Saratoga News

Cover Story

Photograph by George Sakkestad

General contractor David Medallin led a series of three 'handyman' classes at the North Campus' administration building to teach residents renovation skills while getting them involved in helping the city.

Reason to Celebrate

Saratoga's North Campus will celebrate its grand opening on May 24

By Shannon Burkey

When the city decided to sell the North Campus, residents were divided and emotions ran strong.
Some wanted to rid the city of a campus that was beginning to look like a burden. Others fought hard to save it and keep community space in a city where space is hard to come by.

Ultimately, last summer voters came out and strongly supported keeping the run-down campus, and today, as the city prepares to open one of its four buildings, it is a step closer to being the community facility that supporters envisioned.

"I'm hoping that everyone can get behind it now and really promote bringing it back to life and using it as something for the city," Vice Mayor Ann Waltonsmith said.

The 2.6-acre North Campus property was a point of contention for many residents and elected officials from the moment the city purchased it from Grace United Methodist Church for a low $4.5 million in July 2002. The property houses four buildings: the sanctuary, fellowship hall, administration building and education building.

The city originally intended to move senior center programs to the campus and the sheriff's office into the space the senior center occupies. The sheriff's department was looking to upgrade its facilities, and the city viewed keeping it in Saratoga as a priority.

But it was more costly than expected to move the seniors, so they decided not to move. To top things off, the sheriff's office moved to Cupertino, and the city was left with an empty campus and no idea what to do with it.

At the time, Councilwoman Kathleen King and then council members Norman Kline and Nick Streit wanted to sell the campus and replenish the city's dwindling general fund. Waltonsmith and Mayor Aileen Kao wanted to keep the campus for use by the community.

"When we were making the decision, we were cutting so much out of our budget," King said. "Three years before, we cut $750,000, and the next two years we cut a million each year out of our general fund."

King said that the economy at that time was very bad, causing the city's sales tax to drop and causing the state to come in and take money from the city's budget.

"At that time, they were taking roughly 10 percent of our budget," King said. "We were cutting back everywhere we could, and I just couldn't justify keeping a piece of property that we didn't know what to do with. I thought the money could be used for our infrastructure and to fix up the campus we already have."

Despite protests from residents, the council voted 3-2 last June to sell the North Campus to the highest bidder, developer Majid "Mike" Masoumi, for $6.75 million. Masoumi planned to build nine homes on the land.

If the sale had gone through, the city would have pocketed a $4.5 million profit and the revenue would have gone toward upgrading city infrastructure.

But while the sale was pending, a group called Save Saratoga's North Campus held a petition drive to get a referendum on a ballot and let voters decide the fate of the campus.

Not wanting the North Campus to become a campaign issue in the November elections, the council decided to put the issue on the ballot in the June elections as Measure J.

Saratoga resident Jack Mallory was a key figure in the "No on J" campaign and advocated passionately to save the North Campus.

"It should be up to the community how they use the land," Mallory said.

In the past, Mallory, an ex-council member, said the city has sold off land it didn't think it would use, but this time he felt strongly that instead of the city selling the North Campus, it should preserve it for community use.

"The thing is, we have so little public land left that it was important to save it," he said.

In the end, 75 percent of the Saratoga residents who cast votes voted to keep the campus, and the sale to Masoumi was nullified.

The city then had to decide what to do with the property.

Today the city is doing better financially. The state has paid back a chunk of the money it took and the city has also begun to receive money from the passage of AB 117 that called for Santa Clara County to return tax equity allocation payments. The payments will increase the city's general fund by 7 percent to 10 percent per year.

"Certainly we're better off financially now, and we've come through the worst of the hard times," Waltonsmith said. "I know cities always need money, but I also believe the stronger issue for Saratoga is that we need public space for public gatherings and we don't have enough. We need to promote community and build our community, and we need space to do that."

With extra money in hand, the council decided it was time to start the renovation process and get the buildings up and running.

In July, just a little over a month after the election, the city allocated $500,000 to make repairs and improvements on the buildings and get them ready for Saratoga residents to finally enjoy.

The decision was made to begin with the administration building; once complete, the work on fellowship hall would take place.

With work set to begin, the city came up with an innovative way to get the community involved in the renovation process and save a little money at the same time.

The Saratoga Recreation Department decided to offer a series of three classes designed to give residents an opportunity to learn the basics of remodeling, renovating and painting while putting what they learn to use on the North Campus' administration building.

"People wanted to help out and be a part of the renovations, but the city needed some way to organize the volunteers," said Waltonsmith, who took all three classes. "It got citizens involved and gave them a chance to see what the possibilities here where."

Cecilia Andris, who has lived in the North Campus neighborhood for 44 years, decided to take the class.

"I really thought the city should keep the space; that's why I wanted to help renovate it. I felt it was something I should help do," she said. "The campus still needs a lot of work, but it's nice to have the administration building."

Thomas Scott, facilities supervisor for the city, said people in the class were excited to be involved in the process and worked up a sweat doing it.

"It was a unique learning experience where people got to work hands-on in helping the city," Scott said.

In addition to painting, the renovations included new carpeting, a kitchenette, ceiling tiles, lighting and a fireplace.

"We also tried to do a couple of things that were improving the structure green-wise," Scott said.

Energy-efficient lighting and recyclable carpet tiles were installed, and the fireplace was converted from wood to gas.

The main room in the administration building can hold up to 80 people and will be rented out for parties, meetings, classes and seminars. The recreation department is also in the process of putting together classes at the facility.

"It's nice to see the first building ready to be used, and I'm hoping it will flower and in the long term we'll have a more comprehensive plan for the site," Mallory said.

The focus now will turn to the fellowship hall.

"At this stage, where this building is winding down, we'll start to focus on the fellowship hall," Scott said. "Right now we are in the process of getting the architectural element of the project done, then we'll bid it out to contractors."

The renovations for the hall, which will be more of a social structure for parties, weddings and dances, will include the installation of wood floors and modern bathrooms and an updated kitchen and lighting.

As for the sanctuary and education buildings, which sit at the front of the property, the city has decided to seek bids for conceptual design plans of the two buildings.

"We hope we can find some group to renovate the front two, or we might have to put them in mothballs until we can get the money to do it ourselves," Waltonsmith said.

Interim recreation director Michael Taylor said there is a big interest in using the buildings for a preschool, after-school program or a children's program.

"We received nine proposals, of which seven met the criteria of the request. Those will then be presented to the council," Taylor said.

As for those who questioned whether the city could afford the campus, Waltonsmith said there are ways it can be done.

"We can be creative and come up with ways to have two campuses--other cities do it all the time," she said. "I'm so excited about the administration building, and I'm looking forward to fellowship hall getting done."

But King still has some reservations.

"I would still like to have one campus in really good shape rather than two in poor shape, and I would still like to figure out how we can fix our buildings, roads and infrastructure," she said. "I'm a realist, but whatever happens, happens for the best. If we hadn't sent it to a vote, there would have always been a question about it. So, from that standpoint, it's good that the voters voted and it's over."

As for Mallory, who is finally seeing his vision of the North Campus come to fruition, it's time to finally enjoy his hard work.

"I plan to get a piece of cake and celebrate," he said.

The public is invited to the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the newly remodeled administration building on May 24 at 3:30 p.m. at the North Campus, 19848 Prospect Road. For more information, call the city manager's office at 408.868.1216 or 408.868.1269.