Saratoga Village Blog

This highly successful ‘one-of-its-kind’ activity combines the Chinese Moon Festival celebration and a quasi ‘trick or treat’. Attendance last year was close to 1000.

Moon cake tasting, lanterns and goody bags will be available at the check-in area at Blaney Plaza. Kids and their families will stroll along Big Basin Way with lanterns in their hands and visit the participating stores. Merchants will indicate their participation by hanging a big red lantern outside their stores, and they are expected to pass out treats (which can be non-edible items, e.g. coupons).

To attract foot traffic, Chinese music, dance performances, and arts and craft demonstrations will be held at different spots along Big Basin Way. Instead of having ‘student ambassadors’ showing the way as in years past, visitors may take their own route and visit the stores at their own pace. They may enter a raffle draw after visiting a required number of stores at different locations.

To enable the necessary planning, merchants and organizations interested in participating or who have questions should contact Emily Lo at emilylo@mplususa.com or 868.9982 no later than September 22.

Merchants can reuse previous lanterns, or they can purchase a new one for $20 (while supply lasts).

We look forward to your participation.

Regards,

Emily Lo, Alice Chiou, Katherine Tseng (Lantern Walk Co-chairs)

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Hi,

This isn’t related to the Village but may be of interest to those who use video camcorders to capture family memories. I started digitizing our set of tapes recently and found many are experiencing distortion during playback. It looks like the lifetime of these tapes are around 15 years (which is the age of many of our tapes.) If you are preserving family videos on these tapes you may want to convert them to some other storage format before too long.

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I have read the notice of intent to ask for Planning Commission approval to remodel the property at 14487 Big Basin Way. As presented in the notice I have one concern about the project.

In general I am in favor of upgrading our downtown as long as the historic nature of buildings and locations is preserved. I am also concerned that we preserve the general small scale and open sight lines of the village area.

I am worried that this remodel might convert the current stepped back second story into a massive single vertical front on Big Basin way. While the village area can support a few large fronts, I am concerned that too many of them will reduce our quaint village downtown into a dark canyon-like corridor. We already have several of these big square boxes.

By requiring the second story to be set back, we can maintain the small town look while also meeting the needs of the land owner.

How do others feel about this?

Jim

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Last week the city council and planning commission held a study session for the development proposed for the village area where the Buy and Save market used to be. While the plans are still completely up for change, the developers did share their current thinking and solicited feedback. (Note: For the discussion below, I’ll assume Big Basin Way (BBW) runs East-West, with West towards the hills.)

The site has significant slope to it. The East end is ten feet lower than the West. From BBW towards Oak it slopes up ten feet. If you stand on BBW facing the lot, in the rear where the parking will be, the developer plans to cut into the slope about equal to the end where Wells Fargo is now.

Current plans are for a general height envelope of 36 feet on the East end coming down to 25 feet on the West end, which abuts the BofA building. 21,000 square feet of retail on the first floor, facing onto BBW. The retail is bisected by a pedestrian walkway running roughly parallel to BBW. Behind that walkway is more retail, with another walkway, and public parking behind that. You will not be able to see the public parking from BBW. They plan for 49 public parking spaces. The public parking is accessed by a 20 foot wide two-way corridor running aside the BofA building.

Above the retail will be 24 condominiums. The residents will have elevator access to private parking below the public parking. The East end of the development contains a large open air plaza with some outdoor seating; the developer envisions some kind of family restaurant where the Wells Fargo is today. Above that they would like a premium restaurant with some patio seating. The retail area will also include public restrooms.

The crowd ran the gamut from “do it no matter what” to “cautiously optimistic”. I think everyone spoke in favor of the general idea of development. Issues that came up were…

• View – Residents on Oak street behind the complex are concerned that the development will block their view of the hills. Some thought they might face a 25-foot tall wall in their backyard. The developer had met with these residents before the meeting. I think the residents were pleased with the sensitivity the developer is showing, but they want to make sure that their issues are not forgotten.
• Auto Access, Oak – The developer has plans to bring the residents’ autos down from Oak and into a half underground parking area. Because the lot slopes down significantly from West to East, the public parking can be almost level with the West end of BBW and the residents will be able to drive in under that on the East side. Residents expressed concern that this would bring additional traffic to Oak. The developer is considering other options.
• Auto Access, BBW – Current plans are for the public parking to be accessed by driving across the side walk on the West end next to the BofA. The parking in the back will include a turn-around. Concern was that it would be a pedestrian hazard.
• Two Stores or Three – We were told that the height limit in downtown today is 36 feet, and two stories. The plans are within the height limit, but the tallest parts include three stories: retail – condo floor 1 – condo loft. Of course the developer wants to have the lofts to increase the value of the condos. At one point the developer said, “look, if we’re within the height limit what do you care, two stories or three?” When some grumbling came out he quickly backed off. (There was some discussion that the actual ordinance allows three stories “facing the creek”. I had the impression that someone has been arguing that since the front of the development faces the creek – albeit a state highway, two buildings, and a parking lot away – that they were still “facing the creek”. I hope I misunderstood this, since that seems a convoluted interpretation to me.) Several people were concerned about the facade of BBW turning into a three story canyon. In the end, I think all but one of the council/planning commission said they would support a way to allow three stories for this development, if possible. One council member said, “I can’t agree to three stories facing BBW.”
• The Look – There was much discussion about the overall look of the complex facing BBW. The developer showed two mockups, but was really looking for input. I think they are willing to make it look like whatever the community wants. If my notes are correct the general feedback was: make it look like separate buildings; make it more eclectic; perhaps some craftsman elements; keep historic elements in mind; make it “award winning”; don’t have a round turret as part of the design.
• Employee Parking – Some wondered if the retail employees would take up most of the public parking spots. “Employees will have to park off site,” was the response. Which led many to wonder where that might be – Oak Street? There was no good answer to this. One suggestion was to add another parking level below the resident’s parking level.
• Environmental – It was mentioned that the East end of the lot on the Oak side has some environmental cleanup to be done. I understood that a pit roughly thirty feet in diameter and thirty feet deep might have to be dug up and removed.
• Deliveries – It was mentioned that the current design does not allow space for delivery trucks to the retail area. One of the developers said that they’d have to do it like it San Francisco where the trucks double park for a while. This brought a few pained looks and he said, “or they’ll just have to deliver at 4am.” Which elicited even more raised eyebrows, to which he added, “or whatever fits in with city ordinances.” Exactly, thank you.

The overall meeting was very collegial. Everyone who had a concern got to express it. There were only the two mildly exasperated statements from the developers, which I think is pretty good for this kind of meeting. Only a couple of the public speakers had to be asked to wrap it up, also surprisingly few in my opinion.

I’m uploading a photo I took of the first floor plan as presented, with a few notes on top of it. You can click here to see it.

Your faithful meeting attendee,
Jim

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This is a bit off topic of the Village but I was noticing that Santa Clara is considering helping (including subsidizing) a $1B football stadium for the 49ers. The argument is that it will help recover the economy. As a technology employee and a citizen of SV I think there are much better ways to spend $1B. Infrastructure investments that immediately come to mind include replacing the copper local loops with fiber optics as well as to accept that the energy densities of batteries are insufficient for electric cars – hence maybe upgrade the electric grid and power some key sections of the roads and/or freeways so cars don’t need to store and carry so much portable energy but rather could attach (and detach) directly to (and from) the grid like a slot car? I think of the days in the 1930s when Robert Moses began building parkways and bridges for a nascent auto industry or the Tennessee Valley Authority began those improvements – both types of projects were progressive for their times and provided benefits still realized by today’s generations. Building expensive sports stadiums doesn’t seem near comparable to me.

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Title: A Sidewalk Affaire
Location: Saratoga Village Sidewalks and Streets
Link out: Click here
Description: Sidewalk sales, antique cars, music, entertainment, strolling historic characters.
Start Date: 2009-06-20
Start Time: 10:00
End Date: 2009-06-21
End Time: 17:00

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The mayors of Saratoga, Los Gatos, and Monte Sereno have come together over a critical issue—to call for the community’s help in protecting the safety of bicyclists in the community.

Every day, bicyclists travel along the scenic Highway 9 that connects Saratoga, Monte Sereno, and Los Gatos. This popular route offers riders an attractive route through the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

On the evening of Sunday, April 19, two bicyclists were struck by a car while they were riding along Highway 9 in Saratoga. One of the individuals, a very skilled, competitive bicyclist, was knocked to the ground and sustained serious head injuries.

This unfortunate accident was made worse by the fact that the driver of the vehicle fled the scene. The car that hit the bicyclists on April 19 has been identified as a silver BMW 700 series with a broken passenger mirror.

The mayors of Saratoga, Los Gatos, and Monte Sereno, are asking citizens to help identify the driver of the vehicle. Residents who may have witnessed the accident, know of someone driving a silver BMW 700 series on Sunday evening along Highway 9, or have seen a vehicle fitting the description in the West Valley area are asked to call Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Mike Betti on weekdays at (408) 868-6626 or Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch on nights and weekends at (408) 299-2311.

Saratoga, Los Gatos, and Monte Sereno have been committed to working together to see that Highway 9 is a safe route for residents and visitors. The three cities have collaborated to implement a number of safety improvements to the 4.4 mile stretch of Highway 9 between Saratoga and Los Gatos, which are currently underway.

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Title: Village Sip and Schmooze
Location: Cinnabar Winery Tasting Room, 14612 Big Basin Way
Link out: Click here
Description: SVDC members and their significant others are invited to attend this social event. Many who are subscribed to this list only meet in cyberspace, and this will allow more of us to meet in person.

You are invited to bring along others who also care about our Village. When they come, they can sign up to be subscribed to this listserver.

We will also be selling tickets to the Savor Saratoga: Wine & Wisteria annual fundraiser to be held at Hakone on Sunday, April 18, from 4-7pm.

Cinnabar will be pouring four wines at this event: Monterey Chardonnay, Central Coast Pinot Noir, Lodi Petit Verdot and Mercury Rising (which is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot). You are invited to bring along something edible to share, but this is optional. What is most important to bring is your love of our Village for sharing with others who share your sentiments.

Questions can be directed to Ken at 867.1012 or ken@cinnabarwinery.com
Start Time: 18:30
Date: 2009-03-20
End Time: 20:00

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Title: St. Paddys Party
Location: The Village
Link out: Click here
Description: A St. Patricks Day Party in the Village with Bagpipes (Bruce Cotter) from 3-4pm, Irish Dancers (Kennelly School) from 3:30-4:30pm and other Music and Activities throughout the Village from 3-5pm. Many of the restaurants will be serving traditional Irish meals. An information booth will be at the Bank of America Parking Lot. Click on the link for the flyer for full event details.
Start Time: 3pm
Date: 2009-03-14
End Time: 5pm

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