"Our biggest disappointment wasn't that we weren't able to raise the funds," Mallory said. "It was the unwillingness of the three council members to discuss the issues with the committee at any time."

Mayor Kathleen King, Vice Mayor Norman Kline and Councilman Nick Streit have been in favor of selling the 2.6-acre property. Councilwomen Ann Waltonsmith and Aileen Kao have been opposed.

"I'm very proud of them," Waltonsmith said of the committee. "They are a group of really concerned citizens.

"I'm sad that we're going to sell it," she said. "It's very hard to buy public property. We don't have a lot of property that's sitting around not being used."

At its meeting scheduled for Nov. 16, the council will vote on a general plan amendment, a subdivision approval and a mitigated negative declaration concerning sale of the property. The items were approved by the planning commission on Oct. 27. A positive vote by the city council on Nov. 16 will open the North Campus for bidding from developers. Subdivision plans call for nine homes on the site.

"They want a buyer before the end of the year," Waltonsmith said. "They want to get this out of the way before election season."

The city purchased the North Campus for $4.5 million from the Grace United Methodist Church in 2002. The intent was to move the sheriff's office and the senior center there. Those plans fell through and the city found itself with an unused property that is costly to maintain.

A sale of the North Campus would replace the $4.5 million taken from the general fund for the purchase, and add a few million dollars more. The property is expected to sell for $6 million to $9 million.

The committee had hoped to raise enough money to buy the property, but was only able to come up with $350,000.

"We had great support from the community," Mallory said. More than 300 citizens supported the effort, he explained. "We wanted that land to be saved for the community for public use. We have over-zoned for housing and under-zoned for public needs. This means in the future there is going to be a shortage of land for public use."

"We considered pursuing a referendum for the next election," he said. "We determined we don't have the resources to prepare the petition and gather the over 2,000 signatures needed."

Tight city finances have been one of the motivations behind the sale of the property. "We feel that one of these days the financial situation will be manageable, but in the meantime we'll have lost this land," Mallory said. "In the future, we'll ask why we didn't hang onto this land. We sold it for a few pennies.

"This is both an issue of economics and a lack of proper planning by a majority of the city council. Proper planning is important at any time."

For Mallory, the sale of the property brings into question what the spirit and vision of Saratoga should be. "We want to be a community and not just a bedroom community," he said. "We need to have places to bring us together and activities that allow us to meet each other. As we've become more diverse, we've become more separate. We need public space to bring us together so we can get to know each other and create a new community."

He said that sports programs, youth programs, classes and community events such as the Fourth of July are activities that unite a community.

"We were not negative toward that campaign," Vice Mayor Norman Kline said of the efforts to save the space for public use. "If they were able to raise the money, I would be open to consideration."

"Putting that money into the reserves and into infrastructure is the best course to do," Kline said, "but mainly it's time to bring the community back together and move on."

"Our efforts to save the North Campus have come to an end," Mallory said. "We thank the community for listening to us."