At its Feb. 17 meeting, the city council approved the annexation of the 43.41 acres of land by a 4-0 vote. Councilman Richard Lowenthal was absent.

The Monta Vista neighborhood—bounded by Stevens Creek Boulevard, Union Pacific Railroad tracks, McClellan Road and Blackberry Farm—would be the latest county pocket the city has annexed.

In 1997, Cupertino and Santa Clara County established a joint project to promote the annexation of three of the city's four unincorporated parcels—Rancho Rinconada, Garden Gate and Monta Vista. These parcels, although surrounded completely or substantially by lands under the city's jurisdiction, remained under the county's authority—and the county has been eager to get rid of these pockets because they are difficult to service.

Rancho Rinconada, the largest of Cupertino's pockets, was incorporated in 1999. Because the Garden Gate residents were equally divided over the annexation efforts, an election was held in November of 2001. While 150 of the neighborhood's 617 eligible voters voted against the annexation, 187 voted for it. And so it passed.

Like the annexation of Garden Gate, the annexation of Monta Vista has faced some resistance, but the resistance was not strong enough to force an election.

The city has received 108 valid protests to the annexation, according to City Clerk Kim Smith. The protestors accounted for 23.2 percent of the 314 registered voters in the area. A minimum of 25 percent by Feb. 2 was needed to force an election.

Although no one spoke against the annexation at the city council meeting on Feb. 17, some Monta Vista residents are launching a campaign to stop the annexation.

"I was stunned by the injustice of the process," said Susan Sievert, whose family has lived in Monta Vista since 1949. During the past two months, she walked door to door to collect protest signatures and found that some of the registered voters listed by the county had moved away. Sievert also discovered that properties that had redeveloped and incorporated were counted as unincorporated. The city denied that.

"How can we let people who don't live in the community anymore determine our fate?" Sievert asked.

Senior planner Colin Jung, who is in charged of the annexation of Monta Vista, said the state law required the city to use the registered voters list provided by the county. "It was the only thing we were allowed to use," he said.

According to law, Sievert and anyone who opposes the annexation will have 15 days to appeal the city's decision to the Santa Clara County Local Agency Formation Commission.

The appeal is not going to be an easy process. The protestors need to file a petition signed by at least 50 registered voters in the county. The appeal fee is at least $5,300.

If no one appeals, the annexation of Monta Vista will take effect March 4.