EHHA Board Votes to Withdraw Proposals

 

It's Back-to-School Time

Elementary school children in Emerald Hills generally attend one of six schools: Clifford, Roy Cloud, John Gill, Adelante, North Star Academy or Orion. Clifford is the local K–8 school for children living in the north (north of the lower lake); it is a Marine Sciences and Technology Magnet school. Cloud serves K–8 children living in the south part of EH, and it is a Communication Arts and Technology Magnet school. Gill, a K–5 Performing Arts and Technology Magnet, serves children in the Oak Knoll area. Adelante is a K–8 Spanish Immersion school, with 50% English and 50% Spanish speaking students, all of whom are expected to attain bilingualism as well as academics. North Star Academy is a 3rd through 8th grade GATE (Gifted and Talented) and Technology Magnet school that accepts students by special application from a district-wide pool. Orion is a small, child-centered K-5 school that emphasizes parental involvement a minimum of 2 hrs a week.

The Redwood City Elementary School District has made considerable improvement over the last decade, and Emerald Hills owes this at least in part to the dedication of two former EHHA directors, Chris Bohl and Doug Finlay, both of whom went on to be elected to the School Board. The recently announced Academic Performance Index (API) for Northstar shows that this GATE school had the 5th highest test scores in California, and was the highest-ranked school in San Mateo County. Clifford, Cloud, Gill, Adelante and Orion have also done well, showing 17%–37% improvement over the past 9 years and are now posting API scores at or above the statewide API performance target for all schools. The best way to learn about the local schools is to visit, and perhaps volunteer your time. The district website can direct you to any of the schools: http://rcsd.ca.campusgrid.net/home.

 

 

New Address for Planning and Building

In case you need help with building permits or planning issues, the San Mateo County office has moved temporarily to 411 Middlefield Avenue.

 

What Is Emerald Hills?

Emerald Hills is an unincorporated area of San Mateo County lying west of the city of Redwood City. The boundaries are irregular; there are small pockets of incorporated RWC land within the boundaries of EH, and just south of Emerald Hills are properties that are actually in RWC or Woodside. Across Canyon Road to the east, separated from the rest of Emerald Hills, lies the neighborhood of Oak Knoll Manor, which also surrounds a bit of RWC territory (the Brewster Reservoir property). Confused? No wonder! What all of Emerald Hills has in common is our governance by the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, and our common zoning regulations. We are classed as RH/DR (Residential Hillside/Design Review). An official map of Emerald Hills is located at: www.co.sanmateo.ca.us/planning/pdf/elh_zng.pdf.

Our neighborhood used to be known informally as Emerald Lake Hills. At the 1997 annual meeting, a group of homeowners raised the idea of getting an official designation from the U.S. Postal Service. The name Emerald Lake Hills was already taken, but the Postal Service found no conflict with the name Emerald Hills. So in 1998, the Homeowners Association sent out ballots to 1291 property owners asking if they wanted to keep the address as Redwood City, CA 94062 or change it to Emerald Hills, CA 94062. A total of 1041 ballots were returned and of that number 857 (82.3%) were in favor of the name change. On July 6, 1998, the USPS said, "It's official". Our area is designated as having "dual" addresses, meaning that residents can use either the Redwood City or Emerald Hills address to assure proper mail delivery. Since that time, Emerald Hills has become the recognized name for our area and is used in real estate listings.