Overview
About Cantora
Cantora covers 17.3 acres and holds 163 addresses on a single mapped parcel, reached by two streets: Mayfair and Meadowbrook. The zoning is Residential Medium Density, where the municipal code allows up to 18 units to the gross acre; the measured figure is nine addresses to the acre, half the ceiling.
Two parks touch the boundary outright. Woodfield Park runs to 22.9 acres with a lighted baseball field, a concession stand, hiking trails, a restroom and a drinking fountain, and Springdale Park at 5.8 acres carries a sports field, a basketball court and a tot lot. Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park begins 256 feet away, and Aliso Viejo Community Park at 13.9 acres is 1,224 feet off. Capistrano Unified's own address locator assigns this ground to Wood Canyon Elementary for TK through grade 5, then Don Juan Avila Middle and Aliso Niguel High.
View available homes in CantoraHistory
How Cantora was built
Cantora is Spanish for a woman who sings. Its own two streets, Mayfair and Meadowbrook, are English and give nothing away.
Under all of it is Rancho Niguel, 13,316 acres granted by Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado to Juan Avila in 1842 and named for the Acjachemen village of Niguili. Juan Avila sold after the droughts and in 1895 Lewis Moulton and Jean Pierre Daguerre bought the rancho and built a cattle operation of about 22,000 acres. The Mission Viejo Company bought the last 6,600 acres in 1976, the county approved the master plan in 1979, and the first homes sold in March 1982. Cantora was built in 1990, 163 homes on 17.3 acres in two level plans, many with private back yards, close to the Aliso Viejo Town Center.
By the Numbers
Cantora by the numbers
Lifestyle
The Cantora lifestyle
Schools
Schools serving Cantora
Capistrano Unified serves Cantora, and the district's own address locator returns one set of campuses across the boundary: Wood Canyon Elementary for TK through grade 5, then Don Juan Avila Middle and Aliso Niguel High. Wood Canyon is not among the six campuses nearest this boundary, so the assignment and the nearest school are different here. The tiles below carry federal enrollment counts and distances measured from the city's published boundary. Confirm the campus for a specific address with the district before it matters to an offer.
9-12 · 2,563 students
6-8 · 803 students
6-8 · 863 students
K-5 · 569 students
K-5 · 672 students
K-5 · 533 students
FAQs
Common questions about Cantora
How big is Cantora, and how many homes are there?
Measured against the boundary the City of Aliso Viejo publishes, Cantora covers 17.3 acres. The city's address layer records 163 addresses inside it, all on a single mapped parcel, reached by two streets.
Which schools serve Cantora?
Capistrano Unified's own address locator returns Wood Canyon Elementary for TK through grade 5, then Don Juan Avila Middle and Aliso Niguel High, and it returns the same three at every interior point across the boundary. Don Juan Avila Middle enrolled 863 students on the 2024-25 federal count, Wood Canyon Elementary 425 and Aliso Niguel High 2,563.
How close are the parks?
Two touch the boundary. Woodfield Park runs to 22.9 acres with a lighted baseball field, a concession stand, hiking trails and a restroom, and Springdale Park at 5.8 acres carries a sports field, a basketball court and a tot lot. Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park begins 256 feet away and Aliso Viejo Community Park at 13.9 acres is 1,224 feet.
When was Cantora subdivided?
Tract 13241 was recorded on 27 April 1989 and covers the whole boundary on its own. Four of these fifty communities came out of the five maps Jan M. Fuller had recorded that single day. A recorded map dates the subdivision rather than the buildings on it.
What zoning applies here?
The whole 17.3 acres is zoned Residential Medium Density, where the municipal code allows up to 18 units to the gross acre. The measured address count works out to nine to the acre, half of what the code would permit.