History of the Preserve

For decades, the cities of San Mateo and Belmont have protected the upper reaches of San Juan Canyon and adjacent Sugarloaf Mountain from development. San Mateo set aside Sugarloaf Mountain as Laurelwood Park and Sugarloaf Open Space with extensive natural surface trails. Belmont, on the other hand, prohibited private lots from being developed unless a driveway connects to a legally paved street. This prevented development along the “paper streets” in its upper canyons and created de facto open space in San Juan Canyon. Yet there is a short section of paved street past the last developed lot on Lower Lock Avenue in Belmont. It’s just wide enough for a driveway, thereby meeting the legal criteria for development. A local property owner, Scott Piazza, purchased the lot with paved frontage and many others over the course of seven years, forming a block of over 10 acres without knowing if it could ever be developed. He planned to use it as a private park and had a trail system designed and built on it in 2007-08. The City of Belmont later ascertained that a house could be built on the Preserve, but not just any house. To blend into the neighborhood while sustaining the open space nature of the Preserve, Mr. Piazza commissioned architect and fine artist James Shay, FAIA to design a comfortable, single-story, contemporary home. Carefully designed for the ridgetop site, the house has extensive glass, patios and terraces with a panoramic view of San Francisco Bay and pristine Sugarloaf Mountain. The four-bedroom, 4½-bath, 4,458 sq. ft. house features natural stone and wood textures, an extra-private guest wing which doubles as an ideal home office, permeable pavements and a “green” roof landscaped with native plants. Subsequently, however, the Piazza family decided to downsize in another location rather than build the home. They therefore seek to sell the land, the full set of building and landscaping plans as a package.