Orchard Hills - Google Maps Updated

[Villager]

What about Lambert Ranch? or Laguna Altura? Can you walk in there?

Some of the guard-gated communities are also not guard-gated all day, right?

Yep.  Even if there's a pedestrian gate, there's no lock on the gate.

Once I was told that it's a Irvine City ordinance that there's can be no restriction for pedestrian in gated community.  Now if there's actual guard at the gate like Shady Canyon, I wonder if the guard will let any pedestrian in without checking proof of residency.

Shady Canyon does not have any kind of obstruction for pedestrians leading to the trail running through the community. Pedestrians, residents and non-residents alike, are free to roam through the community as they please. I have walked through Shady Canyon several times from the Quail Hill Trailhead, and I have had no one ever bring me any trouble. It's just the way it is in newer (i.e. post-2000) gated communities in Irvine. The same goes for Turtle Ridge.

 

[AW]

That's another pet peeve, one would think that any schools these days need real planning and not have this issue, so who's to blame here?  Send them a copy of sim city...

May be TUSD doesn't care because there is no other alternative.  They have been dealing with the same issues since Pioneer Middle School was built

I don't think it's completely unique to that school. I remember having those issues when my kids went to Santiago Hills. I only dropped my kids off (they walked home). I remember the principal yelling at me when I told my kids to get out and walk a few steps to school instead of waiting for everyone to move their parked cars along the sidewalk. I gave HER a few choice words of my own for allowing people to park their cars in a drop off area when others were trying to get their kids to school on time on their way to work. After that, I dropped them off on Christamon and watched them walk by the parked cars.

What Irvine (and Tustin) really needs is a better school bus system so that there aren't hordes of parents picking up/dropping off everyday at the school. It would greatly cut down on surface street traffic in Irvine too in the morning and afternoon. I was shocked when I moved here from the East Coast that there is no school bus (or barely any school bus service).

School bus system is a foreign concept here.  Should see some of the high school buses at lausd, inner city kids taking an hour bus ride to go to school as far as the San Fernando valley.
No one wants to front more money for the school bus. Tax, hoa, the money has been spent on repaving perfectly fine streets and having cops sending bums off to Santa Ana.
The least they can do is study school systems that are managed well, districting, traffic patterns, multiple entrance/exit points, etc.

 

[snowball]

As far as I understand(I may be wrong), even the gated irvine apartment by TIC has a pedestrian gate but need a fob to go through. Should the guard gated irvine community be wide opened to the public while the community residents pay for the maintenance fee?  This is a non-sense rule by either city or TIC.

 

[qwerty]

As far as I understand(I may be wrong), even the gated irvine apartment by TIC has a pedestrian gate but need a fob to go through. Should the guard gated irvine community be wide open to the public while the community residents pay for the maintenance fee?  This is a non-sense rule by either city or TIC.

Should people pay taxes for schools when they don't use them?  Life isn't fair. Deal with it

 

[snowball]

As far as I understand(I may be wrong), even the gated irvine apartment by TIC has a pedestrian gate but need a fob to go through. Should the guard gated irvine community be wide open to the public while the community residents pay for the maintenance fee?  This is a non-sense rule by either city or TIC.

Should people pay taxes for schools when they don't use them?  Life isn't fair. Deal with it

My point is more on 'why gated apartment by TIC don't have to while gated house community should' than matter of fee

 

[nyc to oc]

That's another pet peeve, one would think that any schools these days need real planning and not have this issue, so who's to blame here?  Send them a copy of sim city...

May be TUSD doesn't care because there is no other alternative.  They have been dealing with the same issues since Pioneer Middle School was built

I don't think it's completely unique to that school. I remember having those issues when my kids went to Santiago Hills. I only dropped my kids off (they walked home). I remember the principal yelling at me when I told my kids to get out and walk a few steps to school instead of waiting for everyone to move their parked cars along the sidewalk. I gave HER a few choice words of my own for allowing people to park their cars in a drop off area when others were trying to get their kids to school on time on their way to work. After that, I dropped them off on Christamon and watched them walk by the parked cars.

What Irvine (and Tustin) really needs is a better school bus system so that there aren't hordes of parents picking up/dropping off everyday at the school. It would greatly cut down on surface street traffic in Irvine too in the morning and afternoon. I was shocked when I moved here from the East Coast that there is no school bus (or barely any school bus service).

School bus system is a foreign concept here.  Should see some of the high school buses at lausd, inner city kids taking an hour bus ride to go to school as far as the San Fernando valley.
No one wants to front more money for the school bus. Tax, hoa, the money has been spent on repaving perfectly fine streets and having cops sending bums off to Santa Ana.
The least they can do is study school systems that are managed well, districting, traffic patterns, multiple entrance/exit points, etc.

Newport Mesa district has a school bus system, so its not exactly like busing has to automatically connote "inner city ghetto." The newport coast/corona del mar schools have a very decent school bus system, and I know several people who considered that as a plus when deciding to move down there.

 

[Paris167]

What about Lambert Ranch? or Laguna Altura? Can you walk in there?

Some of the guard-gated communities are also not guard-gated all day, right?

Yep.  Even if there's a pedestrian gate, there's no lock on the gate.

Once I was told that it's a Irvine City ordinance that there's can be no restriction for pedestrian in gated community.  Now if there's actual guard at the gate like Shady Canyon, I wonder if the guard will let any pedestrian in without checking proof of residency.

But atleast on other gated and guard gated communities the pedestrian has to go through a gate and if a guard is there they will see the pedastrians.  But for Groves it looks like the Guard is upfront and there is a huge opening in the back next to the public park  so Guard wouldn't even know who is  going or coming.  May be Paris or other residents can chime in if there are plans to block that area off in the future.

Delete abovecomment:  Looks like a previous poster already confirmed that from Settlers Park you can just walk in to the Groves without even going through a gate.

Currently the plan is when 50% of Groves residents are moved in they will place a guard at both gates - that estimate time frame is December.

Eventually the plan is to install gates on the pedestrian side that is currently wide open but They will leave those gates unlocked to make it pedestrian friendly

As for the wide opening from settlers park the Groves residents are already pushing to place fencing of some sort there to create a separation between the park and our community. Not sure if they'll be able to do that but I know they are pushing for it.

They are also pissed about school traffic parking illegally on both sides of the settlers gate entrance when picking their kids up. Because it obstructs the gate entry and outgoing areas and there are clear signs for no parking there but parents ignore it. ESP the group using that gate are very adamant on getting parking enforcement to fine those parents so they don't do it. It doesn't affect us as much using the furrow gate but I see their point.

Was this the latest information of the last HOA board meeting in June, which I missed? All of the other HOA board meetings which I have attended, they stated that the gates will not be manned until it the Groves is fully developed, e.g. Village 2, 3, etc.

They told us 50% residents = guard at gate when we first moved in so has that changed? I haven't been to any of the board meetings yet (bas timing with my schedule). I'll be very annoyed if I have to wait 3 years ++ to get a guard at that gate.

 

[bones]

If there's no manned gate for a couple of years, does that mean you pay a cheaper HOA fee in the meanwhile?

 

[Paris167]

If there's no manned gate for a couple of years, does that mean you pay a cheaper HOA fee in the meanwhile?

Not sure but I do think our Groves HOA fees will rise to at least $400-500 a month in the future. Currently it's $279

 

[lnc]

My point is more on 'why gated apartment by TIC don't have to while gated house community should' than matter of fee

It might has something to do with the park located inside of the gated community .  The apartment compound is all "private" but the park within the gated community is public (even if its maintained by the HOA), and city of Irvine wants to ensure everyone have "free and unrestricted" access to these parks.

Here's old common on this topic.http://www.talkirvine.com/index.php/topic,1968.615.html

Pedestrian access is free and open. You may walk or bike freely through Northpark. Access from the Peters Canyon trail or any of the gate pavilions. The City ensured the parks are accessible to the public; the trade-off is you need to walk or bike there.

More:

http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/forums/viewthread/2010/#47553

Northpark has 3 man gates but one can walk in freely from the bike trail adjacent to the drainage channel ( It is a 1/3 mile walk from portola) The pedestrain gates are open from 6am -10pm

Northwood pointe has 2 manned gates but I can get in easily from the Hicks trail by foot (300 yards from Culver)

Crystal Cove has 2 manned gates but the pedestrian gates are not locked most of the time. I park in the shopping center below and walk in.

Shady Canyon has 2 manned gates but required to have pedestrian access open to public due to Bommer Canyon nature trail. One can walk into Shady anytime and see Acpme.

Turtle Ridge has manned gates but pedestrian gates are open.

There are no manned gates in Tustin Ranch.

There are manned gates in Pelican Crest, Pelican Pointe, and Ocean Ridge. they are fairly secured.

There are also a couple in Turtle Rock but I don't know what they're called.  One is off of ridgeline that overlooks Strawberry Farms and the other is off of Turtle Rock Drive towards the top of the hill.

TIC also advertises pedestrian access:

While The Irvine Ranch is famous for its balanced communities, one of the lesser-celebrated amenities are the lushly landscaped footpaths and trails that invite residents to jog, bicycle or simply stroll from one neighborhood or village to the next.

Note there's no "* access is limited to certified and current HOA paying residents and their invited guests ONLY" footnote.

 

[lnc]

If there's no manned gate for a couple of years, does that mean you pay a cheaper HOA fee in the meanwhile?

Not sure but I do think our Groves HOA fees will rise to at least $400-500 a month in the future. Currently it's $279

I don't think HOA fee will raise to that much more.  There's more home to be build in the Grove and these new residents will help spread the cost. 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think Lambert Ranch add an actual guard at the gate and the HOA fee only increase from $300 to $360. 

 

[Dresden215]

What about Lambert Ranch? or Laguna Altura? Can you walk in there?

Some of the guard-gated communities are also not guard-gated all day, right?

Yep.  Even if there's a pedestrian gate, there's no lock on the gate.

Once I was told that it's a Irvine City ordinance that there's can be no restriction for pedestrian in gated community.  Now if there's actual guard at the gate like Shady Canyon, I wonder if the guard will let any pedestrian in without checking proof of residency.

But atleast on other gated and guard gated communities the pedestrian has to go through a gate and if a guard is there they will see the pedastrians.  But for Groves it looks like the Guard is upfront and there is a huge opening in the back next to the public park  so Guard wouldn't even know who is  going or coming.  May be Paris or other residents can chime in if there are plans to block that area off in the future.

Delete abovecomment:  Looks like a previous poster already confirmed that from Settlers Park you can just walk in to the Groves without even going through a gate.

Currently the plan is when 50% of Groves residents are moved in they will place a guard at both gates - that estimate time frame is December.

Eventually the plan is to install gates on the pedestrian side that is currently wide open but They will leave those gates unlocked to make it pedestrian friendly

As for the wide opening from settlers park the Groves residents are already pushing to place fencing of some sort there to create a separation between the park and our community. Not sure if they'll be able to do that but I know they are pushing for it.

They are also pissed about school traffic parking illegally on both sides of the settlers gate entrance when picking their kids up. Because it obstructs the gate entry and outgoing areas and there are clear signs for no parking there but parents ignore it. ESP the group using that gate are very adamant on getting parking enforcement to fine those parents so they don't do it. It doesn't affect us as much using the furrow gate but I see their point.

Was this the latest information of the last HOA board meeting in June, which I missed? All of the other HOA board meetings which I have attended, they stated that the gates will not be manned until it the Groves is fully developed, e.g. Village 2, 3, etc.

They told us 50% residents = guard at gate when we first moved in so has that changed? I haven't been to any of the board meetings yet (bas timing with my schedule). I'll be very annoyed if I have to wait 3 years ++ to get a guard at that gate.

Don't know if it got changed or you were given the wrong information. Per Keystone Pacific, gates will not be manned for quite some time. Also, per Keystone Pacific, HOA dues will stay at $279 at full development.

 

[iacrenter]

In the OH disclosures there was a possibility that the HOA  would assume  liability for running the Avacado groves. Wouldn't that drive up the eventual HOA monthly?

 

[AW]

Depends on how much it cost to maintain them? 
How large of an area is left, aren't there going to be oh part 2 and 3 in the works

 

[ps99472]

In the OH disclosures there was a possibility that the HOA  would assume  liability for running the Avacado groves. Wouldn't that drive up the eventual HOA monthly?

TIC is gonna give up the avocados?  I thought it was a money maker for them.  If the HOA takes over and churns a tidy profit, newest show on Bravo:

Guac Hill Millionaires!