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cupertino neighborhood guide · property nerds® at compass
Inspiration Heights, Cupertino Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
Cupertino's west-side foothills along Foothill Boulevard and Stevens Canyon Road: hillside lots under the city's RHS rules, a 1920s tract name, and open space a short drive up the canyon.
Inspiration Heights by the numbers
inspiration heights by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for Inspiration Heights: west of Foothill Blvd and Stevens Canyon Rd (General Plan neighborhood outline). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in inspiration heights · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in Inspiration Heights
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in Inspiration Heights from the MLS, updated automatically, with a map of the neighborhood outline.
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Listings come from MLSListings and other MLSs through IDX and show their listing brokerage; confirm details with the listing agent. The map outline is the neighborhood boundary used by our listing search (Inspiration Heights: west of Foothill Blvd and Stevens Canyon Rd (General Plan neighborhood outline)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How Inspiration Heights came to be
The name is older than most of the houses. In the 1910s and 1920s, Monta Vista promoter George Hensley bought the former John T. Doyle property west of the railway village and sold it off as a string of tracts, and the Cupertino Historical Society lists Inspiration Heights among them. Doyle's Cupertino Wine Company had planted these lower foothills in vines; the city's history notes that vineyards once spread across Montebello Ridge, the lower foothills and the flat land below.
Like Monta Vista, the hillside streets grew up under Santa Clara County rules and joined Cupertino a piece at a time. The city's annexation map shows parcels along Stevens Canyon Road coming in as early as 1961, then annexations named for San Juan, Mercedes, Merriman, Cordova, Alcalde and San Felipe roads through the 1960s and 1970s. Three parcels labeled Inspiration Heights were annexed in November 1980. The General Plan still acknowledges that history: legal, non-conforming buildings that came in from the county get extra flexibility, and duplexes in the block bounded by Santa Lucia Road, Alcalde Road and Foothill Boulevard are allowed to remain.
The city's plan for the area is short and clear. General Plan Goal LU-28 is to keep Inspiration Heights a low-intensity residential area in a natural hillside setting, with new building designed to protect hillsides, creek corridors and wildlife habitat. It also calls for better walking and biking along Foothill Boulevard and Stevens Canyon Road, since this is the way in for hikers and cyclists headed to the open space up the canyon.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
South of Alcalde Road, the streets the MLS calls Inspiration Heights climb west from Foothill Boulevard and Stevens Canyon Road: Santa Lucia, Cordova, San Juan, Mercedes, San Felipe, San Jacinto and Balboa roads, plus Merriman Road and Kinst Court. Zoning gets looser as the streets climb. Lots near Foothill Boulevard are zoned R1-7.5 and R1-10, San Juan and Cordova roads are mostly RHS-21, and upper Balboa and San Jacinto roads are RHS-218 to RHS-400. In Cupertino's hillside code, the number is the minimum lot area for new lots in thousands of square feet, so RHS-218 means about 5 acres. Merriman, Santa Lucia and Alcalde roads include the R2-4.25 duplex pocket.
North of Alcalde Road, between Foothill Boulevard and the hills up to Stevens Creek Boulevard, the General Plan neighborhood takes in Voss Avenue, Lockwood Drive and Medina Lane, with a mix of R1-10 and R2-4.25 duplex zoning. Higher up are the planned-development streets: Longdown Road, Ridgeway Drive, Cricket Hill Road, Firwood Drive, and the small courts called Lamplighter Square and Poplar Grove Square. El Cerrito Road runs out into larger hillside parcels, some of them still unincorporated county land.
On RHS-zoned lots, the hillside code shapes every rebuild. Floor area is capped at 6,500 square feet or a formula based on lot size, whichever is less, and the formula shrinks as average slope rises. Houses top out at 30 feet. Exterior colors have to be earth tones with a reflectivity of 60 or less, grading is limited to 2,500 cubic yards, and building on slopes of 30 percent or more takes a Hillside Exception. The code also asks for split-level designs that follow the slope, so expect long driveways, stepped floor plans and plenty of retaining walls.
streets in inspiration heights
- South Foothill Boulevard
- Stevens Canyon Road
- Alcalde Road
- Santa Lucia Road
- Merriman Road
- Cordova Road
- San Juan Road
- Mercedes Road
- San Felipe Road
- San Jacinto Road
- Balboa Road
- Kinst Court
- Voss Avenue
- Lockwood Drive
- Medina Lane
- Longdown Road
- Ridgeway Drive
- Cricket Hill Road
- El Cerrito Road
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near Inspiration Heights
- park
Monta Vista Park & Recreation Center
A 6.2-acre city park at 22601 Voss Ave., at Foothill Boulevard, on a former school site. It has two softball fields, two tennis courts and a batting cage, plus a preschool building and a 1967 multi-use building used for youth classes.
- park
McClellan Ranch Preserve
Across Stevens Canyon Road at 22221 McClellan Rd., about 0.6 mile from the middle of the neighborhood: a 13-acre city preserve with an environmental education center, historic barns and a community garden, and the start of the Stevens Creek Trail.
- park
Stevens Creek County Park
A county park of more than 1,000 acres around Stevens Creek Reservoir, about 1.5 miles south up Stevens Canyon Road. Valley Water lists the reservoir at 92 surface acres and 3,138 acre-feet, behind a dam completed in 1935.
- shopping
Stevens Creek and Foothill boulevards
The General Plan marks the corner of Foothill and Stevens Creek boulevards as a small non-residential center for everyday shops. Monta Vista Village's shops on Stevens Creek Boulevard are about 1.3 miles east.
- landmark
Picchetti Ranch
Up Montebello Road, which leaves Stevens Canyon Road above the reservoir. The General Plan lists the Picchetti Brothers Winery at 13100 Montebello Rd. as a site of historic mention, now within Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District land.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
Inspiration Heights is served by the Cupertino Union School District for kindergarten through eighth grade and the Fremont Union High School District for high school. No public school campus sits inside the neighborhood; the closest are Monta Vista High School and Lincoln Elementary on McClellan Road and Kennedy Middle School on Bubb Road, about a mile east, and Stevens Creek Elementary on Ainsworth Drive, about a mile to the northeast. Attendance boundaries change, so check the exact address with both districts.
Cupertino Union guide · Fremont Union guide · Silicon Valley school districts
Getting around
- Foothill Boulevard runs north to I-280 and Foothill Expressway, about 1.4 miles from the middle of the neighborhood (straight-line).
- Stevens Canyon Road runs south to Stevens Creek County Park and the reservoir, about 1.5 miles, and on to Montebello Road and the upper canyon.
- VTA Route 51 stops at Stevens Creek and Foothill boulevards on the neighborhood's northeast corner, with weekday service to Mountain View and West Valley College; check VTA for the current schedule.
- Hwy 85 is about 1.5 miles east by Stevens Creek Boulevard or McClellan Road (approximate).
- The Stevens Creek Trail starts at McClellan Ranch, about half a mile east across Stevens Canyon Road. Caltrain is about 5 miles away at Sunnyvale or about 5.6 miles at the Mountain View Transit Center (straight-line).
nerd notes
Buying or selling in Inspiration Heights: what we check
Buying here
- Check the fire hazard map. CAL FIRE's 2025 Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps put most addresses here in the High or Very High zone on the city's GIS. That brings defensible-space rules, wildfire building standards for new work, a disclosure, and possibly a harder search for insurance, so get quotes early.
- Read the geology. The General Plan's hazard map shows fault-rupture, slope-instability and hillside zones in this area, tied to the Monta Vista and Berrocal faults, where the rupture zone runs 300 feet east and 600 feet west of each fault. In mapped hazard areas, the hillside code requires a geology and soils report with third-party peer review before certain work, including adding a bedroom or an ADU.
- Know your zoning before you plan. RHS lots have a slope-adjusted floor-area cap (never more than 6,500 sq ft), a 30-foot height limit and grading limits. R1, R2 duplex and planned-development lots follow different rules, sometimes on the same street.
- Much of the area was annexed from the county between 1961 and 1980. Check both county and city permit records, and for duplexes in the Merriman-Santa Lucia pocket, confirm the units' legal non-conforming status.
- A few parcels, especially on El Cerrito Road, are still outside the city limits. Confirm the jurisdiction, and ask which agency handles permits and whether the property is on sewer or septic.
Selling here
- Gather your wildfire paperwork: any defensible-space inspection, roof and vent upgrades, and the hazard-zone disclosure. Buyers and insurers ask for it first.
- Have your survey, permits and any geotechnical reports in the disclosure package. On a hillside lot, they answer the questions that otherwise stall escrow.
- Spell out what the lot allows: its zoning district, net lot area, average slope and the resulting floor-area cap. For a hillside buyer, that is often the most important number.
- Show the real distances to McClellan Ranch, the Stevens Creek Trail and Stevens Creek County Park. Access to open space is a big reason people look here.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
Inspiration Heights questions, answered
Where exactly is Inspiration Heights?
West of Foothill Boulevard and Stevens Canyon Road on Cupertino's west edge. The General Plan's Inspiration Heights neighborhood runs from Stevens Creek Boulevard south toward Stevens Creek County Park; the streets the MLS labels Inspiration Heights (San Juan, Balboa, Cordova, Santa Lucia, San Jacinto) are its middle, south of Alcalde Road.
What does RHS-21 or RHS-218 mean on a zoning map?
RHS is Cupertino's Residential Hillside zone, and the number is the minimum lot area for new lots in thousands of square feet. RHS-21 means 21,000 square feet; RHS-218 means about 5 acres. Existing lots can be smaller and still be built on, subject to the hillside rules.
Is Inspiration Heights in a fire hazard zone?
Most of it, yes. The city's GIS layer for CAL FIRE's 2025 Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps shows most addresses here in the High or Very High zone. Check the official map for the specific parcel, and ask about defensible-space work and insurance before you write an offer.
Can I add an ADU or a second unit?
Often, but hillside lots have extra steps. The RHS code allows up to two units ministerially on qualifying parcels and handles ADUs under the city's ADU chapter, while geology reports, slope and fire rules can shape what is practical. Talk to the Planning Division with your parcel number.
Which school districts serve Inspiration Heights?
The Cupertino Union School District (K-8) and the Fremont Union High School District. Boundaries change, so confirm the exact address with each district.
talk to a property nerd
Thinking about Inspiration Heights? Let's run your numbers.
Eric, Janelle and the Boyenga Team have sold more than 2,520 Silicon Valley homes, $2.6+ billion in all, since 1996. Get a value, a plan, or a straight answer about a street.
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