A big reason Maureen and Jeff Storch bought a home in the new Flying Horse neighborhood of Saratoga back in 2007 was because plans called for a near six-acre park across the street from them on Crane Canyon Loop.

Here’s a look at an architect’s blueprint of Saratoga from the Flying Horse Web site:

So-called  “Frogs Leap Park” would have something for all four of their children, ages 3, 8, 10 and 11. There was to be a playground, basketball court, baseball diamond and walking trails.

“We bought a house right on the park,” Maureen Storch said.

Except for one problem. Two years later, there is still no park. Just weeds.

Here’s a look at the field after the developer, Classic Homes, rolled out some artifical grass in an effort to appease neighbors upset that the park had not been built yet:

Storch and other neighbors say they were promised a park in 2007 and can’t understand why Classic is building parks in adjoining Flying Horse neighborhoods but not in Saratoga.

Doug Stimple, chief executive officer of Classic, explained that Saratoga was conceived as a commercial development. Not residential.

When the developer decided to convert it to new homes in 2006, it didn’t have financing for a neighborhood park, which cost about $400,000.

 Before the company could complete a refinancing package, commercial credit markets froze solid. He said the parks being built in Syrah, Solera and Calistoga neighborhoods of Flying Horse all were designed and financed with the original package and those funds cannot be transfered to Saratoga.

Want to see how Saratoga has progressed? Here’s an early look from GoogleEarth:

This is later from FlashEarth:  

Storch also is upset that Classic has not landscaped a detention pond behind her home. Here’s how it looks today in a patched-together panorama:

 ==========================================================

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.