Community, Orange County
© McCormack's Guides
Zip Code: 92679
Upscale,
master-planned community located
east of Rancho Santa Margarita in foothills and mesas of Santa Ana Mountains in
a region called Plano Trabuco. Built around a golf course. Country feeling.
Fairly secluded. www.mccormacks.com
Famous in
an offbeat way because of the television show, Real Housewives of Orange
County, which is set in Coto De Caza. According to local newspaper, at least
some residents loathe the show.
Population
about 15,000 residing in about 4,100 homes.
Click for regional or detailed map
Security gates activated by
transponders. Coto de Caza contracts with Highway Patrol for extra help in
enforcing traffic laws. The three
homeowners' associations set many of the rules.
Coto de Caza has many gorgeous homes,
some with sweeping views of countryside. At the lower elevations and the
valleys, the homes run to upscale suburban tract, two-story, 3-5 bedrooms with
option to convert den into bedroom. Empty lots for custom builders.
Coto de
Caza has a small general store and a private primary school but is essentially
a bedroom village. www.mccormacks.com
Coto de Caza covers about 4,000 acres,
half of which has been set aside for open space. Racquet club, two swimming
pools and nine tennis courts. Trails. Walking paths. Horse country. Summer
concerts. Sports-recreation park with soccer fields and basketball courts.
Gourmet club. Equestrian center. Polo field may be opened.
Homes and condos, about 96 percent
owner-occupied. Still building but gradually. New homes up to 8 bedrooms.
Median age
35. Those under age 21 make up 27 percent of residents. Rounded demographics.
Served by
Capistrano school district, which in recent years was embroiled in a dispute
over changing attendance boundaries. See profile on San Juan Capistrano.
State
academic rankings in the 80th and 90th percentiles, among tops in state. Many
kids attend Wagon Wheel Elementary. Tesoro High opened in 2001. Located on 75
acres near Oso Parkway, the school educates students from several communities.
In 1999, the school district passed a bond to renovate schools. See Schools. www.mccormacks.com
Catholic
high school nearby.
Shopping
plazas, library, movies and conveniences of modern suburbs can be found in
Rancho Santa Margarita, just outside gates of Coto De Caza.
Toll
highway popular. Several parkways move the traffic. To reach Coto, take El Toro
Road or Alicia Parkway or Oso-Antonio Parkway, drive inland.
Land to
south to be developed in a separate community. Plans call for 14,000 homes on
25,000 acres. Much of the land would be left in open space.
Arguments
over extending the toll road down to San Juan Capistrano.
