By Sarah Lombardo
The old Kosich ranch will soon be home to 12 families.
A 12-home subdivision plan for the four-acre site on the west side of Saratoga Avenue, just south of Lawrence Expressway, has been unanimously approved by the Saratoga Planning Commission.
The approval ends what has been a turbulent history for the property. In recent years, neighbors have objected to two other projects proposed for the land, a shopping center and a 28-home subdivision.
But neighbors gave the nod of approval to this plan.
"This is the closest we've gotten to what we want," said neighbor Ray Simpson, who added that he wanted the commission to make a condition on the approval that only single-story homes be built on the land.
The commission approved the project with the staff-recommended requirement that at least half of the future homes be slated as single-story homes. The builder, David Chui from Pan Cal Investment in San Jose, asked the council to give him permission to build seven two-story houses and only five single-story homes, promising to design two-story homes that would not be intrusive to neighbors, but agreed to abide by the commission's decision.
"The design we have proposed is very much in line with the staff recommendation," Chui said.
Chui was also involved in the Congress Springs development and said he knew how important it was to get neighbors involved in a project. Chui and members of the Saratoga Springs Homeowners Association met prior to the Planning Commission meeting on Sept. 25 to discuss acceptable plans.
"This is the first acceptable proposal for the use of the Kosich property," said neighbor Evan Baker, who also said he agreed with the council's recommendation making half of the houses single-story residences.
Jim Shaw, president of the Saratoga Woods Homeowners Association, said all the neighbors would like to keep the future homes single story, but agreed that the 50-50 arrangement was fair.
"Sure, we would like to see one-story homes, but we do realize that this is real life," he said.
Saratoga's general plan for that area would allow for up to 18 homes on that area, but with the 12-home plan, lots on the property will range in size from 10,000 to 12,000 square feet. Construction is scheduled to start in the spring.
The question of whether Paramount Drive will become a through-access road or stay in two cul-de-sacs is on the agenda for the Oct. 9 Planning Commission meeting.
The issue involves a proposed subdivision of almost 9-1/2 acres of the Kennedy property on Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road. The city's original plan called for Paramount Drive to be connected sometime in the future. But for years, the road has remained in two pieces, one off Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road and one off Pierce Road, and ended in two abrupt dead ends. Now that the land around both ends of the road is up for development, residents, many of whom are parents, have said they do not want Paramount Road to be connected, citing traffic and safety concerns.
The developer involved in the project has met with neighbors and planning commissioners in recent weeks to discuss different plans for the property, and came up with two plans that connect the two ends of Paramount Drive and two plans that leaves the two Paramounts separate with cul de sacs and turnarounds for emergency vehicles.
A tie vote between the commissioners, who clashed over whether to follow the original city plan for the road or create the cul de sacs, brings the issue to a second discussion before the commission.
The Planning Commission meeting will start at 7:30 p.m. and is held in the City Council Chambers at 13777 Fruitvale Avenue.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, October 9, 1996.
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