Saratoga News

Letters & Opinions

Speak Out

Soccer families want
be part of community

Our family lives in Saratoga. Our three children played AYSO at Congress Springs and loved their soccer experience, in fact aspired to higher levels of soccer in CYSA. It is unfortunate our community does not utilize Kevin Moran Park for additional team sports. Our family continues to travel on a daily basis outside of our community for soccer practices and games. Saratoga has plenty of talented athletes who need fields to go and play.

Why does this city continue to drive us away? It is a charming community, which has so much potential. The people of Saratoga really do want to stay in their place of residence and play sports. We have lived in Saratoga for 13 years, and I still don't feel the connection because I am constantly driving away.

Kevin Moran is a community park, not a neighborhood park. As for the article in the Saratoga News ("Kevin Moran Park plan goes to council ... one more time," June 14), I would like to refer to the following:

1--No other parks in Saratoga, Cupertino or Los Gatos have a 100-foot buffer. And none is required by law.

2--The cost of the project is now at $1.8 million. I thought originally we were going to add playing fields. Now the neighbors' wish list includes a basketball court, tennis court, bocce court, meditation garden, etc. These items all sound great and the park has the space, but there is no reason to do it all at once. Create a budget and do it in phases.

3--The footpath to Blue Hills is not going to be removed, and in fact the council members tasked the designer with reorienting the path. Was this reported at the meeting?

4--All of the soccer groups involved in these discussions are nonprofit organizations.

5--My 8-year-old daughter plays club soccer, and nine of the 14 players live in Saratoga. The article says, "Saratoga residents say as many as four out of five children using the soccer field will not be residents of Saratoga." False. For the past season, there were more than 350 Saratoga residents registered and playing with CYSA.

We really want to be a part of the Saratoga community; let's keep the kids and families in their city.

Barb, Tom, Mackenzie, Austin and Delaney Baie Pridham

Saratoga

Eliminating bobcats
is not the answer

This is in response to Lois Davis' letter ("Something must be done about bobcats," June 21) regarding the bobcats.

We have two beloved 12-year-old twin chocolate Siamese cats that are more like fuzzy children, and we have had bobcat sightings in our driveway and on our front lawn; also, we've seen coyotes.

In addition we have a gopher, rabbit and wood rat population that are very destructive to our landscaping and orchard. The bobcats and coyotes are natural enemies that are helping to keep the varmints in check. (The large "gophers" called deer are a different problem for another letter.) This is nature trying to keep a balance, and it is exciting to glimpse the bobcats, as they are so shy.

Shortly after we moved here 25 years ago, our cats strayed into a neighbor's fenced yard and were killed by their dogs. Yes, we were devastated, but it was our fault; the neighbor was nice enough to let us know, so we didn't have to look for them. They could just as easily have been killed by bobcats, coyotes, crows, hawks or a car.

Our cats have a limited time outside in the morning, and they are trained to come in at the sound of a bell. Sure they escape sometimes, but we are able to get them back in; it's a chance we take, but I wouldn't want to kill every wild animal in sight to protect them.

Diana Anderson

Quito Road

City needs to comply
with zoning ordinance

The city's zoning ordinance allows plans for most homes of up to 6,000 square feet to avoid review by the planning commission, and instead be approved via "administrative design review" by the city staff. Regardless of who performs the review, they are supposed to apply the same design criteria, as specified by the ordinance, among the most important of which are to avoid unreasonable interference with the privacy and views of neighboring properties, and to harmonize with the neighborhood.

Unfortunately, in administrative design reviews the city staff has in some instances ignored those requirements entirely. The city government has neither management controls nor documentation requirements to assure the staff actually performs the required design reviews before they approve building permits.

Under state law, after the city approves an application for a building permit, the neighbors generally have little or no legal recourse if it is subsequently discovered the construction will adversely impact them. Although property owners have much at stake in their quality of life and in the financial value of their properties, few residents are familiar with the details of the city's zoning ordinance and procedures or with state law concerning land use. Residents rely on the city government to take fair and reasonable steps to protect their property. The city's present practices allow neighbors only a brief opportunity to become aware of and fend off developments that will adversely affect them. However, it is not right to allow major financial and environmental harm to be inflicted on someone simply because they are unsuspecting, unaware or unduly trusting of the city government. From that perspective, the city should make improvements in policy, procedure and execution.

It is not acceptable for the city staff to continue offloading the entire responsibility for privacy/view/neighborhood compatibility analysis onto neighbors--without even warning them. Except for very straightforward situations, few residents have the ability personally to assess from preliminary plans alone, the impact that a proposed development will have on their privacy, views, etc. That assessment should generally be done by an architect or an engineer, based on an analysis of site-specific geometrical details.

The city council should act immediately to require the city staff to consistently comply with the zoning ordinance requirements. The council also should commission a committee to review the zoning ordinance and related implementation procedures, and recommend improvements to make the building permit process as objective and fair as possible for both applicants and neighbors.

Don Whetstone

Vickery Avenue