, including portable seating, score cards and stopwatches. And while there is no actual stadium, the city claims that even pretending violates the 1977 ordinance.
West Valley trustees passed the exemption last week without waiting for the lawsuit's outcome. According to Lunde, the issue has more to do with the independence of the college than difficulties posed by city laws and ordinances. Lunde said city ordinances have not posed a great difficulty, but the college still desires independence.
"We feel that we need a certain independence to act," he explained. "Maybe we might get some money from the state someday and want to put up a building."
The trustees were able to exempt themselves from the city's zoning laws under California's government code 53094. This section allows school boards of state-owned educational institutions to enact the exemption by a vote of two-thirds or more.
However, the city still has the option to take the issue to court and contest the exemption as being arbitrary or capricious. City Manager Harry Peacock could not speculate if this would occur because he was not yet aware of the college's decision.
"I can't comment on it because I haven't been officially notified," Peacock said.
Saratoga residents seem split in their attitudes towards the college, although more tend to view West Valley as an intruder rather than a neighbor.
"[West Valley College] has made numerous promises over the years and broken them over and over again," said ex-trustee Vic Monia. "If you're a resident of that neighborhood, you'll see what the Indians must have felt like dealing with the federal government."
"This college has been a bad neighbor for 20 years," agreed ex-trustee Jeff Schwartz.
However former planning commissioner Gene Zambetti sympathizes with the college. "Maybe it's time that the city really embraced this educational institution. They've always looked down on it," Zambetti said. "[But] I don't know if it's a good idea. Whatever happens, someone is going to be unhappy."
The city's lawsuit against WVC has not been scheduled to be heard.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, October 2, 1996.
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