This section of town on Randy Lane and Larry Way with its mostly California-ranch style homes, has been designated an agricultural/residential zone (A1) since it was incorporated into the city of Cupertino in 1955. But that is about to change.

For the past few years, tension has been escalating between Linwood's one-story homeowners and some two-story homeowners because A1 has no regulations over two-story development and several new property owners have built big two-story houses with second-story windows that allow them to look into their neighbors' bedrooms.

To keep the neighborhood's rural atmosphere and ensure better privacy, a group of residents have worked with the planning department for the past year to create a special zoning for Linwood Acres.

But the rezoning endeavors have divided the neighborhood, ideologically and emotionally.

Some residents believe the neighborhood should be rezoned R1, like most houses in the city. But a majority of the rezoning task force believes R1 is not enough in keeping the neighbor's unique character and has designed a zoning which retains most of the wide setback requirements in A1 and adopts the restrictive regulations of two-story housing in R1.

Things became even more complicated as the planning commission at its Sept. 22 meeting came up with a third zoning plan for the neighborhood that is closer to R1.

With three proposals on the table, the city council will have a difficult time deciding whether they should simply adopt R1 or come up with another zoning.

The council's decision on the zoning of the 68 houses will have significant policy implications for the rest of the city.

Should the residents or the city have the rights to determine a neighborhood's character? If the residents are entitled to decide their neighbor's identity, should longtime residents have more say than new comers? If homeowners on every street demand a special zoning and spend almost a year to design the zoning as the Linwood Acres task force has, will these special zonings cause confusions and financial burdens?

For people who believe that the residents should have the ultimate right, they have the support of planning director Steve Piasecki.

"Mountain View has more than 30 special planning areas," Piasecki said. "Allowing every neighborhood to recognize its individual characteristics is something the city should encourage and promote. We should celebrate the diversity of the neighborhoods."

However, some planning commissioners, although recognizing the values of neighborhood diversity, are reserved in coining special zonings.

In the case of Linwood Acres, planning commissioners Gilbert Wong and Marty Miller have trouble identifying this neighborhood's uniqueness except its wide setbacks.

Wong said Linwood Acres is similar to Monta Vista and Garden Gate, and his own neighborhood, all of which are under the regulations of R1.

"In my neighborhood, we don't have sidewalks. And we have large setbacks, just like Linwood Acres," Wong said. "We are pretty happy with R1. I don't see the values of special zoning for this neighborhood."

Wong said he will be more careful in the future when the planning staff proposes rezoning a neighborhood.

"I would prefer to focus on projects that will be of greater impact to the whole city," Wong said. "In this case, what I have seen is a neighborhood becoming divided and the staff spending almost 11 months, hosting 35 weekly meetings, just for these 68 homes."

No matter which position the city council will take, in this case, it is apparent that neither the rezoning task force nor the R1 group will be the winner.

In the increasing heated rezoning dispute, the neighborhood is no longer neighborly. Accusations, name-calling and lawsuits disrupted the peaceful neighborhood. The planning commission meeting on Sept. 22 epitomized such contention.

Supporters of the rezoning task force and supporters of the R1 group attacked one another. Even the planning commissioners became the targets of personal attacks as one resident accused Miller and planning commissioner Taghi Saadati of breaking Brown Act, the state's open meeting law, because they accepted the R1 camp's invitation to explain the planning commission's meeting process. (The city attorney said the two planning commissioners didn't break the law because only two out of five planning commissioners attended the meeting and didn't compose a majority.)

The two groups even showed their differences with signs.

Residents who support the rezoning task force wore a rainbow ribbon while residents who want R1 held a yellow paperboard that said, "R1. Equality. Consistency. Fairness." One task force supporter yelled at one R1 supporter waving the yellow sign, calling the person "stupid" at the meeting.

While many members of both camps are still very emotional over the rezoning controversy, some residents on both sides begin talking about having a block party to repair the broken relationship.

"Just because we don't agree, it doesn't mean that the neighborhood won't come back together," said Randy Lane resident Terry Griffin, spokesperson for the rezoning task force. "The process has polarized the neighborhood. But when things die down, we will tear down the fences and learn to be neighbors again."