A guide to Ladera Ranch, California

Ladera Ranch is a master-planned community in Orange County, California, that is situated near San Juan Capistano, Rancho Santa Margarita, and Mission Viejo. The community offers an alternative to urban dwellers looking for a home in a less metropolitan-style setting. Read this article to learn more about Ladera Ranch.

History

The community of Ladera Ranch was proposed for building on 23,000 acres of the Rancho Mission Viejo cattle ranch, the largest working ranch in Orange County. Construction began in 1999 and the first residents moved in before the close of the year. Houses have continued to be built at a regular pace since that time, with hundreds of families and single residents moving in each year. As of 2008, the population of Ladera Ranch reached 22,980 residents and the community covers nearly 5,000 acres.

Features

Ladera Ranch includes large villages made up of ten or more neighbourhoods. Houses within each neighbourhood are designed and built by their own architects. Streets are designed to be aesthetically pleasing and safe, with narrow widths, planted medians, and roundabouts. Residents have access to clubhouses, parks, pools, playgrounds, hiking trails, a dog park, and a water park.

Services

School age children who live in the Ladera Ranch community attend school in the Capistrano Unified School District. This includes several current and planned elementary, middle, and high schools. While Ladera Ranch Elementary and Middle School, Chaparral Elementary School, and OSO Grande Elementary School are within Ladera Ranch itself, the other schools are located in nearby areas. Fred Newhart Middle School and Capistrano Valley High School are both in Mission Viejo, while San Juan Hills High School is in San Juan Capistrano and Tesoro High School is in Las Flores. There are over half a dozen shopping and retail centres within the community that offer grocery stores such as Albertsons, banks including Bank of America, and beauty salons such as Angels Beauty Centre. Baja Surf Tacos is an example of fast food available, while the Beachfire Pub and Grill offers drinks as well as restaurant-style dining.

Events

Each year the residents of Ladera Ranch participate in many community events, including block parties, home decoration contests, seasonal and themed festivals, parades, and fireworks displays. The Town Green hosts a Summer Concert Series with bands of different musical genres and tones playing each week. Previous shows have included Led Zepagain, a Led Zeppelin tribute band, BetaMaxx, who play all 1980s style music, and The Blues Odyssey, which plays blues music.