City, Orange County
© McCormack's Guides
Zip Code: 92630
Suburban city that mixes new and fairly new housing and in many of its
older neighborhoods comes across as handsome because these sections are shaded
by and graced with tall eucalyptus trees. New neighborhoods rise into hills and
offer homes views of countryside. www.mccormacks.com
Residents complain about traffic but location and two highways make
Lake Forest one of the better commutes of the South County. The town is roughly
rectangular. The drive from one side to the other is about seven miles and if
the roads congest these can be tedious miles. El Toro Road, a major arterial,
was recently widened and improved (more turn lanes).
School scores fairly high, crime fairly low.
Click for regional or detailed map
Nearing buildout, Lake Forest is looking to add more parks, move
traffic faster and generally make life more enjoyable for its residents, who
number 78,317.
Lake Forest, which used to be known as El Toro, is located between
Irvine and Mission Viejo and next to the former Marine Air Station called El
Toro. The city extends into the steep hills beyond Highway 241, a toll road and
is bordered on its west side by Interstate 5. Both highways connect to the
other freeways serving Orange County.
Note the Irvine proximity. That city is building a giant park that
almost assuredly will draw many residents of Lake Forest. Many jobs are
situated in about Irvine and around the John Wayne Airport, on Irvine’s north
side. www.mccormacks.com
In 2000, Lake Forest annexed the new neighborhoods of Portola Hills and
Foothill Ranch, in the east hills, and increased its size by 2,700 acres and
its housing stock by 6,100 units, the great majority single detached or
attached homes.
Lake Forest is encouraging these neighborhoods to keep their identities
and zip codes. For this reason, you will read about homes for sale in Portola
Hills and Foothill Ranch, or what's happening in these “communities.” But keep
in mind that they are now part of Lake Forest.
Library opened in Foothill Ranch in 2003, includes community room and
computer stations. Portola Hills, after waiting 13 years, got a park in 2002.
Lake Forest has one
neighborhood built around artificial lakes, which explains the name of the
town. On older maps, Lake Forest may show up as El Toro and, indeed, many
people still call the town El Toro and not a few want to give up “Lake Forest”
and switch back.
Children attend schools in Saddleback Valley School District, which
also educates the annexed neighborhoods and Mission Viejo and Laguna Hills.
Local rankings indicate that Lake Forest schools, with occasional exceptions,
are scoring in the 70th, 80th and 90th percentiles. Several schools have won
state honors. Gates Elementary won national Blue Ribbon. See Schools. www.mccormacks.com
Two homicides in 2005, zero in 2004, 2003, three in 2002, one in 2001,
two in 2000, three in 1999, one in 1998, zero in 1997 and 1996, two in 1995,
zero in 1994 and 1993. County jail next to air station. See Crime.
“El Toro” started the 1960s with about 200 homes. Suburbia arrived in
that decade in the form of 2,000 residential units. The next decade brought
about 9,200 homes, townhouses and apartments. In the 1980s, about 8,100
residential units were built — all under the county government, the town
at that time being unincorporated.
County governments are regional creatures that function fitfully as
municipal governments and when they get into large-scale residential
construction, they frequently provoke revolts. In late 1980s, El Toro residents
pushed for cityhood and were successful.
In the 1990s, Lake Forest constructed about 1,100 homes and then
annexed Portola Hills and Foothill Ranch. The state in 2008 counted 26,384
housing units in Lake Forest, 14,165 single detached, 3,923 single attached, 7,010
multiples and 1,286 mobile homes.
Reviewing plans in 2006, researchers guessed that Lake Forest could add
about 5,400 housing units and raise its population to 85,000, at which time it
would be about built out. www.mccormacks.com
In appearance, Lake Forest comes across as fairly new or new. Over 80
percent of its homes, apartments and condos were built in the last 25-30 years.
Lake Forest has attracted offices, hotels and high-tech firms, creating local
jobs, and annexed a large mall on its north side.
When Lake Forest (El Toro) started its boom, construction proceeded
northerly toward the Santa Ana mountains and away from Interstate 5. The
initial homes tend to one- and two-story models, two-car garages, utility lines
buried, walls surrounding the tracts (a method of buffering residential streets
from arterial traffic).
A fair number of these homes are large ranchers built among extensive
eucalyptus groves. Orange County is semi-desert; most communities confine
themselves to shrubs and short trees. Lake Forest is the towering exception.
As you move north, this mix continues but garages in some places add a
third stall, and the homes take on a more contemporary look, tile roofs instead
of wood shingle, tinted stucco instead of wood siding. Some streets rise into
gentle hills that afford views of the countryside and the mountains. For the
newest homes, some with sweeping views, drive Portola Hills and Foothill Ranch.
For the offbeat, take a look at the lakes subdivision between Toledo Way and
Jeronimo Road. Smartly done. Paddleboats and fishing.
In Lake Forest proper, owner-occupied housing units outnumber rental 72
percent to 28; in Foothill Ranch, 77 percent to 23, and in Portola Hills, 93
percent to 7 (census 2000). In Lake Forest, the under 21 total 31 percent of
all residents, in Foothill Ranch, 33 percent, and in Portola Hills, 35 percent.
These numbers translate into many activities for kids. www.mccormacks.com
Arterial roads, one lined with aspens, feed into the freeway,
Interstate 5. Foothill Transportation Corridor scoops up some of the traffic
from the north side. This highway has been extended and now has become a major
traffic mover to Anaheim and Riverside-San Bernardino counties.
Lake Forest is close to University of California, Irvine, and to
ornaments of south county — beaches, movies, performing arts center, top
restaurants, Spectrum Center. At least 20 parks, including regional park and
several linear parks. Skate park. Nature park. Usual sports. Golf course,
driving range. Branch campus of Cal State Fullerton. Summer garage sale. New
community center and civic center.
For more on giant park, see profile of Irvine.
Regional malls in Irvine and Laguna Hills. Several neighborhood
shopping centers. Home Depot opened in 2006.
Chamber of commerce (949) 635-5800.
• About 833 acres near Portola Hills are zoned for commercial and
industrial. This may be changed to housing, parks, a sports center and
commercial. One plan calls for over 5,000 housing units. Some residents want
fewer. www.mccormacks.com
• Among recent additions, 2006, at Foothill Ranch, an ice cream store,
several restaurants (kabob, soul, steak, sandwich) and a coffee-tea house.
• Saddleback school district is upgrading schools, improving classrooms
and at some schools adding gyms and multipurpose rooms.
• Enrollments declining in Saddleback district, which is warning
parents it may have to change attendance boundaries and close schools. Check
with district for information.
• Laguna Hills woman
suffers from lupus, which interferes with pregnancy; four miscarriages. She and
husband want a child. Her mom, age 54, a resident of Lake Forest, agrees to
serve as surrogate using artificial insemination. In 2006, she gave birth to
her grandson.
City web site: www.city-lakeforest.com
