Overview
About Vineyards
The Vineyards covers 15.9 acres and holds 256 homes on four streets, all of them on 33 ground parcels. It is the forty-ninth largest of the fifty Lake Forest communities on this site by acreage yet twenty-fifth by home count, which works out to sixteen homes for every acre inside the line. The land use layer gives 15.6 of the acres a mixed-use designation, with the same acreage zoned R-Residential.
The association runs one community pool and one spa. Irvine Ranch Water District supplies the water, OCFA Station 54 on Pauling covers the addresses, and street sweeping runs Friday in the small hours. Addresses carry both the 92610 and 92630 ZIP codes, and children go to Foothill Ranch Elementary, Rancho Santa Margarita Intermediate and Trabuco Hills High.
View available homes in VineyardsHistory
How Vineyards was built
Grapes were tried here once, seriously and unsuccessfully. Dwight Whiting of Boston, who bought most of Rancho Canada de los Alisos in 1884, planted grape vines alongside olives and about 400 acres of eucalyptus in an effort to make an English farm village out of the old cattle range. The vines did not take. Orange County's grapevines were also being wiped out around then by a blight that ran for years, and Whiting's venture ended with the eucalyptus as the only thing standing.
The Vineyards was built in 1994 at the Foothill Ranch end of the city, 256 homes on 16 acres and four streets, which works out to sixteen homes for every acre inside the line.
By the Numbers
Vineyards by the numbers
Lifestyle
The Vineyards 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 Vineyards
The City of Lake Forest property record names Foothill Ranch Elementary for addresses inside the Vineyards, with Rancho Santa Margarita Intermediate for middle school and Trabuco Hills High for high school. All three are Saddleback Valley Unified campuses.
9-12 · 2,475 students
7-8 · 1,153 students
K-6 · 990 students
FAQs
Common questions about Vineyards
How big is the Vineyards?
The community covers 15.9 acres on the city's published boundary, forty-ninth largest of the fifty Lake Forest communities on this site, but holds 256 homes, which ranks twenty-fifth.
What kind of housing is here?
The 265 addresses inside the boundary sit on 33 ground parcels across four streets, which is how the county records attached ownership. The city zones 15.6 of the 15.9 acres R-Residential.
When was the Vineyards laid out?
Tract 14730 was recorded on June 1, 1993 by K.W. Lawler and Associates Inc. under licensed surveyor Gerald D. Masgai, filed at MM 698/34-45, and cut from Lot 3 of the earlier tract 14541.
Which schools serve the Vineyards?
The city's property record names Foothill Ranch Elementary, Rancho Santa Margarita Intermediate and Trabuco Hills High for addresses inside the boundary. All three are Saddleback Valley Unified campuses.
Are there shared amenities?
Yes. The city's recreation layer records one community pool and one spa inside the boundary, both shared. No private pool is recorded here.