Letter to the Editor: Keep Saratoga Height Limits Below 20 Feet

Editor's Note: The following letter was written by longtime Saratoga real estate broker Charles Butterfield.

The proposed changes to the height limits in Saratoga will cost Saratoga citizens millions of dollars in reduced property values, with no benefit to other citizens of Saratoga.

The only people who will benefit from the increased height limits will be the developers who own the property of the subject development.

The current proposal to increase the height limit from 20 feet to 26 feet for a commercial building in Saratoga will block the view of the house directly behind the commercial building.

I am a real estate broker and former real estate appraiser. Many of my clients will refuse to consider the purchase of a home that backs up to a commercial or residential building that is taller than the single family home, unless the price of the home is dramatically discounted.

The view from the backyard is of the back of a commercial or residential building, not a view of the surrounding hills.

At the time of resale in Saratoga, a house that backs up to a taller commercial building or taller house will often sell for approximately $100,000 less when compared with a similar house located some distance away that does not back to a commercial building. 

Essentially if the Saratoga City Council were to increase the height limit from 20 feet to 26 feet, that is a decision to take over $100,000 each from the homeowner behind the commercial building and give that money to others.

Essentially a decision by the Council to increase the height limits from 20 feet to 26 feet is a decision to redistribute the wealth of the citizens of Saratoga to others.

In this case the only individuals who benefit from an increase in the height limit from 20 feet to 26 feet are the developers who own the property.

The developers bought the property relatively cheap because the height limit was 20 feet. If the height limit had been 26 feet, the developers would have paid several million dollars more for the property.

If the developers are granted an increase in the height limit to 26 feet, that height increase will add millions of dollars in value to the developer's property, but that increase in value will come at the expense of the homeowners behind the property.    

Essentially there is no justification for the Council to redistribute the wealth of some of the citizens of Saratoga to a property developer.

The property developer should make his money from the increase in value that the developer can bring to the property within the current zoning limits.

The developer should not be dependent of Council to add value to the developer's project at the expense of the homeowners behind the project, by increasing the height limit to 26 feet.

That is particularly true when that increase in the height limit comes at the expense of the homeowners who live behind the proposed project.