The Plan
A plan to unite Saratoga - not divide
Based on what has transpired on the city council over the last few weeks in relation to the Housing Element - we are on a path to a huge train wreck. We need a plan like the one I suggest below that brings Saratoga together - that our city council can follow to get out of the mess we are in today. We have seemingly followed a path over the last year that has divided our city, pitted neighbors against neighbors, while showcasing no vision, no plan, while completely discarding the fundamentals of urban planning. I am still puzzled how we altogether missed adding the school sites and the church sites, that would alleviate the city’s burden of new housing sites, into consideration after a year on this; it is now part of my recommended plan below.
We have a year left to submit this to the state, and we can still right this ship with some common sense thinking.
I don’t believe anyone in Silicon Valley is against housing. But pragmatic thinkers that we are, we believe it has to be done right! When politicians sell out to real-estate developers, nasty things happen. California is in a perfect storm that is bringing real-estate groups from Texas - who are rubbing their hands with glee based on what is going on in California (real story).
Here is my plan to bring together our Housing Element and bring Saratoga together: Given that our city has a mandate to adopt a Housing Element - however flawed it may be - we have to explore options. Here is what I have recommended to the city manager ahead of the all-day Friday, January 28th meeting, scheduled for a 9am start. My site list should include the complete list that our staff or PC have evaluated in the past, along with what our neighbors have recommended. Please have a staff member go through and pull out all sites recommended as part of written public testimony.
Let us do a data-driven approach, applying the fundamentals of a proper urban plan approach - not an emotional one. The consistent theme expressed by our neighbors at the prior housing element meetings - December 14, January 10, January 19 and January 20 - was the need for a FAIR and EVEN distribution of sites throughout Saratoga. Fairness in our process is as important as transparency! To do the job right, the Council needs to consider ALL possible sites.
I have been asking like a broken record for us to go back to the drawing boards and a do-over. Here is how:
Our city staff should present a list of ALL possible sites (including all city owned property) making sure that we consider all sites that have been proposed via public input or considered in the past over the last year - I made this explicit request at the last meeting. This list should be evaluated on specific grading criteria in a way that would provide us a final score for each site such as:
Number of stories: Limit every site to 2 stories, except for sites where 3 stories with 35' maximum height are currently permitted. Acreage and housing density, # of story and # of units proposed should be clearly identified for each of these sites in a simple table for transparency.
Categorize housing sites by schools: Let us strive for a balance. Let every school district benefit from the influx of population and growth, at the same time avoid stressing a specific school district out. If 40% of our population is currently in school district A, another 40% in school district B, we CANNOT approve a design that pushes 80% of the population growth to the school district B. We should ensure we pick sites from each school district location to optimize the population distribution in an equitable manner.
NOTE: School boundaries don’t shift very easily. We need to ensure that we don’t stress a school district to an extent that a new school needs to be constructed and the taxpayers have to deal with new taxes. Remember, there isn’t any infrastructure plan tied to this ill-conceived housing push.Circulation Element: Avoid lopsided densities and balance traffic out: Ensure compatibility with elements of the General Plan such as Circulation. Do not overload sections of Saratoga. Based on what I have heard - it seems like traffic congestion/safety is not relevant for Saratoga-Sunnyvale/Prospect, not relevant for Saratoga Avenue/Cox, but conveniently relevant everywhere else? Really?? Is this how we want to design the future of our city? Are there two different cities within Saratoga and a totally different set of factors?
Fire zones: The Wardell opportunity site today happens to be in a very-high, and a high fire severity zone. If the location is in a fire risk zone, that should be clearly identified for discussion and action by our council. For the record, there is nothing that prevents Saratoga from excluding fire severity zone; the Housing Element (HCD and Sacramento) is just pushing for more and more housing in every city - all variables and parameters be damned!
Commercial or Mixed Use properties: If the location has commercial properties, that should be clearly identified. Argonaut center and the Saratoga Bagels location should be brought back into play and evaluated. Reality is that any commercial district can be replaced with housing, just like Quito Village. If we are protecting commercial sites like that of Saratoga Bagels, why shouldn’t we protect Gateway too with Peet’s Coffee and Jake’s Pizza? Let us apply a consistent fact based approach.
Schools - private or public: School sits should be clearly identified as opportunity sites. We should plan for housing at each of these sites. This is the smart urban planning approach - allow teachers to live on campus and push for the “affordable housing” concept which is supposedly the foundation of this housing push from Sacramento. The unhoused students of West Valley College should be provided a home right on campus and we should account for such a plan in our housing element.
SB-9 quota: Send a letter to HCD and ask for a SB-9 quota, that can then be included as part of our housing element. SB-9 will create additional housing units and that is currently not included in our plan.
Churches and religious organizations: We should explore opportunities for our churches and religious facilities to build housing on site. Keep the churches intact, but explore how we can add a few housing units on the church property.
Fire districts: We should explore opportunities for our fire districts to build housing on site for their staff - and build their “affordable housing” units.
Open Space: Protect our open space that includes parks and orchards: Ensure compatibility with the open space elements of the General Plan
Environmental mitigation that may be required should be clearly spelled out for our citizens
Infrastructure investment: Any infrastructure investment as a result of an opportunity site, or any capital improvement projects that the city will need to invest into should be spelled out clearly for our citizens to understand. The city of Saratoga should do the utmost to hold onto assets as a rainy day resource pool - and to also address the expansion of city resources to handle the population explosion.
The Prospect/Lawrence location: This location is unique in comparison to the rest of Saratoga, but it’s height or stories should be pegged to the max today of Saratoga.
Please educate yourself on the facts: RishiKumar.com/ManagedGrowth
Why are we heading to a train wreck? Explained below
