Brief Summary of Downtown Saratoga, CA

Quick Appraisal Knowledge (QAK #19)

Saratoga is a very small city, encompassing just 12.1 square miles. The city has a population of about 32,000 residents. Saratoga's population has grown at a much slower pace than that of Santa Clara County over the past couple of decades. The primary difference stems from a shortage of vacant, developable land within Saratoga, a difficult planning environment, and regulatory constraints. A map of downtown Saratoga can be found below.

With the exception of some challenging hillside lots, the city is essentially built out. New development opportunities typically are limited to adaptive re-use projects or by removing older, low-intensity uses to make way for higher-intensity development.

The City of Saratoga is located in southwestern Santa Clara County, where the Santa Clara Valley meets the slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains. City boundaries are formed by the cities of Cupertino and San Jose to the north, the City of San Jose and the Town of Los Gatos to the east, the City of Monte Sereno to the southeast, and by unincorporated, rugged, sparsely-developed foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains to the south and west.

The city has a wide variety of terrain, with nearly level areas on the valley floor; mildly to moderately sloping areas approaching the foothills; and steep, often densely wooded hillsides toward the town periphery. Saratoga is primarily a low-density residential community, and the substantial majority of the city's developable land area is zoned for detached single-family housing. Only about 2% of the developable land area consists of multi-family sites, including apartments, townhouses, and condominiums. Most are developed at relatively low to moderate densities, as the highest density achievable under the current general plan is just 20 units per acre.

The city has relatively little commercial development, with such areas confined to the downtown district focused around Big Basin Way and portions of the city's main arterial streets, Saratoga Avenue, Saratoga-Los Gatos Road, and Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road.

Saratoga Avenue commences in the City of Santa Clara and continues in a generally southerly direction through that city, then through western San Jose, and finally into Saratoga. The street provides a link to Highway 85, a major commute freeway. West of the subject's intersection, the street continues as Big Basin Way, the main commercial retail street of downtown Saratoga.

Most of the downtown district is governed by a specific plan that details design and development objectives. The main goals of the specific plan aim to preserve and enhance the small-scale, pedestrian character of the district to make the area more inviting to potential shoppers and diners; preserve and enhance the character of the area; improve parking and circulation; encourage a mix of specialty shops, restaurants, convenience shops, services, and residences; and conserve historic structures.

Much of the district is developed with small, one-story commercial retail and restaurant buildings. The district also includes some office buildings, mixed-use buildings, and multi-family residential developments. The vast majority of buildings are one or two stories high.