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Residents and former mayor urge Saratoga council to delay RISE lease over school‑proximity concerns
Summary
At a Saratoga pre‑agenda meeting, residents and local leaders pressed the council to table a proposed short‑term lease to nonprofit RISE, arguing the building is next to an elementary school and the lease language differs from the RFP; council members said the lease will be uploaded and that the intended use was administrative only.
At a pre‑agenda meeting of the Saratoga City Council, residents and local leaders urged commissioners to delay action on a proposed lease to the nonprofit RISE, saying the building targeted for short‑term use sits adjacent to a school and the community has not had sufficient time to review the lease.
"You can't put an organization that services a population potentially at risk within 1,000 feet of a school," said Mike Lenz, a former mayor and former finance commissioner, who asked the council to table the item so stakeholders could review the document. Lenz said the city had not made the lease available to affected neighbors and argued that even a tight short‑term lease could be followed later by requests to broaden operations.
Dina Henke, who said she "always speak[s] facts and back[s] it up with evidence," outlined the original September 2023 RFP she said sought a nonprofit to rent the building for administrative office use only and stated that proposals using the space as a homeless shelter would be disqualified. Henke said a later October 3 lease draft inserted language she described as inconsistent with the RFP — including references to 24/7 operations — and noted the unexecuted lease has since expired. "Any lease brought forward, I would hope would reflect the points I have made," she said.
Councilors and staff responded that the short‑term arrangement was intended to provide administrative office space, not on‑site homeless services. "We started with a contract that was actually drafted by our legal counsel," one commissioner said, adding that revisions had narrowed the scope and that the revised lease would be uploaded with the agenda. A council member said RISE representatives told the city the site would average six daily visitors with a maximum of about 12.
Council members also emphasized practical concerns: the building has been vacant for two years, has experienced break‑ins and trespassing, and some councilors argued leaving it empty posed public‑safety risks. Others, and neighborhood speakers, said proximity to schoolchildren made any risk unacceptable and urged relocation to other city facilities.
The council did not vote on the lease at the meeting. Commissioners said the lease would be posted with the agenda and that they were willing to meet with neighborhood representatives before taking up the item.
