friendly family neighborhood communities in MV (Orange, Mission Viejo: gated, budget, for sale)

[runnergrl]

My husband and I will be checking out MV and its surrounds (ladera Ranch and maybe RSM). For those of you that live there...please let me know if there are neighborhood communities that are active, and friendly, and of course I need the good schools too. I want a community that is fun to live in, folks socialize together and (I know this one is always the challenge) but normal down to earth folks. I really miss this...as I had this in other places outside CA. Is there any hope for this type of community in MV?

[kturbe]

Sounds like what you are looking for in MV is Ladera Ranch, but also check out Stoneridge and Painted Trails. The reason I noted these three is because they are all newer close knit neighborhoods, but really everywhere in MV is pretty family friendly. Some of the neighborhoods are older so the they may not have young children but these certainly do.

If you are checking out RSM, I would also recommend you check out Portola Hills and Foothill Ranch, all there very family centered and the elem. schools are excellent.

Should you need any further info, please do not hesitate to contact me direct.

[runnergrl]

Thank you! we'll do!

[missionhome]

Some of Mission Viejo's most family oriented communities are Stoneridge, Calafia, Painted Trails, Canyon Crest, Pacific Hills, and Quail Run. These neighborhoods are newer and thus have a lot more kids. The older areas of Mission Viejo have kids also, it isn't a ghost town, but just not as full of kids. In Quail Run for example, streets aren't the domain of cars, but rather kids playing basketball or riding bikes.
Stoneridge is a gated community and many homes have city light views being up on the hill, lake views, or views of Oneil Regional Park. The neighborhood attends Barcelona Hills Elementary, Newhart Middle School, and Capistrano Valley High.

Calafia is located at the eastern border of Mission Viejo also up against Oneil Regional Park (this canyon regional park has great bike trails and running trails, but I would run with at least a friend due to the fact we have mountain lions in anything undeveloped out here). Calafia attends Bathgate Elementary which is one of the best in the city, Newhart Middle, and Capistrano Valley High.

Painted Trails is located at the northern most border of Mission Viejo. Oso Reservoir (looks like a small lake) is behind many of the homes and there are tons of trails in the area. The community has a nice pool area and central park also. There can be noise for homes close to the 241 toll road that is up against one end of the neighborhood (These ones are usually less expensive). The only thing I don't like so much is that they attend elementary and high school outside of Mission Viejo. Attendance is to Trabuco Elementary (Rancho Santa Margarita), Los Alisos Intermediate (MV), and El Toro High School (Lake Forest). These are good schools, the only thing I wouldn't like is that your kids are sort of like the only "Mission Viejo" kids at the school. It just seems to sort of ruin the "neighborhood school" type feel when all the other neighborhoods around you go to schools in Mission Viejo, but your kids go to school in Lake Forest or Rancho. Painted Trails is the only Mission Viejo neighborhood attending school outside of Mission Viejo city limits. I don't know, its up to you, but it would bug me a little. Many people in Painted Trails transfer to Trabuco Hills High School in the same district and in Mission Viejo. It is like ten minutes closer to Painted Trails than El Toro High.

Canyon Crest is a guard gated community overlooking Lake Mission Viejo. Many homes have views. The association dues are fairly high, but they do have an amazing clubhouse with 4 tennis courts, huge gym, two Olympic size pools, and ballrooms for parties. It is very nice and at the base of the neighborhood is Florence Joyner Olympic Park (In honor of the Mission Viejo Olympian who lived in Canyon Crest until her tragic death). Flo Jo Park is my favorite park in the city and is beautiful. Lots of kids in this neighborhood and it attends Castille Elementary, Newhart Middle, and Capo Valley High.

Pacific Hills is one of the largest developments in the city. It is on a large hill, but in a great location because it is in the center of the city. There are some areas that I would say are more conductive to a neighborhood feel due to being flatter. The homes on the hills leading up to the top of the neighborhood are spread out due to the big hill and they are busier streets so you don't see kids out on them as much. Turn onto a flat side street and there are many kids playing though. There are several homes for sale at excellent prices currently in here. Attends Philip Rielly Elementary, Bathgate Elementary, or Castille Elementary (it is split up, but mainly to Reilly), Newhart Middle, and Capo Valley High.

Quail Run is a smaller gated neighborhood across from Calafia. It has a small park and is clean. The gate system is very annoying in this neighborhood for visitors (My son's best friend lives in here, I would know how annoying it is!!). Lots of kids though and homes up against the ridge have nice views of the canyon. Attends Reilly Elementary, Newhart Middle, and Capo Valley High.

So those are my top picks for Mission Viejo's most family oriented neighborhoods. There are other ones that are still good, so if you find a house, perhaps ask about the address or cross streets and let you know how that neighborhood is.


Now, Ladera Ranch. I highly recommend Ladera Ranch. It is the newest South OC community and has lots of kids. It is also the epitome of the master planned community if that is what you are looking for. You must see it to believe it. The catch is this: Only buy in the portion of Ladera that attends Tesoro High School in Las Flores (which is in RSM). South Ladera recently was moved to San Juan Hills High School in San Juan Capistrano. The school doesn't have any test scores because this is its first year and it has only freshmen. The "talk of the town" so to speak is about what a disaster this school has become. The Principal who at first said he was committed and would be there until retirement, announce his resignation after only 5 months basically alluding to he couldn't handle the kids anymore. I have friends from Ladera who had their children there, and at the start of the new semester, all but one of them pulled their kid out and moved them to Tesoro High School, Capo Valley High School, or private school. Tesoro gained 30 transfers from SJHHS and Capo got 15 transfers from SJHHS of kids who couldn't handle all the problems (which I will name in a minute). This is out of a class of 500, and 45 transfered! I think the school will hurt south Ladera' home values a lot more than north Ladera attending Tesoro which is an award winning high performing school. If you think you'll have your kids here a while, then south Ladera and its new high school in San Juan is not for you, basically stay north. So, the problems: The majority of the classes have had to be classes for English Learners who parent's estimate make up 45% of the school and then for the really smart kids who were promised a state of the art high school (the other 25%, most of whom transfered). The other normal kids got lumped together and forgotten. There have also been lots of racial tensions at the school which is really sad. The school is estimated to be 60% Hispanic (remember, no official reports come out until after testing season, so this is just off what other parents say that have kids there), and the other 40% comes from Ladera Ranch (which is probably the whitest community on earth), and the white kids that live in the huge mansions on the hills in San Juan Capistrano. So apparently there have been lots of fights and the police have been called out due to gang problems. This is a bad reflection on all the kids for not getting along. Also, with the district budget cut due to our Governor's cut to education, the school will probably not be completed (stadium, pool, theater, baseball field, etc...) for several years.

Basically, if you go to Ladera, check the boundaries.

Good luck, not to discourage you on Ladera, it is great!!! Just stay in the Tesoro side which I think was done better than the newer south side.

[runnergrl]

Darn...I already had anew home development picked out in Ladera ranch to look at this weekend...and of course it is SOUTH of the desired school area.

Do you know the name of the some of the developments inside LR that are above this boundary line? It looks like if you are in chaparral elem school area, it is ok. Given the problems they have had with the zoning, dont you think they might change things around? I mean, I guess it is a good thing your friends were able to transfer out. Makes me wonder if you can just sign your kids up as out of district and go to that school. Is there an open district there with the other high schools that took the transfers? Are those schools(Tesoro and capo Valley) over crowded? My kids (twins)are in 2nd grade now...so that is at least 6 yrs out. Private is extraordinarily expensive especially if you already are budgeting for college.

Thank you so much, Missionhome, for your very informative response.

[Axiom]

Tough call if your kids are only in 2nd grade right now.

You're right, boundaries could certainly change between now and then.
Which schools are perceived as 'the' schools to attend could also change.

I don't know nearly as much about neighborhoods/school boundaries as missionhome. I do know some of the boundary lines seem really crazy to me though. ie: HS kids who pass several much closer schools on their way to their home school 10+ miles away, or district boundaries cutting between houses on the same street right in the middle of a neighborhood.

Good Luck with your search and your research!

[missionhome]

Well, the boundaries are never for certain. Much could change in the next seven years before your kids would get to high school. If you look at Capistrano Unified's new high school boundaries though, it looks like they got it right this time with the opening of San Juan Hills High. It was difficult of course when they first changed them, because people were moved that didn't want to, but right now, everyone seems pretty happy. Some areas that could be considered having odd boundaries.

1. North Mission Viejo in Capistrano Unified (this is where I live): Mission Viejo High School is honestly closest to 75% of Mission Viejo, but only serves a small portion of it. The school just has a prime central location. I pass the street to MVHS when going to my kid's high school (Capo Valley High). MVHS is like 8 minutes away and CVHS is around 15 minutes. MVHS is in Saddleback Valley Unified though so I don't think there is a chance, unless CUSD gave SVUSD all of their Mission Viejo boundaries. At the border change three years ago, CUSD moved north Mission Viejo back to Capo Valley (where it had gone for over twenty years) from Tesoro High School (built as relieve to Capo Valley). When Tesoro became more crowded, they moved Mission Viejo students back to Capo Valley. This was part of the district's "same city/same middle/high school" plan. Most parents are thrilled with this movement. In 2001, Mission Viejo attendance was split into four high schools: Tesoro, Capo, Mission Viejo, and Trabuco Hills. With the removal of Tesoro, Mission Viejo students in CUSD no longer split at the high school level from friends they had in middle school. It has unified the CUSD portion of the city to one high school instead of two and brought a greater sense of community to the area because there isn't so much rivalry. All in all, the change has been very popular except with Mission Viejo parents who had there children go to Tesoro in 2001-2005 and want their younger children to follow in their footsteps and go to the same school.

Tesoro High School: Boundaries are perfect for here right now. Coto de Caza, Wagon Wheel, RSM, and north Ladera are all closest to this school and part of the foothill/ past Oneil Regional Park area. These communities are all newer also. South Ladera would be a natural fit at this school. But it is overcrowded right now and south Ladera would add a lot of students to attendance.

San Juan Hills: San Juan is a small city (like 30,000 residents) and it alone cannot support the new high school to get it up to 3,000 students (so all high schools are balanced). That is why they added south Ladera and the Capistrano Beach area to the school is to balance the school population. Ladera is seeing increased enrollment at the elementary level (meaning more kids in high school a few years from now), San Juan Capistrano is remaining steady at the elementary level, and Capistrano Beach is decreasing severely in elementary enrollment. The only area that could likely be moved is Capistrano Beach, part of the city of Dana Point, that is closer to two CUSD high schools. Also, they are upset about attending a inland school 20 minutes away, when there are two schools where their kids friends are in the beach communities only five to ten minutes away.

The rest of the district is pretty much right on and fine with the new boundaries.

And also, in CUSD, no neighborhoods are cut up at the high school level in Mission Viejo, San Clemente, Dana Point (not including Capo Beach), Coto de Caza, RSM, Las Flores, or Aliso Viejo. All the CUSD portions of these cities attend one high school. Ladera Ranch, San Juan Capistrano (in some areas), and Laguna Niguel are the only areas that are split between two high schools).

Attendance Boundary for high schools in CUSD (which serves Ladera): http://www.capousd-services.org/maps...0708_Final.pdf


Also, ANYONE THINKING OF ATTENDING CUSD OR ANY OTHER IMPACTED DISTRICT BY GOVERNOR'S FINANCIAL CUTS: The governor plans to cut 4.8 billion from eduction (not approved yet). This has caused district's to have to make severe cuts in their budget and has been labeled a crisis. In Orange County, almost 2,000 teachers are planned to be fired if this passes.
In Mission Viejo this affects CUSD and SVUSD in the following ways:
CUSD Proposed cuts:
1. Fire 266 K-12 teachers (Increases K-3rd grade from an average of 20 students to 30, and adds 1 student to the average in all other grades, so 31)
2. Eliminate half of the districts 120 bus routes firing 57 bus employees
3. Fire 30 groundskeepers at district schools. Have some elementary school groundskeepers cover more than one school in a day.
4. Fire 36 support staff at schools
5. Fire 36 support staff at district headquarters
6. The rest of the savings come from re managing money, but does not effect the students in a negative way.
Total cuts: 27 Million Dollars

The bad: Increases class sizes are not good at the elementary level. This is something to note is very possible, so those twenty class averages could sky rocket into the thirties.
Also, if you plan to have your kids ride the bus, your route may be cut.


In SVUSD they plan to: They are cutting IB classes, removing junior varsity sports, cutting vocal music, firing 200+ teachers, fire administrators and have one principal cover more than one school, eliminating all bus routes.

Again, not fun stuff and school districts are going to be dirt poor if this goes through. Something to think about...

[sakeegrl]

I live in Painted Trails which borders Rancho Santa Margarita and Portola Hills. I love our community. We have two nice pools, several parks and a trail around the entire community. We have a low tax rate also. We are zoned for Trabuco Elementary, but 90% of the kids go to Portola Hills Elementary. There are many different styles of houses, detached condos, townhomes, single family homes 2,000 - 2,800 sq. feet and 3 story homes at over 3,500 sq. feet. Portola Hills is also a very nice, down to earth, community. Painted Trails, Mission Viejo, California

[shadow42]

not sure where mission gets his/her info from. the article in the oc register explains that the principal did, in fact, retire......see below

News: San Juan Hills High principal tells parents he will retire next week | ferruzzo, school, san, juan, hills - OCRegister.com

I live on the south side of ladera and have heard no such problems. Ladera is a beautiful community!