Rancho Rinconada, Cupertino, California

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Rancho Rinconada is a residential neighborhood in the eastern part of Cupertino, California. It is bordered by Saratoga Creek (just west of Lawrence Expressway), Stevens Creek Boulevard, Miller Road, and Bollinger Road. Cupertino High School, Sedgwick Elementary School, and Hyde Middle School serve Rancho Rinconada.

The homes in Rancho Rinconada were originally low cost single-story houses built in the 1950s. In the 1990s, a portion of the neighborhood bordering San Jose along Lawrence Expresway was annexed by the city and construction started on large, executive homes. Rancho Rinconada then became a target for wealthy Silicon Valley executives, as the county's development laws, to which the rest of the neighborhood was subject, allowed remodeling or rebuilding a home up to the size of the largest home in the immediate area. Additionally, the county did not have community input or review of building plans. As a result, families employed in high-tech industries bought property in unincorporated Rancho Rinconada and demolished the existing houses to build new "monster houses".

These new houses covered the maximum amount of the lot allowed, and were often built to within five feet of the property line on all sides. As each new monster house was built, the area where they were allowed expanded. Monster homes can be easily distinguished by their white or light pink exterior painting, red roofing, small front yards, and proportionally large living rooms or dining areas. The new homes usually cost a few hundred thousand dollars to build, and an original house generally costs approximately $800,000. In many areas of Rancho Rinconada, the new monsters houses may make up as much a one third of a housing tract's homes. A recent trend has been to build houses with one story underground, as Cupertino laws only allow a house's second floor to take up 35 percent of the total area, while an underground floor can take up 45 percent of the house's area.

The adjoining Fairgrove neighborhood provides a notable contrast to the pattern of development in Rancho Rinconada. Fairgrove was originally a tract of 220 eichlers constructed in 1960, bordered by Phil Lane, Miller Avenue, Tantau Avenue, and Bollinger Road. Because the city of Cupertino recently enacted the "R1e" zoning regulation prohibiting demolition of existing structures for the purpose of building new homes, the Fairgrove neighborhood is one of the few areas in Rancho Rinconada where one can see only eichler homes. Today, the Fairgrove neighborhood displays signs welcoming people to a unique preservation area within Cupertino.

In March 1999, the residents of the unincorporated part of Rancho Rinconada voted to be annexed to Cupertino, with the promise of more restrictive property development procedures and improved services to the neighborhood. Later that month, the Cupertino City Council voted into law a bill that required neighborhood comment and reduced the percentage of a lot that could be covered by a building.

The neighborhood is bordered by the West San Jose neighborhood to the east and south, central Cupertino to the west, and the city of Santa Clara to the north.

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