City of Saratoga Village Plan Update

City of Saratoga Village Plan Update

City of Saratoga | Village Plan Update

Village Plan Update Business Owners’ Meeting – Meeting Summary

March 15, 2015

Florentine Trattoria

Moderators: Erwin Ordoñez, Community Development Director and Kirk Heinrichs, Special Projects Manager

Event Summary

The Business Owners’ meeting was held on Tuesday, March 15th at the Florentine Trattoria from 8:30 to 930 AM. The purpose of the meeting was to gather input from businesses on what the City of Saratoga does or could do better to ensure their success. In addition to City staff and three Planning Commissioners, 15 representatives from Village businesses attended the event.

Business Owners’ Comments

  • Parking is an issue. People visiting the Village early are fine, but in the evening there are not enough parking spaces. Businesses have received comments that parking has led to them losing customers. Some potential customers don’t come in on Sundays because parking is horrible.
  • Loading and unloading goods is also an issue.
  • Valet parking services have used free public parking spacesat the expense of parking for other businesses. People don’t know valet parking service is open to all.
  • Could we develop city parking garages in the Village? Could we replicate what Los Gatos and Campbell did for parking? For example, Los Gatos has parking enforcement team that prohibit employees to park in prime spots around downtown.
  • There is no business diversity, mostly restaurants, hair salons and tasting bars. No clothing stores, no super markets. People come in to get their hair done or eat and then they leave.
  • There are concerns the City is turning commercial buildings into office, limiting retail opportunities. It is hard to get buildings occupied, but this practice has left the Village with not a lot to shop for.
  • The City should encourage retail to come in. Perhaps provide money to help owners renovate their spaces. One business owner was booted from her building because it was condemned, and the City did not help her.
  • There are concerns that if buildings are sold then the businesses will have to leave.
  • Rent is high. Where rent is reasonable the building is old, the business doesn’t have hot water, no bathroom, the roof leaks, electricity is unreliable, but since the rent is reasonable they stay.
  • We need public bathrooms, we need a supermarket, a hardware store. We desperately need public bathrooms.
  • Most of us rent our spaces, not own.
  • Property values are super expensive, and property taxes are huge, so rent is more viable than buying.
  • Retail is very viable here, but there is no draw to bring people to Saratoga. No anchor store that can feed customers to other retail stores. Density is not great to attract a bigger store.
  • Parking is bad.
  • Saratoga has to realize what kind of identity it has. Retail and restaurant destination? What do we want to be? We need to maintain an identity.
  • Retail doesn’t works here.Business owners have seen many stores fail because there is no foot traffic. Retail spaces do not survive when rents go up.
  • We’ve lost the drug store, the hardware store. However, it is uncertain whether those kinds of stores are viable anymore. We need to step back and look at what we are successful at, and use that to leverage extra foot traffic that might draw retail. We are great at restaurants, wineries, not everyone can do that. That can be our draw. There is a wonderful opportunity to leverage that.
  • We do not have an anchor store, we could have one, or we could create a central hub, some feature that would drive people. Space is an issue, but if we had a central plaza surrounded by restaurants, open air, wine tasting, outdoor dining we could draw, it becomes a gathering place and attract foot traffic. It is not realistic to think we can have a successful village with small mom-n-pop shops.
  • We’ve been looking to lease for nine months and are yet to find a space. It is a challenge to identify a space that will be there forever.
  • We need to control motorcyclists that go through here. We need a turnaround.
  • We have a city in a ravine because we have a creek. The park by the creek could be an attraction to people outside the city. We are not going to get Cartiers here as anchor stores, so the park and the creek are one of the biggest attractions here and they are hard to get to.
  • There are garbage containers along the street on their way down to the creek. Take them out, have a central garbage collection point that will help people save on their trash collection.
  • People just drive through, they don’t come here for retail.
  • We need parking, and have some potential spaces. Oak Street School parking could be used in the weekends if we need. Traffic, turnaround, and use the creek.
  • Parking is an issue. City Council has discussed the need for sidewalk improvements and a turnaround, left turning lanes on Big Basin, and taking speed bumps out. The previous construction almost devastated downtown, we can’t have that any more. Any new construction has to be planned to not hurt businesses. Campbell improved their sidewalks in a weekend. We need to make improvements but they cannot affect businesses too much.
  • Closing Big Basin for the car show and parades is great for foot traffic.
  • Will the Village be a destination or resident-serving? We need to decide what the Village will be, and then figure out the issues of parking and circulation.
  • The City’s process for submitting applications is odd structured and confusing.
  • The City needs to promote the Village, bring someone with a vision who can get us out there. People come here for dinner and then they go to Los Gatos. People need to rediscover Saratoga.
  • We need to hire a professional that takes advantage of the available amenities. We need to spotlight the Village. Perhaps via car advertisement or TV commercials subsidized by the City.
  • Community newsletter has a two page calendar of events, some people are doing a little bit to promote the Village. The Chamber is very helpful.
  • Advertising to build awareness, but most important is for the Village to represent what it is good at already.
  • Destination Saratoga works, but it features only wine and concerts, and a quiet nice village. It is embarrassing when visitors come here and ask where they can get an aspirin and we have to say to go to the gas station. That is not the vision of the Village we want to promote.
  • Redevelop without covering the hills. We do not want to be Santana Row.
  • Saratoga Market is an office now, it has been rehabbed, but still is an office.
  • Sand Hill, who is developing Vallco, is a Saratoga business. Perhaps there is a connection there we can leverage.
  • There was a plan and public meeting five years ago where people did not want to approve a mixed use project. The last plan had subterranean parking. The problem with that is there is a contaminated lot and is on a water bed. Dig a lot of waste, use federal money to clean for hazardous materials, and build a three-story garage.
  • What is the Village going to be? Cities can do a lot but the market will ultimately decide what comes in. Bring a retail strategist to say what is doable or not or realistic, and help the community figure out what can be successful.
  • Need more parking, better parking management, and circulation improvements. Once we decide which direction we are going figure out advertising.
  • Retail is not going to work at all. Los Gatos and Santana Row are too big a competition. People may come here for a restaurant.
  • There is a lack of dining options and activities for kids.
  • Retail must feed off of dining.
  • People who work here need places to eat.
  • We need to create some sort of center that can become the core. Diversity of businesses might come after dining picks up.
  • Retail captures the activity that dining establishes.
  • There is a Village map advertising businesses, give them to restaurants and create awareness of the businesses that are already here.
  • 32 years ago the Village used to open the Friday evening after Thanksgiving, up to last year and the previous last years is advertised as the wine stroll and not about the Open Village. It’s a shame.
  • The Village needs to be cognizant about what the wine stroll might entail in terms of safety for pedestrians and drivers. I like it, but we need to be mindful.
  • There is nothing to do here. Rents are high but there is no reason to invest that much money. Perhaps invite entrepreneurs to open businesses here and start creating a draw? Chicken and egg issue, bring people or draw first.
  • If we want to be reactive we need to motivate people to take the risk to discover Saratoga. This is a high risk area for retail businesses. Perhaps establish and entrepreneur fund. We need to support those people who want to come here.
  • Two hour parking in Los Gatos is perfect for restaurants. Maybe let’s implement a three-hour parking limit to give people the option to explore a little bit after eating.
  • Public Works has a parking map we can use to determine how the spaces are utilized, the time of day, and employee parking.