Saratoga News

Council adopts a new policy for Measure G implementation

All projects must now go through planning process

Policy includes exceptions

By Sarah Lombardo

Yogi Berra might call it déjà vu all over again, but this time the outcome was different when the Saratoga City Council adopted its new policy on Measure G Sept. 8--one that had originally been recommended to the council by Measure G proponents in 1996.

The new policy requires all projects deemed subject to the slow-growth initiative to go through the city's Planning Department process--including review by the Saratoga Planning Commission--first. Upon approval by the city, projects would then proceed to a public vote, as required by Measure G.

The policy makes an exception, however, for projects that do not increase the density or land-use intensity, but which are technically subject to Measure G. In those cases, applicants can request approval from the City Council to skip the costly city Planning Department approval and head straight to a ballot first, essentially reversing the process.

"The point is that an election will have to take place in order to honor Measure G," City Attorney Mike Riback said. "But the process will not be imposed on projects the council decides are minor."

Measure G supporter Jeff Schwartz said the new policy falls in line with what proponents wanted in the first place. "This is the procedure that was intended not only by the proponents of Measure G, but also by the language of Measure G itself."Measure G requires voter approval for general plan amendments that increase density or change the land-use designation of property. Although the City Council lobbied against it, the measure passed resoundingly in March 1996. When the council then sought to adopt an implementation policy for the measure, proponents of Measure G--including now-Vice Mayor Jim Shaw--suggested that projects be sent through the city planning process first.

The council, however, said it thought projects should go to a public vote first. A compromise was reached May 15, 1996, when the council voted 3-2 to let applicants themselves decide whether to face the planning department or the voters first.

But a request by San Jose-based developer Barry Swenson made the current City Council revisit--and revise--its almost two-year-old policy. Earlier this year, Swenson requested, as allowed by Measure G, that his application to change the zoning of property on Quito Road go to a vote this November. Swenson told the council he planned to build an assisted-living complex at 13686 Quito Road, but wanted to get voter approval first.

Councilmembers, however, said they feared that without Planning Department review, voters would not have a clear idea what they were voting on, and the council denied Swenson a spot on the ballot.

"All it took was one serious project to come before the city for the council to realize that they were about to do something foolish," Schwartz said.

But Schwartz also said he wondered why it took two years for the council to agree with a policy already suggested.

"The City Council at that point felt it would be more appropriate for the applicant to choose," Riback said of the city's original policy. "That's just the position the council took."

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