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Home My WebLink About12-04-2000 City Council Special meeting agenda CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING NOTICE The Mayor of the City of Saratoga hereby calls a Closed Session of the Saratoga City Council to be held on December 4, 2000 at 7:00 p.m. in the Administrative Conference Room at 13777 Fruitvale Avenue, Saratoga, California to discuss the item below. (Pursuant to Government Code Section 54954.3(a), the City Council will provide the public an opportunity to address the Council on any item described in the notice before or during consideration of that item.) CALL MEETING TO ORDER — 7:00 P.M. ROLL CALL ANNOUNCEMENT OF CLOSED SESSION ITEMS COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS ADJOURNED TO CLOSED SESSION ROLL CALL REPORT FROM ON POSTING OF THE AGENDA (Pursuant to Gov't. Code 54954.2, the agenda for this meeting was properly posted on December 1, 2000). CLOSED SESSION Conference with Legal Counsel re: Existing Litigation (Gov't Code 54956.9(a)). Name of Case: City of Saratoga v. West Valley College Santa Clara County Superior Court (No. Doc. CIV756340). OPEN SESSION — REPORT ON ACTION TAKEN IN CLOSED SESSION ADJOURNMENT In Compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if you need assistance to participate in this meeting, please contact the City Clerk at 408/868 -1269. Notification 24 hours prior to the meeting will enable the City to make reasonable arrangements to ensure accessibility to this meeting. [28 CFR 35.102 - 35.104 ADA title II] SARATOGA CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: December 4, 2000 AGENDA ITEM: ORIGINATING DEPT: City Manager CITY MANAGER: PREPARED BY: DEPT HEAD: SUBJECT: Correspondences From Residents RECOMMENDED ACTION: Review the attached correspondences. REPORT SUMMARY: Attached are the correspondences from residents expressing opposition to the stadium at West Valley College. FISCAL IMPACTS: N/A CONSEQUENCES OF NOT FOLLOWING RECOMMENDED ACTION: N/A ALTERNATIVE ACTION): N/A FOLLOW UP ACTION: N/A ADVERTISING, NOTICING AND PUBLIC CONTACT: N/A ATTACHMENTS: Attachment A — Correspondences • Dave Anderson From: MARYCOHEN @aol.com Sent: Monday, November 27, 2000 12:21 PM To: Mehaf @gedanken.com; Sbogosian @aol.com; waltonsmith @home.com Subject: WEST VALLEY COLLEGE STADIUM I am writing to you on behalf of my husband and myself, both as homeowners in Saratoga and a realtor in the community. As homeowners in Saratoga and specifically one bordering the West Valley campus, we are extremely concerned as to the affect a stadium within the Saratoga community would have as a noise, lighting and traffic problem. As a realtor in this community, one of the desirable elements of Saratoga is its quiet "small- town" atmosphere and allowing West Valley to build a stadium will surely prove to be a very costly mistake! My husband, Barry, is the president of the #5150 Homeowners Association which encompasses homeowners in the Douglass Lane /Kenosha Court/Minocqua Court areas. It is our intent to oppose the building of this stadium along with many other homeowners associations and the support of the City Council is crucial to the successful outcome of this opposition. My hope is that the Saratoga City Council, after reviewing all the information and seeing the concern expressed by so many of your constituants, will unanimously vote to proceed with the notice of intest to appeal the rulings of of lower court on this matter. Sincerely, Barry and Mary Cohen 19519 Kenosha Court Saratoga marycohen @aol.com, cohenbarry@aol.com 1 Dave Anderson From: a b [rep95070 @yahoo.com] Sent: Friday, November 24, 2000 6:52 PM To: mehaf @gedanken.com; Sbogosian @aol.com; waltonsmith @home.com Subject: WVC stadium To my elected Representatives, I am writing you this message to voice my thoughts on the construction of a stadium at West Valley College. I live on Allendale Avenue. Every morning I have to fight my way out of my own driveway to go to work. As you know this high traffic is due to the college that is six houses down, and the students that attend this college. I attend this college and am happy with the education that it brings.The idea of a stadium is too much for this peaceful town that we have all come to love. If the school wishes to build a stadium then I suggest we, as a city and community should urge them to build it at Mission College were there is more room and no offence to the public, there is a major freeway that will provide easy access too. As i have mentioned, the trafic is tremendous as it is and to have two small streets provide way to the stadium would not make much sense. How would you like to have over a thousand cars drive by your house at 10:00, 11:00 12.00, at night? It's not a pleasant prospect for me and wouldn't be for you either. Please do all that can be done to prevent this from happening. As I have lived here all my life, I feel I have had all I will accept and will assist in the prevention of this citywide /communitywide degrading event. I do not want to have any more noise and traffic than I have to. If it were up too me I would have that college moved out of this community completely. this isn't a major city, Saratoga is a smaller and quieter town that should stay that way. I hope we all can do what we can to help our little city, thank you. your voter and fellow citizen, Andrew Judd Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. http: / /shopping.yahoo.com/ 1 Dave Anderson From: Ron Rossie [rlrossie @pacbell.net] Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2000 4:43 PM To: waltonsmith @home.com Subject: Appeal of West Valley College court ruling Please meet on Monday evening and vote to appeal the decision from the courts regarding the West Valley College. Their decision to recind their agreement with the citizens of Saratoga, and, in particular, neighbors of the college, regarding development of a stadium is a major breach of faith. A very large group of residents are planning to work actively against this decision and need the city's active support. Regards, Ron Rossie 19607 Kenosha Court 1 Dave Anderson From: Ralph Mullins [rmullins @cisco.com] Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2000 12:07 AM To: waltonsmith @home.com Cc: rmullins @cisco.com Subject: West Valley College stadium Dear Mrs. Waltonsmith, We recently bought a home on Douglass Lane, although we have been Saratoga residents for the past 10 years. The atmosphere and peacefulness of the neighborhood were major considerations in purchasing our new home. This is • now being challenged by West Valley College with their plans to build a stadium. We strongly oppose this stadium and urge the city council to challenge the college's plans. As we understand the situation, the college has attempted to build a stadium numerous times over many years, in complete disregard for the use permits and promises originally made when the college was allowed to build in Saratoga. There are numerous clear reasons why a stadium should not be built on this land. The foremost are noise, traffic, safety, and property value impacts for residents within miles of the campus. Just as importantly, the integrity of the West Valley College Board and administration is brought into question. They should not be allowed to repeatedly disregard the legal commitments the college has made. As new owners in the West Valley College area of Saratoga, we had been unaware of this ongoing fight over a stadium. Had a stadium been in place or under construction, we would have never bought in this area. If we had known about the recent legal judgment in favor of the stadium, we almost certainly also would not have bought here, just on the chance the college would be allowed to proceed. We are part of a group of homeowners organizing to fight the stadium. The city council has been fighting the attempts at a stadium in the past. We urge the city council to continue to lead this fight, representing us as residents who have enjoyed Saratoga's quality of life. Please vote for and drive an appeal to the recent legal judgment. Additionally, some legal means needs to be found to permanently deter West Valley College from resurrecting the stadium in the future. Thank you for your support. Sincerely, Ralph & Sandy Mullins 19573 Douglass Lane Saratoga 2 Dave Anderson From: Dal Allan [endlcom @acm.org] Sent: Wednesday, November 22, 2000 2:43 AM To: waltonsmith @home.com Subject: WVC stadium Hi Ann, The issue of WVC attempting to build a stadium has rankled me for years, and I understand that the council is to meet and question whether to challenge the latest court ruling. The idea that a football stadium can be justified on the basis of classroom credit is abhorrent. That kind of ruling needs to be tempered by limiting the use of a stadium to school functions which earn school credit. Since the use of city funds is an issue, then consider the possibility of asking residents to help subsidize the costs involved. I for one, am willing to dig deep to thwart the WVC ambitions. Although unable to attend the council meeting on December 4 because I will be in Austin on business, my feelings are very strong on this matter. I urge and encourage the council to appeal the ruling. My thanks for your attention, Dal Allan 14426 Black Walnut Ct Saratoga CA 95070 1 • Dave Anderson From: SMarkBloc @aol.com Sent: Monday, November 27, 2000 7:17 PM To: waltonsmith @home.com Subject: dec 4th meeting please be advised my family, Saratoga residents, are strongly in opposition of the proposed expansion plans of the west valley college stadium. The immediate area of our property which is a mere 2 blocks from the college is already congested with the existing college,middle school population. We need our voices heard and wish you to move the dec. 4th meeting to an evening session . Thanks for your support! steven m. block m.d. 14452 nutwood lane saratoga, ca 95070 1