Within my real estate office, I am one of the go to resources for all things Belmont and Redwood Shores with respect to the community. I have had a lot of questions recently concerning some quirky rules for the city of Belmont as it relates to real estate as well as nuances around the school district. Yes, San Mateo County, the “mid-Peninsula” real estate prices continue to increase due to low inventory and strong demand (see previous post https://taosiliconvalley.com/2013/08/26/microeconomics-101-for-real-estate-2/ ). The quaint city of Belmont has always had admirers, but remained a bit under the radar for those who don’t live in San Mateo County. Andecdotally, it seems Belmont has increased in popularity of recent years with nearly every listing generating significant number of offers from home buyers wanting to be part of the community. Why is this dynamic more precipitous than ever? Although this oversimplifies the dynamics….part of the explanation is around the many positive developments of what was already a strong school system. The attractiveness of Belmont includes Water Dog Lake Park, hiking/biking trails, proximity to transportation, and friendly, highly educated people. What ties all of these things together is the award winning Belmont Redwood Shores School District.

Yes, other nearby cities also have good to very strong public schools. The Belmont Redwood Shores School District has experienced overwhelming community support in the form of passing multiple bond measures and parcel tax measures in the past several years that has allowed Belmont to completely upgrade deferred maintenance, modernize facilities and advance technology investments in the elementary and Ralston Middle schools. Every Belmont elementary school saw major construction projects over the past 2 years that improved the schools significantly and expanded some as well. Within Redwood Shores, Sandpiper is relatively new having been built in the mid 1990’s and Redwood Shores elementary opened in 2010. These schools are nice, clean and (now) modernized. What parent wouldn’t want their kids go to a “newer” schools that rank highly in the state with active parents and a supportive community? It used to be that many of the elementary schools saw strong API scores and would attract homebuyers. Now people hear about the community activism of supporting children’s education above and beyond test scores, and then see the beautiful facilities, before deciding that they will do whatever they can to buy a house/condo in Belmont to be able to send their kids to the schools.

Below summarizes the Belmont Redwood Shores API scores from 2013:

• Central 935
• Cipriani 910
• Fox 915
• Nesbit 865
• Redwood Shores 928
• Sandpiper 938
• Ralston Middle 907

Belmont and Redwood Shores passed multiple bond and parcel tax measures. Measure U in November 2008 raised $78 million to keep classroom sizes smaller and maintain some enrichment programs, Measures I and N in November 2010 raised $25 million for Ralston and $35 million for the Belmont elementary schools to improve and expand the buildings/facilities. Measure R in November 2013 maintained an expiring $174 parcel tax to support the schools. All of these measures passed with the voters on the 1st try showing a true testament to the community. Passing these measures took time from enormous number of volunteers to drive the campaigns, make phone calls, donate funds, and print marketing materials to educate the people. Then, the people responded overwhelmingly in the polls.

Additionally, there are 3 new City Council members elected/appointed over the past year. Eric Reed, Charles Stone and Cathy Wright all of whom are active in the schools, youth sports and general community happenings prior to them winning a seat on the City Council.

So it’s all positive right? What is the consequence of this popularity?  Simple….a projected continuing growth of school aged children in Belmont and Redwood Shores that will stress school site capacity in upcoming years. There are no easy answers. Many cities/school districts in the Mid-Peninsula face the same challenges. As an example, neighboring San Carlos is seeking new land to build a new school on and evaluating various options to manage growth in their school district.

The mid-Peninsula being midway point between San Francisco and Silicon Valley, nice weather, close to mountains/ocean/bay and really strong schools just offers a balanced lifestyle….and with little raw land to build on, there is just limited supply of new housing units to help absorb this demand. With many changes to the city, and the community support, Belmont may no longer stay sleepy in the shadows of their larger cousins nearby.