Overview
About Mariposa
Mariposa covers 16.4 acres and holds 90 homes on five streets, the third smallest home count of the fifty Lake Forest communities on this site. The median lot measures 6,117 square feet, and the whole boundary sits in FEMA flood zone X.
The city's pool layer records 28 backyard pools inside the boundary, 20 spas and nine solar installations, with no shared pool. That works out to nearly one private pool for every three homes. Irvine Ranch Water District supplies the water, OCFA Station 54 on Pauling covers the addresses, and children go to Lake Forest Elementary, Serrano Intermediate and El Toro High.
View available homes in MariposaHistory
How Mariposa was built
Mariposa is Spanish for butterfly, and Spanish is the older language on this ground. All of it was Rancho Canada de los Alisos, the 10,668 acre grant Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado made to Jose Antonio Serrano in 1842 and Pio Pico enlarged in 1846. The Serranos built five adobes on the grant and ran cattle for hides and tallow, and the only one still standing, from about 1863, sits at Heritage Hill Historical Park.
Mariposa itself holds 90 homes on 16 acres and five streets, with the city's build year layer putting it in the 1980s. There are 28 backyard pools inside the boundary, close to one for every three homes, and no shared pool at all.
By the Numbers
Mariposa by the numbers
Lifestyle
The Mariposa lifestyle
Lake Forest keeps 31 parks open from dawn to dusk. The Lake Forest Sports Park and Recreation Center opened in November 2014 on 86 acres, with 57 of them given over to sports fields, and the city runs the largest free skatepark in Orange County at Etnies Skatepark.
Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park holds 1,575 acres of county open space against the north edge of the city, and the city's trail map carries 49 named trails.
Across the whole city the general plan sets 3,756 acres to residential use and 3,065 acres to open space and parks, which is why so much of Lake Forest reads as green from the ridgelines.
Schools
Schools serving Mariposa
The City of Lake Forest property record names Lake Forest Elementary for all 94 addresses in Mariposa, with Serrano Intermediate for middle school and El Toro High for high school. There is no split at any level. All three are Saddleback Valley Unified campuses.
9-12 · 1,902 students
7-8 · 868 students
K-6 · 640 students
FAQs
Common questions about Mariposa
How big is Mariposa?
The community covers 16.4 acres on the city's published boundary and holds 90 homes on 94 parcels across five streets. Only Wind Rows, with 68 homes, and Portola Center North, with 82, hold fewer of the fifty Lake Forest communities on this site.
What size are the lots?
The median parcel measures 6,117 square feet, fourteenth largest of the thirty-three Lake Forest communities on this site where a parcel median describes a detached lot rather than shared ground.
When was Mariposa laid out?
Tract 12279 was recorded on December 21, 1984 for the SP Group under Mark S. Anderson, and tract 12657 on December 23, 1986 for Irvine Civil Engineering under Dennis D. Nelson. The city's build year layer places 13.5 acres of building footprint in the 1981 to 1990 band.
Which schools serve Mariposa?
The city's property record names Lake Forest Elementary, Serrano Intermediate and El Toro High for all 94 addresses inside the boundary, with no split at any level. All three are Saddleback Valley Unified campuses.
Is there a community pool?
No. The city's pool layer records 28 pools inside the boundary and every one is a private backyard pool, alongside 20 spas and nine solar installations.