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belmont neighborhood guide · property nerds® at compass
Plateau-Skymont, Belmont Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
Belmont's northwest hills above Ralston Avenue, west of San Juan Boulevard: early-1960s houses on Skymont Drive, Adelaide Way and Plateau Drive, steep hillside lots and open space, with Highway 92 next door.
Plateau-Skymont by the numbers
plateau-skymont by the numbers · live from the mls
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Calculated in your browser from MLS data for Plateau-Skymont (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in plateau-skymont · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in Plateau-Skymont
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in Plateau-Skymont 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 (Plateau-Skymont (approximate outline traced from the boundary streets)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How Plateau-Skymont came to be
Plateau-Skymont is Belmont's northwest corner: the hills between San Juan Boulevard and the Highway 92 corridor, from Ralston Avenue up to the San Mateo line. A few houses on San Juan Boulevard, Naughton Avenue and Marburger Avenue go back to the late 1920s and 1930s, and listing records still file some sales near Plateau Drive under Belmont Country Club Properties, the 1920s-era area name. But this is mostly an early-1960s neighborhood: county assessor records date about 365 of its 660 single-family houses to that one decade.
Some streets went up almost all at once. Every house on Adelaide Way is dated 1963 or 1964 in assessor records, Skymont Drive 1964 or 1965, and Christian Drive 1963 to 1965. Plateau Drive, Reposo Way and Hillcrest Drive started a little earlier, in the 1950s. Belmont Canyon Road, which climbs from Ralston Avenue into the middle of the neighborhood, filled in over decades (median about 1974), and Ralston Ranch Road's larger lots are newer still, with a median build year around 1997.
The slopes have kept the fire department's attention. In 2014 the Belmont Fire Department proposed designating the hillside blocks between Hillcrest Drive and Marsten Avenue, and between Ralston Avenue and Bishop Road, as very high fire hazard severity zones, along with about 27 acres of San Juan Canyon the city had bought in 2009 to keep as open space (a 2014 news report). The state's February 2025 map puts about four-fifths of the neighborhood in a Moderate zone.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
The streets follow the contours. Hillcrest Drive, Plateau Drive and Upper and Lower Lock avenues wind across the middle; Skymont Drive, Lori Drive, Robert Avenue and Dionne Court sit on the western knoll near Bishop Road; Christian Drive and Adelaide Way run down toward Ralston Avenue by the Highway 92 interchange; Naughton Avenue, Encline Way, Reposo Way and Lodge Drive sit just above Ralston. Ralston Ranch Road climbs from Ralston Avenue near Christian Drive to a handful of larger hillside lots. The city's street data shows no private streets here.
Lot sizes are standard for Belmont, but the ground is not. The R-1B lots (6,000 sq ft minimum per house) have a median parcel near 6,400 sq ft and a median average slope of about 17 percent in the city's estimates, with about one in five at 30 percent or steeper. The 38 houses on the special-setback stretch of Belmont Canyon Road sit on lots averaging about 44 percent. Around the edges, the HRO-2 zone (subdivided hillside lots) and city open space cover the steepest ground; about 200 parcels in the neighborhood have no house on them in assessor data, most of them HRO-2 or open-space land.
Houses are mostly early-1960s one-story designs, about 420 of 660, with a median size of about 1,730 sq ft; about 214 are two-story and 23 three-story. About 26 houses have been built since 2000, scattered on Naughton Avenue, San Juan Boulevard, Bishop Road and Ralston Ranch Road. The larger HRO-1 parcels, mostly on Ralston Ranch Road, have a median lot closer to 29,000 sq ft.
streets in plateau-skymont
- Skymont Drive
- Skymont Court
- Hillcrest Drive
- Plateau Drive
- Upper Lock Avenue
- Lower Lock Avenue
- Marburger Avenue
- Beresford Avenue
- Belmont Canyon Road
- Adelaide Way
- Christian Drive
- Christian Court
- Marsten Avenue
- Bishop Road
- Lori Drive
- Robert Avenue
- Dionne Court
- Naughton Avenue
- Encline Way
- Reposo Way
- Lodge Drive
- Ralston Ranch Road
- San Juan Boulevard
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near Plateau-Skymont
- park
Neighborhood open space and the Salson Trail
City-zoned open space wraps the steep edges, and the city's trail map shows the half-mile Salson Trail on the slopes inside the neighborhood (city trail data).
- park
Sugarloaf Mountain open space (San Mateo)
The City of San Mateo's Sugarloaf Mountain open space sits just over the north line, about 0.6 mile straight-line from the middle; San Mateo's Laurelwood Park is about 0.8 mile (public maps).
- park
Waterdog Lake Open Space
Belmont's lake and trail network is south across Ralston Avenue, about 0.7 mile straight-line from the middle of the neighborhood (city trail data).
- shopping
Ralston and the Alameda
The nearest groceries and errands are at Ralston Avenue and Alameda de las Pulgas, about 1.5 miles straight-line east, including the Carlmont Village center.
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Highway 92 interchange
Ralston Avenue meets Highway 92 at the neighborhood's west end, with I-280 a short way beyond by way of Highway 92.
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
Plateau-Skymont is in the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District for TK-8 and the Sequoia Union High School District for high school. No school campus is inside the neighborhood; the nearest public schools are Ralston Middle School (2675 Ralston Avenue) and Fox Elementary (3100 St. James Road), each about half a mile straight-line south across Ralston Avenue, and Cipriani Elementary (2525 Buena Vista Avenue), about 0.7 mile east. The elementary district assigns students by walking distance to the closest school with room, so the nearest campus is not a guarantee. Rules change; check the exact address with each district.
Belmont-Redwood Shores guide · Sequoia Union guide · Silicon Valley school districts
Getting around
- Highway 92 is at the west end of Ralston Avenue, about 0.5 to 0.8 mile straight-line from the middle of the neighborhood; I-280 is about 1 mile straight-line, reached by way of Highway 92.
- US 101 is about 2.6 miles straight-line east via Ralston Avenue.
- Hillsdale Caltrain is about 2.1 miles and Belmont Caltrain about 2.4 miles straight-line from the middle of the neighborhood.
- SamTrans lists routes 260 (San Carlos Caltrain to Carlmont Village) and 295 (Hillsdale to Redwood City) as serving Belmont; check current stops before counting on them.
- Ralston Avenue carries a city-mapped bike route along the south edge; the neighborhood streets themselves are steep.
nerd notes
Buying or selling in Plateau-Skymont: what we check
Buying here
- Fire zone first: the state's February 2025 map puts about 80 percent of the neighborhood in a Moderate zone, and the city's own hazard layer shades most parcels as High. Check the parcel's designation, defensible-space requirements and insurance before you write an offer.
- Check slope and what holds it: drainage, retaining walls, foundations and any geotechnical reports. The Belmont Canyon Road setback overlay and the HRO zones add rules, so ask the planning division what review an addition would need.
- Vacant hillside lots exist here (HRO-2 and HRO-1). Building on one means hillside zoning, access, utilities and geotechnical work; budget time and expect conditions.
- USGS landslide mapping in the city's hazard viewer marks landslide deposits under small pockets near Skymont Drive and Marsten Avenue; read the hazard disclosures closely there.
- Most houses are about 60 years old: check the electrical panel, original plumbing, the sewer lateral, roof age and permits for past additions.
Selling here
- Disclose the fire zone clearly and document defensible-space work, roof and vent upgrades done since you bought.
- Have drainage, retaining-wall and geotechnical records ready; on these streets buyers ask first about the hill under the house.
- Pull permits for additions and lower-floor conversions before listing.
- Show the access: driveway grade, parking and how the lot sits relative to the street matter as much as square footage here.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
Plateau-Skymont questions, answered
Where is Plateau-Skymont?
Belmont's northwest corner: north of Ralston Avenue and west of San Juan Boulevard, up to the San Mateo city line and west to the city line near Highway 92. That is the city's own neighborhood map.
When were the houses built?
Mostly in the early 1960s; assessor records give a median year of about 1964. Adelaide Way, Skymont Drive and Christian Drive were built almost entirely between 1963 and 1965.
Is Plateau-Skymont in a fire hazard zone?
Largely, yes. The state's February 2025 map puts about four-fifths of it in a Moderate zone, and the city's own hazard layer shades most parcels as High. Check the specific parcel.
Can the empty hillside lots be built on?
Some are buildable, but they sit in Belmont's hillside residential and open space zones (HRO-1 or HRO-2) or open space, so expect hillside review, geotechnical work and utility and access questions. Ask the planning division before you buy.
Which schools serve Plateau-Skymont?
Belmont-Redwood Shores School District for TK-8 and Sequoia Union High School District. Ralston Middle and Fox Elementary are about half a mile south, but assignment depends on space, so check the address.
talk to a property nerd
Thinking about Plateau-Skymont? 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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