Our Story

A history of accomplishments

HHPOA was organized in November 1954. Back then, the Castle Homes subdivision was nothing but bare hills and dirt roads. Residents would get stuck in the mud after winter rains and expensive electric heat was the only way to keep warm. Even with those hardships, Fairview residents knew that the rural setting and incredible views were something work protecting and consequently created the Association.

On October 1, 1959, at the request of resident Ralph Senechal, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, upon recommendation of the Planning Commission, approved the name change of Smissaert Court to China Court. The role, if any, of HHPOA in this action is unknown.

The first two initiatives were to get the roads paved and to bring natural gas to the area. Protecting minimum one acre lots to preserve the feel of the community was an important win over those who sought to profit from subdividing.

HHPOA then worked to removed a large commercial rabbit farm and discouraged other large commercial animal businesses.

It wasn't that long ago that the hills were brown and without shade. In 1970, HHPOA provided 3,000 Monterey Pine, Douglas Fir, and Redwood trees to the property owners in Fairview.

That same year, County Planning Staff recommended opening the barrier between upper East Avenue (now Star Ridge Road) and lower East Avenue. This change would have made this a busy street and would have required homeowners to pay for street widening to 32 feet, adding curbs, and sidewalks. Some homes would have had to been demolished and others would have had sidewalks right at their front doors. Fortunately, HHPOA prevented this from happening.

By 1983, our roads were in great need of repair and it became clear that not every property owner would, or could, donate enough money to pay the costs. The HHPOA worked with the county to create the Castle Homes County Service Area (CSA).

There are three CSA's: (1) China Court; (2) Arbutus and Quercus Courts; and (3) Star Ridge and Clover Roads. The county assumes responsibility for collecting money to maintain the roads and holds it in a trust until the CSA homeowners decide to use it. A annual review occurs each Spring for each of the three CSA's with repairs generally happening in August or September.

In the 1980's and 1990's, out-of-the-area developers tried to get away from the one acre requirement, but HHPOA held firm. This resulted in Greenbrier lots being much larger than the developer had wanted. HHPOA had to defend the requirement again when the Blackstone and Five Canyons developments were built.

When the subdivisions of Prominence and Stonebrae were added, bringing us more traffic, HHPOA worked to lower the speed limit from 45 to 35, allowing residents safer entry to Fairview from side streets.

The next road issue came as a proposal to close Fairview Avenue at the County-City border. After much HHPOA involvement and community debate, on March 14, 1999 the neighborhood voted to use over one million dollars in mitigation money, provided by Five Canyons, to build two roundabouts; one at Fairview and Star Ridge and the other at Fairview and Hanson. The funds also allowed us to create a horse trail along fairview.

For many years, upper East Avenue was a source of confusion for emergency services since it didn't directly connect with lower East Avenue. After an ambulance got lost, residents of upper East Avenue took action and voted to change the name to Star Ridge Road in the early 2000's.

Fairview got its name from the spectacular views, which in recent years, were becoming diminished. Working with Supervisor Nate Miley, his staff, the County Planning Commission, HHPOA, and Alameda County established the fact that these views have a value. This led to the county establishing an ordinance and process by which residents can work to protect the remaining views.

In 2013, HHPOA discovered that our residents were paying a 50% surcharge on our water bills! The community rallied together and presented our case to the Hayward City Council. After a long review period, we were able to get this surcharge reduced to just 15%. The net impact was a 25% reduction in the average bill!