By Sarah Lombardo
Soon, Saratoga resident Michael Rosengarten will have a new home, the village can boast a few new boutiques, and Village shoppers will have a new plaza to stroll.
Rosengarten, a 25-year resident, received approval at the Nov. 13 Planning Commission meeting on his plans for a townhome and retail development at 14596 Big Basin Way. The development calls for a two-story building with four townhomes, two retail units and a courtyard, which City Planner James Walgren said will include a lawn area and permanent benches and trash cans for public use.
The courtyard is required under the city's Village plans, which calls for 20 percent of the parcel to be dedicated as public pedestrian open space. The existing commercial building is scheduled to be demolished.
Rosengarten told the commissioners that he plans to live in one of the townhomes.
"I came to this piece of property because I wanted to live in the downtown area with my daughters," he said, "and I bought this with that general intent."
Although Walgren said he had not received any letters or comments of concern about the issue, approval for the Rosengarten project did not come easily.
The project's design plans first came before the commission Oct. 9. Rosengarten did not attend the meeting, but commissioners and staff said they felt the design was too massive and out of place with the rest of the buildings along that stretch of Big Basin Way. Commissioner Margaret Patrick and chairwoman Marcia Kaplan said they would prefer to see a single-story building, and commissioner Richard Siegfried recommended that the issue be continued to a later date to give Rosengarten a chance to speak on his project's behalf.
At a study session on Oct. 23, Rosengarten, the project's architect and commissioners met to discuss the commission's concerns about the appearance of the building. From the meeting, architect Warren Heid said he thought he had come up with a new design that addressed the concerns.
"We did try to produce the entire project with a new appearance," Heid said.
The project was originally designed to have two buildings with street-front boutiques and a townhome creating a second-story bridge between the two buildings. Three other townhomes would be located toward the back of the parcel. Now, Heid said, the boutiques will open up to the courtyard and have bay windows facing Big Basin Way, and the second story will be further back from the front of the buildings.
Walgren said he expects the project will get under way in the spring, when the weather improves.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, November 27, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved