Effective sometime in the fall, commuters will no longer be able to use the streets in the Village Green area—which includes Oak and Park places, Orchard and La Paloma avenues and Lutheria Way—as an escape route to bypass the traffic signals on Saratoga­Los Gatos Road and Saratoga Avenue. Traffic engineers will install a sign prohibiting right turns onto Oak Place between 7 and 9 a.m. and left turns between 4 and 6 p.m.

This is bad news to some drivers, like Mark Hauss, who said he frequently uses Park Place as a shortcut to get to Highway 85.

"I'm an impatient driver," admitted Hauss. "I don't like to sit in traffic when I have important things to do and places to be at a certain time. I try to avoid traffic jams in any way I can."

Hauss, who frequently travels this route at approximately 8:30 a.m., said that the neighborhood is typically quiet during this time. He has not noticed any problems or heard of any complaints from the neighbors.

"I drive at the regular speed limit," he said. "I don't see how I am disrupting any of the residents here."

However, those who live in the neighborhood said that these traffic-calming devices will significantly reduce unwanted congestion and lessen the likelihood of an accident.

Jim Kardach, co-president of the Village Green Neighborhood Association and a resident of La Paloma Avenue, said he is hopeful that the new signs will "get rid of most of the unwanted traffic."

According to Kardach, task force members, which include representatives from the Oak Street neighborhood, the Saratoga Fire Department, the Federated Church and city council, went through six sketches before voting on the final plan. The sketches included adding a median at the Oak Place entrance on Highway 9, blocking vehicular access into Park Place from Oak Place using planters, installing a mechanically movable gate on Oak Place and posting signs preventing drivers from making left turns from Saratoga Avenue onto Park Place, Orchard and La Paloma avenues and Lutheria Way.

Before plans were voted on, the task force had to get a 60-percent approval rate from the neighbors who will be affected by the change. According to Kardach, 67 percent of the residents signed the petition supporting the measure.

"This is a fair and appropriate solution to a problem that has been gradually increasing," said Denise Michel, a Park Place resident and vice president of the association. "It's an especially dangerous situation for the pedestrians who walk along the streets. The streets are narrow and winding and have several blind corners, which makes it difficult for drivers to see pedestrians ahead."

With plans in place, Michel said, she anticipates hearing fewer stories of neighbors having close calls with cut-through drivers, bikes getting run over and pets getting killed. Although she does not recall having any near-misses, she said she occasionally has trouble backing out of her driveway.

"The goal here is to not move a problem to another street but to remove the problem altogether," she said. "We need to keep traffic on the arterial roadways where they belong."

Council members voted to approve the plan at their July 16 meeting under the condition that the traffic situation will be evaluated after a year. In addition, traffic engineers will conduct a traffic survey prior to installing the signs.