The city council was informed in a closed session meeting July 10 that upgrades to make the Grace United Methodist Church site on Prospect Road—which the city is in the process of purchasing—capable of accommodating a senior center would cost more than twice what it had expected, and far more than the city can afford.

"It gives us a real dilemma," said Vice Mayor Evan Baker of the Noll and Tam Architects report on the upgrade costs. "Here's this wonderful property with four terrible buildings. We had no idea how bad they were. This is a property that today we can't afford to upgrade to make it really useful."

And so at its meeting July 17, the council directed staff to come up with a plan for maintaining the site's exterior, locating some administrative functions there and possibly allowing it to be used by a Taiko Japanese drumming group while trying to figure out a plan for future use of the site and a way to pay for it. Then the council went ahead and approved the purchase of the property for $4.5 million.

The architects' report diffused council and city staff enthusiasm for relocating the Saratoga Area Senior Coordinating Council center to the new site, which had been their first-choice plan when they began the process of buying the property in April. Moving the seniors would provide them with more space to grow their program and accommodate more participants, as well as attract many from the northern areas of the city, they said. It would also allow the current senior center location to become a new substation for the Westside Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department, who is running out of room and needs to move from its current rented spot in the post office on Saratoga Avenue.

But the city maxed out its undesignated reserves by merely purchasing the property. It had anticipated upgrades would cost between $300,000 and $500,000. So it came as a surprise when the architects determined it would take more than $1 million to make the site safe, comfortable and compliant with city codes and guidelines set by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The council determined that it would be fiscally imprudent—especially with looming uncertainty about the hit it could take when the state finally comes up with a budget—to try to make the original plan a reality anytime soon. It also decided that it would rather take its time to come up with a good plan for the property than just do the bare minimum right away.

"It's just going to take a little bit more time than we anticipated," Mayor Nick Streit said. "I think it would behoove us to take our time. We need to have some usage to it, but we need to sit back and take a long look at it."

Seniors at the center, particularly those involved with the Adult Day Care Center program, had been uncomfortable with the move, a decision they felt was out of their hands and that had been made without their input. Senior council executive director Sean O'Leary said that the council's board, staff and some members, however, were excited about the potential the "gift" of a new location would offer them.

"The city bent over backwards to make this work," he said. "Unfortunately, the buildings are dilapidated to the point where it's cost-prohibitive to make the improvements to make us comfortable. The senior center members are overjoyed. I think my job just got a whole lot easier, but I'm saddened by the fact that we lost that opportunity. Personally, I think it's a huge loss."

The Westside sheriff's captain, Dennis Bacon, had not been officially notified of the council's decision at press time but said a setback would be unfortunate.

"Certainly, we'd be disappointed," he said. "But we know the city's trying hard to accommodate everyone. We're willing to work with whoever we need to in order to stay in the city."

The council made no decision on what exactly will happen at the site in the future—that discussion won't come up again until next calendar year, Streit said. Staff, however, proposed several options in addition to moving the senior center there. One was to move modular units—possibly purchased from the library—to the site and let the sheriff's station occupy them. That plan would cost about $657,000.

Renovation of the administration building alone would cost $200,000. Demolishing the buildings and adding grass and irrigation for a park would cost $210,000. Closing up the buildings and allowing the open space to be used by the public would cost about $33,000.

Councilwoman Ann Waltonsmith strongly supported creating some public use of the space so that Saratogans can become comfortable with their new property.

"I think we would do ourselves and our community a service to start using it for some purpose so that people would find out how easy it is to drive over there," she said. "We really do need to find a way to not just do all or nothing. Really, it's not the boonies."

City Manager Dave Anderson also recommended that the city move some administrative functions to the site on a daily basis in order to prevent vandalism.

One group expressing interest in the site was a Taiko drumming group that had used the property, when owned by the church, for its practices. Councilman Stan Bogosian asked City Attorney Richard Taylor to find out if that could be done without violating any ADA requirements or encountering any liability risk.

The Rev. Judith Stone, former pastor of Grace Church, said she is sorry that the city is wrangling with the site's disrepair, much as her own congregation had. But she reiterated her pleasure that the property will be used for civic functions of any kind, not necessarily for seniors.

Following its discussion of what to do with the property, the council expressed no qualms about approving the purchase. Streit said that future councils would thank them for having the courage to buy property that the city sorely needs if it wants to provide more community services.