During the commission's discussion of the proposed new fire station plans, Caltrans employee John Thomas, at the request of commissioner Cynthia Barry and the Saratoga Fire District, addressed concerns about the impact the proposed station would have on traffic. After hearing mention of the possible traffic signal, he also said that, unbidden, Caltrans would not approve such a signal. Caltrans owns Saratoga­Los Gatos Road.

"It's basically like signalizing a driveway," Thomas said of the proposal that could ultimately monitor traffic out of a future Saratoga Federated Church parking area. He added that the road does not have sufficient traffic volume or speed to warrant a signal there.

But the traffic signal is one option the city and residents in the vicinity are considering, and have been for months, to help resolve traffic cut-through problems in the Village Green neighborhood, as well as make it easier for pedestrians to cross the road. In fact, the city council this summer even authorized an ad hoc committee to study traffic in the area specifically because a traffic signal there would affect a variety of neighborhoods.

Public works director John Cherbone, who wasn't at the commission meeting, later said that, in his conversations with Caltrans officials about the idea of a signal, he had never met or heard of Thomas and that he had never been told the signal would not be approved. He admitted that most of his conversations were with maintenance and permit personnel and not with traffic engineering people like Thomas. Nevertheless, he said, he didn't know on what basis Thomas could say the signal wouldn't be approved without being familiar with the situation.

"I don't know how he could know, how he could make a statement like that," Cherbone said. "The people I've talked to have been very positive."

Cherbone said the city had done a recent study of the traffic in that section and found that it could qualify for a signal.

"We have a warrant study that says a signal is warranted there," he said. "He's saying the traffic volume is too low. But according to our traffic study, it's not. That traffic study gave enough information to pursue" the signal.

Cherbone said that a traffic engineer like Thomas would be involved in Caltrans' signing off on the traffic signal idea. But he added that he's not concerned that Thomas' comment means that the signal is impossible.

Cherbone said the idea of a traffic signal is still in its infancy. The city two weeks ago sent out a survey to the area's nearby residents asking them about their interest in a signal and other traffic devices, he said. Until the ad hoc committee has determined that the neighbors even want a signal, the city won't move forward to obtain Caltrans' approval, he said.

"We're going through a process to determine if we want a light," he said. "If we do, staff would submit the proper reports to Caltrans for their consideration. We don't want to go to Caltrans until we get input from the neighbors. We've got to do this one step at a time. None of this is a done deal."