Relocating for a job in Irvine.. want great schools but not dull suburbia. Does this exist? (Orange: home, university)

[VC2014]

Thanks everyone for your advice. This is all so helpful! Now I have so much to research, I can at least get to work on that I think we may have to bump up our rental budget!

[pacific2]

The photo of AV posted above doesn't capture the city, so don't let it fool you.

I'll offer a little bit of information & videos about Aliso Viejo for anyone who might be interested in moving into this region (People are free to put me on ignore and/or post their own info/videos).

AV is a very small (about 7.5 sq miles), relatively new (incorporated in 2001), clean, safe and hilly city with 23 parks, good schools, a budget surplus, and a town center at its core. City leadership favors towards the green, innovative and experimental; with plans, for example, for an organic ranch, a complete street (What are Complete Streets? | Smart Growth America), updating of Town Center, a new luxury residential hotel, etc.

Strange as it may seem, I do not want Aliso Viejo's population to increase; and sincerely hope that for every new resident, someone else moves out. I hope the city stays under 50K.
Naturally, AV, like most cities, has its detractors.That's okay and to be expected. Others see present value and potential here and I fall into this camp. I particularly like the innovative spirit here.

Aliso Viejo ranked one of America’s top 25 towns to live well

Aliso Viejo Boasts Highest Life Expectancy in OC
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.p...21828851329208

Aliso Viejo Giving O.C. Tech Centers a Run for the Money - Los Angeles Times

[pacific2]

Aliso Viejo is not a traditional burb, and as a former big city dweller (ex-Manhattanite), I could not stomach living here if it were. AV is a work in progress.

Town Center:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaqHklpy4kI

Soka Performing Arts Center

Soka University of America Performing Arts Center - YouTube

[pacific2]

Aliso and Wood Canyons


Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park - Mountain Biking - 2012 HD - YouTube

[HSP1161]

if Aliso Viejo isn't "dull suburbia," what is?

[pacific2]

Originally Posted by OpenSky

if Aliso Viejo isn't "dull suburbia," what is?

Irvine.

[pacific2]

Irvine has had years to get its act together and it still hasn't done it. AV is much smaller and it's only been incorporated since 2001, but still making strides. Aliso has a different mindset; totally different from that of Irvine.

[HSP1161]

Originally Posted by pacific2

Irvine.

Comparing the two, Irvine has exponentially more jobs, is more walkable and bikeable. Irvine has a wide spectrum of villages with varying characteristics. Aliso Viejo is a series of tracts that are hardly distinguishable from one another. It's cul-de-sac city in AV, with curvy street and hills smothered in stucco. Irvine is at least a degree removed from that, with villages designed with walkable grids, commercial cores, and pedestrian access. There's a world class university. An airport adjacent the city. Destination shopping.

Irvine is boring - and truth be told I'd rather be somewhere outside OC - but it's at least designed so that you can truly work/play/live/school there without sitting in traffic or even on a bike / on foot.

So on the spectrum of "dull suburbia," an Aliso Viejo resident commuting to Irvine will be doing the suburban shuffle, sitting in traffic (or paying gobs of toll road $$$) slowly rolling back to a stucco box in a classic suburban landscape. Why not live where you work? Ahh, that's right, because unless you're working for Pacific Life, you're commuting to Irvine.

[HSP1161]

Originally Posted by pacific2

Irvine has had years to get its act together and it still hasn't done it.

AV has a giant inferiority complex with Irvine. Save for Laguna Beach, folks in Irvine don't give south OC a second thought.

[Ajalvarez2]

Guys! AV vs Irvine is as senseless as MTV's Celebrity Death Match. Both are great places to live as is most of OC. Just be glad that different folks have different tastes, needs, wants or they might ALL live in your town.