home / los gatos / shannon & kennedy road hills
los gatos neighborhood guide · property nerds® at compass
Shannon Road and Kennedy Road hillsides, Los Gatos Homes for sale, recent sales and a Property Nerd’s guide
The east-side foothills off two winding roads that climb from Los Gatos Boulevard toward Sierra Azul: large sloping lots, dead-end lanes, hillside zoning and a Town line that zigzags around county parcels.
Shannon & Kennedy Road hills by the numbers
shannon & kennedy road hills by the numbers · live from the mls
- for sale now…
- median list price…
- homes sold, last 12 months…
- median sale price, 12 mo…
- median price per sq ft, sold…
- sale price vs. list…
Calculated in your browser from MLS data for Shannon and Kennedy road hillsides: Los Gatos Blvd to Hicks Rd (approximate). Sales are single-family homes, townhomes and condos.
homes in shannon & kennedy road hills · live from the mls
Homes for sale, for rent and recently sold in Shannon & Kennedy Road hills
Every active listing, rental and closed sale in Shannon & Kennedy Road hills from the MLS, updated automatically, with a map of the neighborhood outline.
Loading listings…
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 (Shannon and Kennedy road hillsides: Los Gatos Blvd to Hicks Rd (approximate)); it may not match every local definition.
the story
How Shannon & Kennedy Road hills came to be
Two roads define this part of Los Gatos. Shannon Road leaves Los Gatos Boulevard and runs about 3.3 miles east and southeast to Hicks Road (map measurement). Kennedy Road leaves the boulevard a little to the south and winds east into the hills toward the Kennedy entrance of Midpen's Sierra Azul Preserve. Between and around them is a foothill district of houses on large, sloping lots, lanes that dead-end in the woods, and a Town limit that still zigzags around unincorporated county parcels.
Much of it was built before there was a plan for it. The Los Gatos Hillside Specific Plan, written by a joint Town-county committee formed in 1975 and adopted by the Town in 1978 and the county in 1979, found most of its study area already developed without an 18-foot paved road, public water or a public sewer: septic systems predominated, and water came from mutual water companies or private wells and springs. The plan made Shannon-Kennedy Roads its own sub-area, where only about 10 percent of the land is steeper than 50 percent but only about half was inside the Town at the time. It set a long-term density of 2.5 to 10 acres per home, with a one-acre minimum lot.
Since then the Town has annexed county pockets a few at a time, including 24 islands (308 parcels) townwide in 2019, but some parcels here are still county land. Recent Town work is about roads and fire: sidewalks and buffered bike lanes on lower Shannon Road (finished September 2025), retaining walls for an unstable stretch of Shannon between Santa Rosa Drive and Diduca Way (2026), and a concept design for sidewalks and bike lanes on Kennedy Road, which has no sidewalk on either side. The Town's wildfire planning area covers about 4,740 acres, mostly Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, and its 2019 evacuation study maps four zones along these two roads.
streets and homes
The streets and the houses
The street pattern is two spines and a lot of dead ends. The Town's 2019 evacuation assessment describes the lanes off Kennedy as mostly one-way-in, one-way-out, and the upper Kennedy area as reached by Kennedy Road alone. Off Shannon are Hilow Road, Cherry Blossom Lane, Short Road, Cerro Vista Drive, Happy Acres Road, private Shannon Heights Road and Suview Drive, Diduca Way and Sky Lane. Off Kennedy are South Kennedy Road, Longmeadow Drive, Brooke Acres Drive, Forrester Road, Top of the Hill Road and private Twelve Oaks Road. Deer Park Road and Arnerich Road branch off near Hicks Road.
The land starts nearly flat at Los Gatos Boulevard and steepens as you go east and south, per the Town's evacuation study. Hillside parcels in the Town fall in the Hillside Residential (HR) zones: HR-1 allows one home per 1 to 5 acres, HR-2½ one per 2.5 to 10 acres, and HR-5 and HR-20 go larger, with the exact figure set by a slope-density formula. The HR zones require a 40,000 sq ft minimum lot and 100 feet of width, cap a house at 30 feet tall, and allow single-family homes and agriculture. The flatter streets near the boulevard are more densely built, so check which zone applies to any parcel.
Rebuilds and big additions run through the Town's Hillside Development Standards and Guidelines, adopted in January 2004. The allowed floor area depends on a slope-adjusted lot size: the Town deducts 10 percent or more of the net lot area once the average slope passes 10 percent, and 60 percent above a 30 percent slope. The cap tops out at 6,000 sq ft for a net lot over 32,000 sq ft, with garages up to 400 sq ft and some barn and stable space left out of the count. Architecture and site review covers buildings, grading, roads, parking areas, landscaping and outdoor lighting, and the Hillside Specific Plan bars new construction that sticks up above a natural ridgeline.
streets in shannon & kennedy road hills
- Shannon Road
- Kennedy Road
- Hilow Road
- Cherry Blossom Lane
- Short Road
- Cerro Vista Drive
- Wollin Way
- Happy Acres Road
- Shannon Heights Road
- Suview Drive
- Diduca Way
- Sky Lane
- Sierra Azule
- South Kennedy Road
- Kennedy Knolls Lane
- Longmeadow Drive
- Brooke Acres Drive
- Forrester Road
- Top of the Hill Road
- Teresita Way
- Ravinia Way
- Twelve Oaks Road
- Deer Park Road
- Arnerich Road
parks and places
Parks, shops and landmarks near Shannon & Kennedy Road hills
- park
Sierra Azul Preserve, Kennedy entrance
Midpen's preserve covers more than 19,000 acres, with about 26 miles of trails and 3,486-foot Mount Umunhum as its high point. Kennedy Road has a three-car roadside lot at gate SA01, and leashed dogs are allowed on the Kennedy, Limekiln and Priest Rock trails.
- park
Heintz and Santa Rosa open spaces
Town-owned open space north of Shannon Road: Heintz covers about 88 acres and Santa Rosa nearly surrounds the 17-acre Belgatos Park at 330 Belgatos Road, the main trailhead. The Shannon Valley Open Space shown on Town maps is trail easements across private land.
- park
Blossom Hill Park
A Town park between Shannon Road and Blossom Hill Road, east of Blossom Hill School, with six lighted tennis courts, a baseball field, a playground, picnic tables with barbecue pits and restrooms.
- shopping
Los Gatos Boulevard and Blossom Hill Road
The nearest groceries are at the bottom of Shannon Road: Lunardi's on Blossom Hill Road and Whole Foods on Los Gatos Boulevard are both within about a quarter mile, and Trader Joe's is under a mile north (straight-line, approximate).
schools and commute
School districts and getting around
School districts
Census Bureau school district boundaries place the streets we checked along Shannon and Kennedy roads in the Los Gatos Union School District and the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District. Public schools near the west end include Blossom Hill Elementary, just north of Shannon Road, and Louise Van Meter Elementary and Raymond J. Fisher Middle School, just west of Los Gatos Boulevard. Attendance boundaries change, so check the exact address with each district.
Los Gatos Union guide · Los Gatos-Saratoga high schools · Silicon Valley school districts
Getting around
- Both roads start at Los Gatos Boulevard. Downtown Los Gatos is about 0.9 mile west of Kennedy Road's start, and the Highway 17 and Highway 9 interchange at the south end of the boulevard is about half a mile away (straight line, approximate).
- Highway 85 is north via Los Gatos Boulevard. Hicks Road, at Shannon's east end, leads south to Mount Umunhum Road; Midpen's summit parking is about 5.3 miles up that road from Hicks.
- Lower Shannon Road has sidewalks and buffered Class II bike lanes on both sides from Los Gatos Boulevard to Cherry Blossom Lane, finished in September 2025. Kennedy Road has no sidewalk; the Town plans final design of sidewalks and bike lanes in the 2026-2028 time frame.
- Shannon Road is closed to through traffic between Santa Rosa Drive and Diduca Way during the 2026 repair project, scheduled to finish in October 2026; check the Town's project page for current status.
- VTA light rail ends at Winchester Station in Campbell, about 3.3 miles north of Shannon Road's start (straight line).
nerd notes
Buying or selling in Shannon & Kennedy Road hills: what we check
Buying here
- First question: Town or county? Parcels here are a patchwork. In the Town, the HR zoning and the 2004 Hillside Development Standards and Guidelines decide what you can build; on county parcels, Santa Clara County planning and building rules apply. Ask for the zoning and any recorded conditions.
- Confirm utilities parcel by parcel: public sewer or septic, and public water or a well, spring or mutual water company. Get septic inspection and pumping records, well yield and water-quality tests, and any water company shares or agreements.
- Check fire exposure carefully. The Town says southern Los Gatos is in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone and adopted an updated local fire hazard map in June 2025. Look up the address, budget for defensible space in zones 0 to 100 feet, and get insurance quotes early.
- Ask how you get out. The Town's 2019 evacuation assessment notes many one-way-in, one-way-out lanes and a single route for the upper Kennedy area. For private roads and shared driveways, get the maintenance agreement and the easement language.
- Hillside soils here are described in the Town's hillside plan as shallow and erosive, and part of Shannon Road needed retaining walls after a 2020 geotechnical study. Order a geotechnical review, look at drainage and retaining walls, and check permits for additions and outbuildings.
Selling here
- Gather the paperwork buyers will ask for first: septic and well records or sewer and water bills, any private road maintenance agreement, and a survey if fence lines and lanes don't match the parcel map.
- Document fire work: defensible-space clearing, Class A roof, ember-resistant vents and any free inspection from the Santa Clara County Fire Department.
- Have permits and architecture and site approvals ready for additions, barns, pools and grading, since hillside review is detailed and buyers check it.
- If your lot may support an addition or ADU, run the slope-adjusted floor area numbers ahead of time so buyers can see the real potential.
nerd noteCommissions are always negotiable, and we offer bundled services, so ask us what's included.
faq
Shannon & Kennedy Road hills questions, answered
Is the Shannon and Kennedy area in the Town of Los Gatos?
Mostly. In 1978 only about half of it was; annexations since then have filled in much of the rest, but some parcels with Los Gatos addresses are still county land. Check the specific parcel.
How much land comes with a home here?
It varies by street. The Town's hillside zones set one home per 1 to 5 acres (HR-1) or 2.5 to 10 acres (HR-2½) and up, by slope, with a 40,000 sq ft minimum lot. The flatter streets near the boulevard are more densely built.
How big a house can I build?
In the Town, the slope-adjusted cap reaches 6,000 sq ft on net lots over 32,000 sq ft, plus a garage of up to 400 sq ft. Visibility, grading and ridgeline rules can bring it down.
Is this a wildfire zone?
Much of it is. The Town says southern Los Gatos is in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone and adopted an updated map in 2025. Look up the exact address.
Where can I hike from here?
Midpen's Sierra Azul Preserve has a small roadside lot on Kennedy Road at gate SA01, and the Town's Heintz and Santa Rosa open spaces are reached from Belgatos Park at 330 Belgatos Road or the south end of Regent Drive.
Which school districts serve these streets?
Los Gatos Union School District and Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District, per Census Bureau district boundaries for the streets we checked. Confirm the exact address with the districts.
talk to a property nerd
Thinking about Shannon & Kennedy Road hills? 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.
Questions about Shannon & Kennedy Road hills? Send us a note.
