Though the nearly 600-seat venue will initially be used for school performances and events only, school officials say it will likely be rented to outside groups once it is determined how best to do so.

Neighbors say they are concerned that events at the PAL Center will bring more traffic than the school can accommodate, especially if they coincide with sporting events at the school's gym or on its newly renovated fields.

Saratoga High School Principal Kevin Skelly said he believes the school has adequate parking spaces to accommodate center visitors. Though he could not say for certain how many parking spots are in the SHS lot (he has estimated as many as 700 and as few as 450 on separate occasions), Skelly said the school has "enough parking."

The principal also said he expects to be able to schedule events so that they don't conflict with each other.

"I think it's our challenge to set up events when they don't interfere," he said. "Basically, we're going to do everything we can to make sure it works for the community ... I think we can do it."

Some people, though, are not sure the school is being realistic about the impact of the PAL Center and other recent development. Hugh Leo, who lives on Lexington Court across the street from the school, said parking is already a problem at times, and that both the new venue and the renovated fields will likely add to the problem. He said he and other neighbors "roundly" support all of the improvements to the school, but think that their impact as a whole should have been addressed before construction ever began.

"What hasn't happened is that there's never been an overall analysis of what is happening at the school in the aggregate and what effect that will have on the neighborhood," he said. "It isn't the question that anybody has been derelict, but the complexity of the [issue] has exceeded the capacity of the staff to deal with it."

Leo and others have attended recent neighborhood meetings with Skelly to talk about the issue. Mercedes DeLuca, who also lives on Lexington Court, said at a March 10 meeting that she thought it was important to talk about this issue before it becomes a real problem.

"It seems to be that there are a lot of open items that haven't been considered or haven't been thought through yet," DeLuca said.

Renee Keane, building projects assistant for the Los Gatos­Saratoga Joint Union High School District, said parking and other community issues were addressed at public board meetings, and the project was open to public comment before it was approved. While she recognized that neighbors' concerns were valid, she said the district felt it provided "every opportunity" for them to express these concerns before construction began.

"There were several informational items on the scheduled board meetings," she said. "All of these are publicly posted to the community."

But several neighbors said they did not know about those meetings and only got involved with the more recent discussions with Skelly.

Chalet Lane resident Gladys Armstrong said she is in favor of the PAL Center, but agreed that increased traffic to the school could be a problem.

"I think as a neighbor, the main concern is about parking," she said. "I think they will probably work out a schedule ... I feel very confident that they will work something out."

Neighbor Paula Cappello doesn't think traffic brought on by the venue or sports fields will bring any unexpected traffic. Cappello serves on the board of the Saratoga High School Foundation, which coordinated fundraising efforts for more than $4 million of the project's funding.

She said the PAL Center, like any other school facility, would be used by the community to the extent that is possible.

"When you buy property near a school, you should expect traffic," Cappello said. "I kind of take it in stride that [the PAL Center] is another use of the school by the community, and that's a good thing.

I don't mean to make light of other people's issues, but I think that it's part of the normal operation of the school."

Leo disagreed. He said that, while he certainly expected a certain amount of school-related traffic when he bought his house 11 years ago, there was a different situation.

"When we moved here, what was there was a high school," he said. "Some days it was noisy, sometimes there were events at night, but those were intermittent things. Today, Saratoga High School is no longer simply a high school."

Despite his concerns, Leo said he was still happy to see improvements such as the PAL Center being made to the school—a sentiment Skelly said has been echoed by nearly everyone involved in the project.

"A lot of people are thrilled about this," Skelly said. "I think it's going to be a jewel in the community."