Vista Verde is a residential community nestled in the Santa Cruz Mountains of San Mateo County, 50 miles south of San Francisco and six miles from Stanford University. Situated above the Town of Portola Valley at an average elevation of 1500 feet, it overlooks San Francisco Bay and is surrounded by thousands of wooded acres of permanent open space, yet is only 10 minutes from Interstate 280. The 105 "rural estates" are favored by a microclimate ranked among the best in the world.

The Vista Verde Community Association (VVCA) was established to foster mutual social and economic interests of property owners and residents in the Vista Verde Community and Pony Tracks Ranch, in San Mateo County, California. A primary concern of VVCA is the safety of its members and the protection and improvement of property and property rights.

The Association is organized in a spirit which encourages the active participation of its entire membership in community affairs. The officers of the Association provide leadership and direction and act in compliance with the mandates given them by membership. Membership in the Association is open to residents and property owners in Vista Verde and Pony Tracks Ranch, and each property or owner is entitled to two voting rights. The VVCA Bylaws define the rules and principles of the Association.

Read more: Vista Verde Community Association (VVCA)

Dear Joe,

Just a short message to let you know our community has taken note of the work your crews have done in improving the culvert near 281 Ramona.  All are impressed with the time and attention you have given to our concerns.  The turn around on the work at the culvert is amazing.  We are also pleased to have defined the drainage down slope of the culvert to the creek for incorporation into the restoration of Ramona.  

Please accept our sincerest thanks,  

Amanda Lee, Ruth Thor Nelson and Ken Kormanak
and all members of the SARR Committee

Before California was a state, Spanish colonists traversed through Vista Verde along the "Old Spanish Trail" to bring goods over the coastal mountains from Pescadero to what is now Palo Alto on San Francisco Bay. Vista Verde was developed in the early sixties on the site of a 453 acre vacation ranch owned by "Sunny Jim" Rolph, who was mayor of San Francisco in 1912 and governor of California in 1931. Early radio buffs will be interested to know that this same coastal mountain area was the inspiration for the "Sky Ranch", the fictional home of the Barbour family in the 1932-1959 famed radio series, "One Man's Family" written by its Peninsula creator, Carlton E. Morse.

Dear Neighbors,

We are pleased to report that County of San Mateo Department of Public Works (DPW) is being responsive to maintaining Ramona Road and Alpine Road.  This is their responsibility and they have shown a great willingness to work with representatives of the Vista Verde and Los Trancos Woods Community Associations.

The community volunteer committee brings to bear considerable expertise as you can see by the list of committee members.  Attached are detailed notes from our December 20th SARR Committee meeting with the DPW.  At the meeting, a number misconceptions were cleared up and a very positive and effective sharing of information took place. The committee, especially the engineers on the committee, continue to work with the county to investigate long lasting and cost effective solutions.

To all who sent in signed petitions, thank you.  We will keep them on hand.  At this point we do not foresee the need to further involve Anna Eshoo or the Board of Supervisors/Don Horsley.  Funding for fixes on both Ramona and Alpine thus far seem within the scope of the DPW.

We will continue to keep you updated with general status and permitting as work progresses on Ramona and Alpine Roads.

Amanda Lee
Co-Chair, SARR
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Richard and Yvonne Tryce were among the first residents of Vista Verde, and here they share their first-person historical account of our community

A HISTORY OF VISTA VERDE

By Yvonne Tryce © 2002 by R. & Y. Tryce

FINDING A HOME IN THE HILLS: EXPLORING WITH JACK SIMONIC

We started our search by looking on a contour map. My husband, Richard Tryce, is a ham radio operator and wanted a home with a good radio location. The spot we found was a fourteen hundred foot knoll labeled Rattlesnake Hill. I had a college friend, Peggy Dickinson, and had visited her home on Lake Road. I knew they were planning to build a home toward the hill, and so I called her. She said their place would be down on Old Spanish Trail, but that she knew who owned the hill.

Read more: Vista Verde Development History

Notes from 12/20/2012 Meeting with DPW in Redwood City
In Attendance
From Department of Public Works (DPW), County of San Mateo:
James (Jim) C. Porter, PE – Director
Joe LoCoco, PE – Deputy Director, Road Services
From Vista Verde and Los Trancos Woods:
Ross Edwards – Civil Engineer and Founder and Former CEO, WEBCOR
Mario Wijtman – Commercial/Industrial General Contractor and EVP, XL Construction
Anne Baldwin – Resident since 1960 with property bordering Ramona Road
Ken Kormanak – Software Engineer (Secretary for Meeting)
William (Bill) Sloan Coats – Partner, Kaye Scholer, LLP
Ruth Thor Nelson – Co-Chair, SARR
Amanda Lee - Co-Chair, SARR and Co-Chair, VV Roads Committee
Summary
In a meeting with the DPW representatives, members of the ad-hoc Save Alpine and Ramona Roads Committee (SARR) met for about an hour at their office in Redwood City. The County heard the committee’s concerns and recommendations about the need for immediate action on the hazardous condition of the two roads that are in danger of collapse. The County said that, based on their visits to both roads, they had solutions which could be implemented this coming Spring and Summer to control the erosion conditions from further deterioration and stabilize them for normal use. Joe LoCoco will provide ongoing updates regarding permitting and general status for both projects to SARR Co-Chair Amanda Lee, who will in turn update the Committee and the VV/LTW communities.
The following two sections describe in more detail the discussion and recommended actions that the County plans to take.

Read more: SARR/Save Alpine & Ramona Roads 12/20/12 Meeting with DPW

Various Vista Verde documents including meeting minutes can be found at the link below:

http://vistaverdepv.org/index.php/vista-verde/vvca-downloads/viewcategory/3-vvca