Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

A major expansion of the Saratoga Retirement Community was under way this year. Phase One was completed in November.




2001 Year in Review: April-June

April

The planning commission denied developer Stan Gamble's proposal for a mixed commercial-residential development on Big Basin Way. The four-home, one-commercial-building development divided the commission, with several members concluding that Gamble didn't set aside enough commercial and retail space, while others believed he had. After a 3-2 vote against the proposal, Gamble said he would appeal the project to the city council.

Monte Sereno resident Patti O'Brien took over as the executive director of the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce on March 26.

In light of growing pressure from Saratoga residents for the city to intervene in the dispute over fire service in the city, Mayor John Mehaffey asked the city attorney to look into ways that the city could exert control over the independent fire district. Among other things, the city agreed to look at taking over fire service within city boundaries by establishing its own fire department.

The city hired Danielle Surdin, a recent graduate of Concordia University in Irvine, as Saratoga's first economic development coordinator. Surdin was charged with boosting the city's relationship with Saratoga businesses.

The city's inability to meet regional housing targets threatened to have grave consequences, as a state Senate bill aimed to punish cities that couldn't comply with housing allotments. Under one version of the bill, the city stood to lose up to 60 percent of the $590,840 it receives from the state gas tax fund every year. Penalties would only be incurred if Saratoga did not have a plan to meet housing numbers approved by the state housing department.

Research by the city attorney revealed on April 18 that the city did not have any regulatory authority over the Saratoga Fire District. City council members did state their intentions to remain involved with fire issues in the city, and earlier in the week, Vice Mayor Nick Streit and Councilman Stan Bogosian met with members of the Firefighters and Citizens Task force to hear their concerns. The task force also presented the council with a detailed report outlining the deficiencies of the fire district and the benefits of joining the surrounding county fire department.

Children of the late Louis Dorcich Sr. said they were selling the family's small Quito Road farm. Dorcich's son, Louis Jr. said nobody in the family had expressed an interest in maintaining the two-story bungalow and surrounding 2-acre property. Instead, the family was considering several development firms' plans to put six houses on the land.

May

Saratoga was slated to receive $284,000 in state funds for parks and recreation as part of the voter-approved Proposition 12. The park money had little stipulations attached to it, meaning cities could use it for any kind of park development.

The city council mandated that the planning commission approve developer Stan Gambles' Big Basin Way development, provided he change the appearance of the proposed commercial building and commit the building's second floor to commercial use. By a 4-1 vote, the council agreed to let proposed town homes be built closer to Big Basin Way than city code allows. But Gamble had to redesign the commercial building to change what council members saw as a condominium-like appearance.

The Saratoga Area Senior Coordinating Council's executive director, Mary Goulart, left her post for a new marketing position at the Saratoga Retirement Community.

West Valley Sanitation District workers found that a sewer line from a Fourth Street business led straight into a storm drain that fed Saratoga Creek. The city's public works department sealed the drain outlet and pumped the sewage back into the main sewer line. Meanwhile, efforts on other fronts to clean up the creek continued.

Former Moraga planning director Tom Sullivan took over the community development department in Saratoga on May 14. With experience handling the state housing department and writing local housing plans, city officials were confident that Sullivan could get Saratoga's housing plan in shape for approval by the end of the year.

Youth commissioners asked the city council to help fund an upgrade of the attic space at the Warner Hutton House. Councilwoman Ann Waltonsmith proposed that the city match any funds that the youth group might raise on their own for the $150,000 project.

The Saratoga Fire Commission filled the vacant seat left by Henry Clarke with Public Safety Commissioner Hugh Hexamer. Hexamer chaired a city-sponsored study released in March that called the district's operations "adequate," to the dismay of members of the Firefighters and Citizens Task force. Hexamer joined the commission as it mulled over proposals from the county and state fire departments to take over day-to-day operations of the Saratoga district.

June

Former West Valley College student and county sheriff's officer Capt. Dennis Bacon replaced Capt. Jeff Miles as the commander of the Westside substation in Saratoga. Bacon first began working with the sheriff's department as a 22-year-old West Valley student.

On June 12, the Saratoga Fire Commission approved a comprehensive new agreement with the Santa Clara County Fire Department to effectively drop the two districts' boundaries and share calls in Saratoga. The agreement called on the two departments to send the closest equipment to a fire regardless of the location of the fire. Theoretically, that meant faster responses in Saratoga, with half of the city covered by the county department and half by the Saratoga Fire District.

Community Development Director Tom Sullivan cleaned out most of the temporary and permanent staff in his new department, including assistant planner Marc Connolly. Connolly, the most senior planner in a department racked by turnover, said he was sent packing without any explanation. Connolly was a probationary employee because he was with the city for less than year and subject to dismissal without cause. Sullivan refused to comment on the firing.

Senate Bill 910, designed to penalize cities that don't have a state-certified housing plan, passed the state Senate. That put it a step closer toward implementation, with potentially costly consequences for Saratoga. While the June version of the bill threatened to withhold gas tax money headed for cities--like Saratoga-- without an approved housing plan, the bill's author Sen. Joe Dunn (D-Garden Grove) talked of withholding vehicle license fee money instead.

Saratoga Springs campground resort agreed to pay $23,000 in fines to the state, following a chlorine spill in Saratoga and Booker creeks in July 2000. The chlorine came from the utility shed of the resort's pool, where a leak spread to the creeks.




2001 Year in Review
Year in Review Introduction
January-March
July-September
October-December

Photo: A Space Odyssey Christmas

Local Home Sales Listings

Friends of the Saratoga Libraries publishes 'A History of Saratoga's Libraries'

Saratoga Sampler

Sports Briefs

High school sports