The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Olsons' orchard land approved for apartments and retail shops

Some councilmembers foresee problems with plan for mixed use

By Justin Berton

The City Council voted June 9 to allow luxury apartments and retail shopping space to be built on the site of one of Sunnyvale's last family-owned orchards at the June 9 meeting.

The 5-2 vote ended a 13-year quest by Charlie Olson and his family to develop their cherry orchard at Mathilda Avenue and El Camino Real after discovering that most of their cherry trees were diseased.

The C.J. Olson fruit stand will remain on site, and cherry trees along the perimeter of the property will be saved for asthetic purposes.

"We felt we had an obligation to the people of Sunnyvale to put a quality structure on this site," Olson said.

Construction of the apartment complex could begin as early as this fall, Olson said.

"I've got mixed emotions right now," Olson said minutes after the vote. "I would have liked to have kept it a ranch, but it just wasn't in the cards."

Development plans call for 283 apartments to cover 70 percent of the 16 acres of land, and retail space to cover the remaining 30 percent.

Will Thompson of Irvine Apartment Communities said concept drawings show four-story apartment buildings with two levels of parking.

The retail space, which will cover 58,000 square feet, will require 270 parking spaces.

David Word, a developer working on the project with the Olsons, told councilmembers that two major bookstore chains would be making immediate offers to fill retail space pending a "yes" vote by council.

One of the bookstores already submitted a written offer to negotiate for the largest spot, Word said.

Word said the residential/retail mix would make the area enticing for potential retail renters, yet large enough for residents to claim a sense of community.

But the mixed-use plan came under scrutiny from both dissenting voters, Jack Walker and Stan Kawczynski. Both councilmembers said the combination of residential and retail was a poor use of the land, which sits among commercial properties on El Camino Real.

"We could have held the property owner's feet to the fire," Kawczynski said of Olson. "It is inappropriate for us to keep on building shopping strips on a landmark site."

Walker said the mixed use of the land would not suit the residents well and likened the living circumstances to an island that was out of place with the surrounding area.

"I don't think this is good planning," Walker said. "We had a chance to solidify our commercial [land use]," he said of the business along El Camino Real.

"My experience tells me," Walker concluded, "this project will be a problem for the city in the future."

But other councilmembers welcomed the decision to allow Olson, whose family has owned the property for 98 years, the right to develop his land the way he sees fit.

"It's an exciting possibility," councilmember Pat Vorreiter said. "[The 70-30 split] will give that corner a sense of community that we would like to see."

Olson said several potential buyers have tried to purchase the land from his family, but he has always declined.

"Our parents were adamant that we keep the land in our hands," Olson said.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, June 17, 1998.
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