UPDATED 10/21/24

NOTE: All donations to this fundraiser will be utilized for the Chester Allendale project. We are partnering with other neighboring projects and may share information/resources, but fundraising is separate at the moment.

Dear neighbors,

As many of you have heard, a land developer (Tom Wilson, Urban Pacific Homes) and his lawyers are trying to push through a "Builder's Remedy" with a monstrosity of a development in what is currently the heritage vineyard at Chester and Allendale (and now recently added Marshall Lane, adjacent Marshall Lane School), which the original owner wanted to maintain as a heritage farmland under the Williamson's Act. The developer is trying to use a loophole where they can claim that the City is not compliant with their Housing Element. This loophole is called Builder's Remedy and can cut through all zoning.

Why does this matter to you….the builder Tom Wilson is planning on building 231 mixed housing (20% allocated to low income housing) with 450+ parking spaces at Allendale/Chester and the developer of Marshall Lane has now submitted a BR to increase the original approved plan of 10 homes to now 125 condos with 25 low income units. This will cause complete gridlock in our already busy area. These cars will flow onto Quito, Portos, Sobey and Allendale in huge numbers.

We don’t have sidewalks and have narrow roads…this will not only create significant traffic, but also privacy and safety issues in surrounding areas, which include a large number of senior citizens and will have a huge environmental impact too. The neighborhood and homes you have lived in will see their value fall and the whole area will completely change its character.

And these are just two examples. There are other Builder's Remedy applications already and more will come. The WHOLE of Saratoga is in jeopardy. The City Council so far has been timid and passive instead of exploring all the options available to them. The Citizens have now provided them with the prescription on what is needed to be done.

We are urging our city council to confirm adoption of the latest Housing Element from May 2023, and stop ALL BUILDERS REMEDY plans in Saratoga. This is what we voted them into office to do….protect and serve our city not to roll over to big developers. If the city council allows this to happen then developers can come in and build multiple homes or condos on a site that had one home…imagine living next to a single-famliy home one day, then the next you have a 3 story 8-unit condo. Saratoga will be fair game for all the greedy developers with no consideration of any city zoning.

Our neighborhood must stand together and fight for Saratoga. If we don’t, the damage will be massive and irreversible.

We must stand up to:

1) The city’s lack of timely action on the Housing Element

2) The state’s poorly executed Builder’s Remedy (allowing developers free reign to submit outrageous proposals without consideration for zoning, traffic, safety and environment)

3) Greedy developers only driven by money, and at the expense of our neighborhoods

We expect a long battle ahead and need your financial contributions to fight this battle with experienced and aggressive legal expertise.

Please contribute today to save Saratoga.

Thank you,

Fight For Saratoga

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