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is a census-designated place which encompasses of land along the western boundary of El Dorado County, California. Its actual extent as the El Dorado Hills Community Region is about 44 square miles, containing a population estimated by the El Dorado Hills Fire Department to have been 42,078 at the beginning of 2008. Population of the smaller area of the El Dorado Hills Community Services District was 35,276 at the start of 2006. Either measure makes it the largest community in El Dorado County, about 4 times larger than the City of Placerville. It is located in El Dorado County east of California's State Capitol, Sacramento.
El Dorado Hills residents and businesses are most closely affiliated with El Dorado County, a generally rural area. However, the U.S. Census Bureau considers El Dorado County to be part of the Sacramento Metropolitan Area because it is an outlying county socially and economically integrated with Sacramento County and the City of Folsom. El Dorado Hills, or EDH as it is otherwise known, is recognized nationally for its high median household income, ranking 77th in CNN Money Magazine's best places to live in 2007.
The modern history of El Dorado Hills dates back to the early 1960s when original developer Alan Lindsey began its development as a master planned community. The original master plan, prepared by architect Victory Gruen, covered the area generally north of U.S. Highway 50, and part of the area south of US 50 now considered to be part of the community. El Dorado Hills was envisioned as a large-scale master-planned community that would be completely planned from its inception as a group of residential "villages". Other land uses in the master plan included a business park, two 18-hole golf courses, community parks, schools, a community shopping center, and small commercial centers in each village. The master plan emphasized open space between villages and opportunity for outdoor recreation.
Between the late '60s and mid-1990s growth occurred at a moderate pace as new families relocated from Sacramento, Southern California and the Bay Area. This growth consisted primarily of residential housing, as retail developments were limited to two shopping centers on the corners Green Valley & Francisco and El Dorado Hills Blvd. & Hwy. 50. Each neighborhood created during this time period was given a name and referred to as a "village" by local inhabitants. The original villages of El Dorado Hills include Park, Ridgeview, Saint Andrews, Crown, Governors, Franciscan, Marina, and Lake Hills Estates. In the 1980s and 1990s the major part of Lake Hills Estates north of Green Valley Road, was reorganized into Lake Forest Village, containing the neighborhoods of Waterford, The Summit, Green Valley Hills, Winterhaven, Marina Woods and Windsor Point. Additional villages that have developed subsequently include Fairchild, Sterlingshire, Highland Hills, Highland View and the master-planned community of Serrano.
By the 1990 census, El Dorado Hills had an estimated population of 6,395 residents. Growth slowed during the early part of the '90s due to an economic recession throughout California, but resumed at a staggering pace by the mid 1990s. Businesses, particularly those interested in escaping the high costs of Silicon Valley began to set up operations in the El Dorado Hills Business Park south of Highway 50. In 1995, the Parker Development Company acquired along the eastern boundary of El Dorado Hills to create Serrano, one of the largest master planned communities in Northern California. Serrano was the site of an innovative case of recycled water irrigation on a large scale.