Saratoga News

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In general, city council likes land use plan, and says so 5-0

By Shannon Burkey

The Saratoga City Council has approved updates to the Land Use and Open Space/Conservation Elements of the city's General Plan after nearly two years of working on it, despite pleas from residents that the document is still not ready.

"I know the city is under the gun to meet some state requirement, but the proposed General Plan is very general," Saratoga resident Virginia King said. "In my opinion, a General Plan should have some teeth in it so the city has some good clear guidelines to use as decisions are made in the future. I believe the proposed plan is so general it will open the door to disagreements about interpretation and intent."

The council voted unanimously at its June 6 meeting to approve the updates after taking into consideration input from the public.

The General Plan is a comprehensive general policy guideline, mandated by the state of California, for all cities in the state to follow. Each city is responsible for writing its own General Plan and updating it when necessary. Elements of Saratoga's General Plan have not been updated since the 1980s.

In order to satisfy a state requirement on updating its plan, the city began looking at updating the Land Use Element, the Open Space Element and the Conservation Element.

The Land Use Element deals with items such as the structuring of zoning and subdivision controls, urban renewal and the location of public facilities and open space. The Open Space Element shows an inventory of privately and publicly owned open-space lands, policies and implementation programs for the preservation, protection and management of open space lands. And the Conservation Element contains goals and policies for the implementation of programs dealing with conservation, development and the use of natural resources.

Over the past two years, citizen task forces were formed, the planning commission held four study sessions and two public hearings, and the council held two public hearings to get input on what the community would like to see in the plan.

Many residents, though, felt that wasn't enough and the process needed to be slowed down.

"I think we need broader, wider public input," resident Alan Giberson said. "Wider publicity to our community will be very helpful to solicit more views."

Longtime Saratoga resident Cheriel Jensen said that the new document still had some real important changes that needed to be made and asked the council to hold off on approving it.

Among the items lacking, she said the plan needed a policy regarding the setback of pools and structures from trees, giving space for mature tree root development.

Jensen also said the document does not have a policy requiring new or rebuilt structures to conform to its neighborhood in terms of style, size and coverage.

"We have so many neighborhoods now that are destroyed by houses that stand out like sore thumbs," she said. "We need to recognize that neighborhoods have integrity as planned and should be honored for that integrity."

But Councilwoman Ann Waltonsmith said the council had covered a lot of ground in the past two years and the plan was ready to move forward. She also reiterated that the General Plan is supposed to be a guideline for the city to follow and should not get into specifics.

"Some of the suggestions we've heard are too specific and not for the General Plan because the General Plan is supposed to be general," she said. "It's a big overview, then you fill it with your own codes, policies and procedures."

Councilman Chuck Page agreed, adding that the General Plan is meant to be a foundation for the city to build on.

"I'd love to see this thing get up and running now, but we'll all still be looking at it," Page said. "We will be making changes, but they'll be in the ordinances we put out, not in the base plan. The base plan will guide us there."

When looking over the final draft of the plan, Councilwoman Jill Hunter said it was one that made sense for her and her community.

"It's all here, and I hope we abide by what's in there because I feel everything is covered," she said.