City and Community, Orange County
© McCormack's Guides
Zip Code: 92688
Rancho
Santa Margarita is a large master-planned community in the foothills of the
Santa Ana Mountains. A lot of new or fairly new housing. The first homes went
on sale in 1986. Many of the remaining homes were built in the 1990s. Still
building but at a slower pace. www.mccormacks.com
Population 49,945. School scores in the 80 and 90th percentile, generally the
top 15 percent in the state. Crime low.
Many
families and children, one of the characteristics of planned communities. Their
schools are new, well equipped and designed for high tech and this pleases
parents. The 2000 census placed 36 percent of the residents under age 21.
Median age of residents: 32 years.
Click for regional or detailed map
Built over hills, valleys and
mesas in a long canyon just east of Mission Viejo. Strong feeling of country,
one of its selling points.
On its
west side, Rancho Santa Margarita is bordered by a long regional park, 3,100
acres, much of situated in an arroyo with trails. On its east side, the city is
bordered by a large preserve and a national forest — miles of open
space.
Rancho
Santa Margarita started as one unified community then later annexed Dove
Canyon, a luxury gated development on the southeast side of town. www.mccormacks.com
Many
master-planned communities are semi-governed by homeowner associations that are
responsible for jobs traditionally performed by cities.
The
original Rancho Santa Margarita has its own homeowners association responsible
for all its parks. Dove Canyon has its association responsible for its parks.
What’s
open to one is not open to the other, at least in principle. Dove Canyon, being
gated, can enforce its restrictions. Ranch Santa Margarita, ungated, has many
parks where it’s difficult to check identifications.
The city
government joins in with recreation and activities open to all. The county and
at least one school district sponsor activities. The same for the Bell Tower
Foundation, which offers possibly the most activities, many of them at its
community center. Private firms chip in with dance and ballet and other
pursuits. The YMCA is also a player.
There’s a
lot to do, the parks are numerous, the amusements and games many but you may
need a computer to sort out who provides what. See list of activities at
bottom. www.mccormacks.com
Dove
Canyon can be summed up as affluent, pretty, well-cared-for, many custom homes,
golf course, country club, tennis courts, secure (gates and guards), secluded
(backs up a wilderness park with trails) and expensive, prices in the millions.
Rancho
Santa Margarita is a more diverse community: single homes, townhouses and
apartments. Within the entire city, the state in 2010 counted 16,792 housing
units, of which 9,117 were single detached homes, 3,883 single attached and
3,792 multiples.
Dove
Canyon, technically, is a large neighborhood in the legal city of Rancho Santa
Margarita. Dove Canyon residents, technically, are Rancho Santa Margarita
residents. In everyday conversation, however, people and newspapers will
differentiate between the two.
There’s a
third neighborhood, on the northeast side, called Robinson Ranch. It also has a
homeowners’ association.
With
resorting to puffery, Rancho Santa Margarita is a handsome town that many will
find pleasing because it was designed intelligently and because it was built
about three or four decades after suburbs boomed in the U.S. www.mccormacks.com
The
initial suburbs, circa 1940 and 1950, wrestled with cars and traffic and were
often designed piece meal, the new grafted onto the old in ways that made some
sense but left many dissatisfied. The television had just come on the scene,
awkwardly re-orienting the focus of living rooms. Lots were big, which assumed
people liked to mow and trim. Kitchens were small, closets were few.
Maintenance was left to individual owners, who sometimes neglected their
properties.
Over the
following decades, as architects and planners gathered more experience and
buyers made their wishes known, many changes were made, especially in the large
master-planned communities.
These
communities come with parkways that speed vehicles to the freeways and employ
designs that shunt traffic away from residential streets. Their lots are small,
requiring little maintenance, and their communal grounds assigned to an
association that does the upkeep.
Kitchens
are often bigger and closets plentiful and larger. The living room or family
room positions the television or entertainment center near the fireplace or
mantle. (Flat-screen televisions, which can be hung almost as art, are forcing
more changes in media placements; nothing stands still.)
Rancho
Santa Margarita illustrates many of the new touches, among them, parks,
conveniently placed around town and usually next to schools and many trails and
sidewalks for people who like to take a short stroll in the evening after work.
Also convenient shopping in neighborhood plazas. And short drives to regional
malls. www.mccormacks.com
Old
suburbs drape their utility lines overhead and cover their roofs with composite
shingles. Rancho Santa Margarita buries its lines and favors terra cotta tiles
and creamy stucco, the popular Mediterranean look. Many homes have views of
countryside and Santa Ana Mountains.
A town for
one and all? No, and it makes no claim to be. If you like the feel and jumble
and excitement of cities, not for you. But if you like the suburbs and want a
place that does suburbia well, Rancho Santa Margarita is worth a look.
Education
by the Saddleback Unified School District and the Capistrano Unified School
District. Call the districts and find out which schools your children will
attend. See Choosing a School.
Both
school districts have passed construction bonds, Saddleback the latest, in
2004. As of 2007, the work was still being done. Several years ago, Capistrano
district got into a snarly argument over changing attendance boundaries but
with the hiring of a new superintendent in 2007, things may settle down. See San Juan Capistrano.
Zero
homicides in 2005, one in 2004, two in 2003, one in 2002, zero for 2001 and
2000. City contracts with sheriff for protection. Dove Canyon is gated and
employs security guards and also gets sheriff's patrols. www.mccormacks.com
Compared to
many other towns, a good commute. Highway 241, a toll road, takes the pressure
off of Interstate 5 and leads up to Irvine and the jobs centers around John
Wayne Airport. The highway also connects to Highway 91, one of the main
freeways to Riverside County. Two parkways move — really move —
traffic around town and the south county.
One golf
course in Dove Canyon, another in south part of town. Usual kids’ sports:
soccer, baseball, softball, football, cheerleading, etc.
The
various agencies offer such activities as babysitting training, women’s health,
divorce advice, how to de-stress and sleep better, balance and joy in marriage,
dealing with teens, gardening, how to ride and take care of horses, several
classes on music for kids and raising kids (anger, social skills, emotional
skills, etc.), sewing, drawing, oil painting, homework assistance, teen club, cheerleading, karate, yoga, adult sports and fearless living.
About ten
neighborhood parks. The long park on the east side is particularly popular. Its
trails wind beneath trees and bridges and along streams; pretty. Picnic and
campgrounds.
Fishing
and canoeing on lake. No motorboats. Library. Civic center fairly new. Skate
park and a dog run at Cañada Vista Park. Movieplex. Annual 5K run. Summer
concerts. New Year Eve celebration. Saddleback College offers classes in the
community. www.mccormacks.com
Two
shopping centers, close to each other in the center of town, off El Paseo. The
plazas, which blend into one another, include a Target, a Mervyns, a Kohl’s, and
a Lowe's (home remodeling, repair, appliances, etc.). Borders Books. Trader
Joe’s. Many restaurants and miscellaneous stores. Also stock brokerages,
realtors, banks. Neighborhood plazas with large supermarkets. Short drive to
regional mall with Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Land has
been set aside for business parks, which provide local jobs and cut the commute
for residents. Rancho Santa Margarita has about 200 companies employing 5,000.
Miscellaneous:
• In 2007,
concerns surfacing over portables at the schools. School enrollments are
tricky. New neighborhoods attract many young families but as the neighborhoods
mature, the kids move on and the parents stay. This turnover can happen in the
space of two decades. School districts, to economize, can close schools or even
out enrollments by changing attendance boundaries or skimp with portables to
ride out surges. These actions irritate and sometimes infuriate parents.
Declining enrollments may give parents more choices. Some schools with very
high scores may be losing enrollments and have the welcome mat out for
transfers.
• In 2006,
Frommers, a guidebook, placed Rancho Santa Margarita in the top 100 cities in
America for families. Climate, parks, cleanliness, good schools — among
the reasons cited.
• Rancho
Santa Margarita — eight syllables, a lot. The locals shorten it to
“Rancho.” www.mccormacks.com
• Large
Catholic school — Rancho Santa Margarita High. In 2006, it was adding a
pool, a science wing, television studio, student center with classrooms. Also
large Catholic, Christian and Episcopal elementaries and several other private
schools.
• Rancho
would like to have more sports fields. Developer wants to build 197 homes just
outside city limits and annex to city. Running into opposition. Let me in and
I’ll throw in a park, says developer.
• Coto De
Caza is bordered on both sides by Rancho Santa Margarita and does much of its
shopping in the town.
• To visit
Rancho Santa Margarita, take El Toro Road or Alicia Parkway or Oso-Antonio
Parkway and drive northeast, inland. Chamber of commerce (949) 635-5800.
New
master-planned communities, called Las Flores and Ladera Ranch, are going up on
the south side. South Orange County has been adding homes left and right in
recent years and the construction is continuing, thousands of homes. See
comments on profiles of Mission Viejo and Ladera Ranch. www.mccormacks.com
•
Homeowners' association owns lake, four swimming pools and tennis courts. If
you are not a member of the association, you are not supposed to frequent these
places. Some people sneak in. Association has issued computerized cards to foil
the interlopers.
• Peachy.
Wanting Rancho Santa Margarita to blend into the countyside, the founding
developer restricted exterior colors to peach and salmon. By and by, homeowners
got tired of these colors. Because the homes looked alike, residents would
sometimes turn into the wrong driveway. In 2001, the homeowners' association
said OK to tan, gray, blue and other colors.
• Point of
confusion. There’s another Santa Margarita in California, about 200 miles north
of Ranch Santa Margarita.
• Mello
Roos and miscellaneous fees are collected to pay for infrastructure, schools
and maintenance. The charges, which vary by neighborhood, show up on the
property tax bills. Realtors will give you the details.
City web
site: www.cityofrsm.org
