Saratoga council OKs $100,000 donation for Quito Road sidewalk improvements

The Saratoga City Council voted Feb. 21 to accept a $100,000 donation for sidewalk improvements along Quito Road.

The donation from Sand Hill Property Company would be used to aid in the installation of a handicap ramp and the closure of gaps in the sidewalk. The donation comes from the same developer that proposed a mixed-use development with 994 residential units and commercial space in the nearby El Paseo de Saratoga complex.

Saratoga city officials have previously expressed concern about the impact that the project – which developers have pitched as a smaller version of San Jose’s Santana Row – would have on nearby sidewalks given the increased foot traffic in the area, according to the donation agreement. The developer wanted to “provide a benefit” to the city in the form of the donation as a result, the agreement states.

The donation will be made within 30 days of the first day of work on the residential aspect of the mixed-use development.

The donation also comes as Saratoga city leaders voted to express concern about a proposed Costco near the Westgate shopping mall in West San Jose, not far from the proposed mixed-use development. Councilmembers said the draft environmental impact report for the proposed project did not adequately evaluate its environmental, noise, land use and transportation impacts.

Saratoga Vice Mayor Belal Aftab said he knows from personal experience how unsafe Quito Road can be in that area, having grown up nearby.

“We don’t have the budget to actually put sidewalks in a lot of the places that need sidewalks as quickly as we need to, so this funding is very helpful,” he said at the meeting.