The Cupertino Courier
News
Rancho Rinconada residents are demanding more parks
By Cody Kraatz
Rancho Rinconada residents are excited about plans for new parks and a trail extension in their neighborhood, where the only park within easy walking distance is the tiny Rancho pool and recreation hall at Bollinger Road and Chelmsford Drive.
The area is shorter on parks then it was supposed to be, according to several longtime residents, who see the plans for an extended trail and a couple of parks as the fulfillment of a promise broken long ago.
The original Rancho Rinconada developers, Stern and Price Inc., went bankrupt before the 1,562-home development was complete, and they sold off land they had set aside for a park, said Pat Bustamante, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1984 and was elected in November to the board of the Rancho Rinconada Recreation and Parks District.
When the subdivision, built in the early 1950s, was originally surveyed, about 9.5 acres of land bounded by Stevens Creek Boulevard and Calvert Drive was left undeveloped. It remained that way for many years, said Zoe Thompson, who has lived on Arata Way for more than 40 years.
The Shadow Oaks and Sage apartment complexes now occupy the land.
It is this land that Bustamante, Thompson and Dave Mendes, another longtime resident, believe was reserved for the park that never materialized.
The Rancho Rinconada pool was built by Stern, but only after residents, led by Richard Forkey, sued him over the promise of a pool and park in their deed, said Bustamante. Stern had to pay thousands of dollars for the pool during the 1960s, according to Bustamante and documents on file in the pool office.
The Cupertino City Council in January authorized Mayor Kris Wang and council members Richard Lowenthal and Dolly Sandoval to begin talks with San Jose, Santa Clara County and the San Jose Water Co. aimed at acquiring land along Lawrence Expressway that would be turned into a trail and parks.
One of the parcels the city will acquire, said Sandoval, is a double lot at Sterling Boulevard and Barnhart Avenue, which is owned by the San Jose Water Co. and is enclosed by a chain link fence and warnings against trespassing.
Sandoval suggested that to acquire the other parcel, currently a staging site for county road projects, she plans to point out to county officials that it owes Rancho Rinconada residents a park after neglecting them before they were annexed by Cupertino in 1999.
Overall, the city of Cupertino has nearly 3 acres of park per 1,000 residents, significantly higher than neighboring District 1 of San Jose.
"I had hoped that water district property would become a nice little green grass park that the neighborhood kids might be able to play in," stated former resident Ted Roberts in an email.
Among the amenities Roberts envisions for his dream park are half-court basketball, a swing, a slide, a sandbox, trees, benches, and a soccer goal, all carefully designed to maximize the space.
Other residents, such as Bustamante, are more preservation-minded. Bustamante is opposed to any large playing fields, preferring native trees and landscaping to spreads of green turf. She also doesn't want to see any lights along the trail or park .
"Oh yeah, we need more parks. We're really poor on parks here," said Bustamante.
"That piece of land there--I want that to be a park," said Bustamante, referring to the vacant water company land. "I already have a name for it: Spirit Park."
Bustamante chose the name in honor of the Native Americans she believes lived there. She has collected what she considers Native American artifacts along the part of Saratoga Creek that runs behind her house, though she has not had an anthropologist look at them.
