Saratoga City Council members voted to express concern about a proposal for a new Costco near the Westgate shopping mall at their Feb. 7 meeting.

Saratoga officials are also asking for the city of San Jose to revise the draft report to include better mitigation measures for the project and its traffic impacts. The proposed project site, 5287 Prospect Road in San Jose, is close to the Saratoga border.

Councilmembers approved a letter addressing a draft environmental impact report for the big box store, which stated that the report does not adequately evaluate the project’s environmental, noise, land use and transportation impacts.

Bryan Swanson, Saratoga’s community development director, said the city of San Jose opened up the draft report for public review of this year and must respond to all feedback received by Feb. 20.

Councilmember Belal Aftab said the development of a Costco in this area is likely to increase traffic in Saratoga, specifically between Lawrence Expressway and Highway 85, which already sees large amounts of traffic.

“I think it’s really important for us to be aware that lots of neighborhoods will be impacted,” he said.

Source: www.mercurynews.com