The Community of Canyon Lake Appears to Have It All--Even a Wall

No wonder life in this city is considered so blithe, so idyllic.

There’s the centerpiece lake--with water skiing, fishing and twilight parties on pontoon boats. And the golf course, the ball fields, the tennis courts, the lakefront campground, the equestrian center, the clubhouse, the pool.

But for outsiders, what sets this southern Riverside County city apart--literally--is the wall that surrounds its 14,000 residents and keeps the uninvited out.

Residents use an express lane to drive past one of the three guarded security gates. And what awaits them inside the gates, the residents say, makes even one- or two-hour commutes--to Los Angeles or Orange County--worth it.

Barbara and Tim Merriam moved here from Valencia with their two young girls. Each morning he treks to work in Pasadena, “but he’s not complaining,” Barbara Merriam said. “When he gets home at night, he throws the boat in the water.”

Established 28 years ago, this is one of the granddaddies of private gated communities. The popularity of gated communities, once the exclusive domain of the rich and famous, has since mushroomed nationwide as homeowners seek their prestige, amenities, strict land-use restrictions--and relative security.

Today, Canyon Lake is believed to be the second-largest gated community of any sort in the United States, behind only Leisure World, population 18,000, in Laguna Hills. Nationwide, about 8.5 million people live in about 19,000 gated communities.

Of the six incorporated U.S. cities with entirely closed residential perimeters--including Rolling Hills on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and Hidden Hills near Calabasas--this is by far the largest.

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This community was envisioned in 1968 as a retirement and weekend-getaway development centered around the 380-acre lake and its 15 miles of shoreline. The development’s perimeter was closed to protect homes that stood vacant midweek.

Canyon Lake boomed in the 1980s, however, as residents of Los Angeles and Orange counties fled inland for more affordable housing, cleaner air and safer neighborhoods, even if it meant weary commutes to their jobs. The community swelled with young families; today, most residents live here year-round.

All homes are custom-built. Multimillion-dollar eye-poppers share streets with homes valued in the low $100,000s.

“Canyon Lake is a typical suburb that happens to have a gate around it,” said Edward J. Blakely, dean of the school of urban and regional planning at USC.

“Most gated communities are up-market--the kinds you find around Palm Springs or Newport Beach--that signal the arrival at a certain income level or lifestyle status,” Blakely said. “Canyon Lake is pretty much middle-class.”

If you don’t live here, you must queue up to the security shack, present a photo I.D. and explain your business. If you are not expected by a resident, you are politely but firmly refused entrance.

Residents are protected from politicians canvassing neighborhoods, evangelists passing out religious tracts and Girl Scouts selling cookies door-to-door.

And they’re protected, in theory, from urban criminals.

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Many residents don’t even mention the cinder-block wall that surrounds the place when asked what brought them here. They wax poetic about the recreational activities.

But that security wall, residents say, allows small children to play unsupervised in front yards and the elderly to walk down the street after dark without anxiety.

The biggest crime problems are mischief and minor thefts--no thanks to homeowners who are so spoiled by the perception of living in a crime-free zone that they leave garage doors open, cars unlocked and equipment in boats.

Riverside County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ed Harvey, who supervises law enforcement here, can recall only two Canyon Lake murders in recent years. In each case, the killer knew the victim.

What crime does occur here is almost always perpetrated by Canyon Lake’s own residents--usually teenagers or young adults--and not by outsiders, he said. Tracking down the culprits is not tough.

Harvey’s patrol officers are assisted by Canyon Lake’s private security force, including a round-the-clock patrol of the 33 miles of private roads.

Residents don’t use the word Utopia in describing the quality of life here, but Vic Knight, a local author, comes close.

“I can go swimming in the morning, then play 18 holes of golf, shower, have lunch at the lodge, go for a boat cruise and, after dinner, play canasta or go square-dancing--and never go outside the wall,” he said. “And you talk about neighborliness and volunteerism: I never grew up in a small Midwestern town, but it seems to me this is what America is all about.”

Cynical sociologists might suggest that the residents of Canyon Lake are hermits who have sequestered themselves from the mainstream.

But residents say they are neither recluses, snooty nor paranoid. Their children attend public schools several miles away in Lake Elsinore; they shop and go to movies in nearby Murrieta, Perris and Lake Elsinore; and they drive to jobs outside the area, because there are only a few mom-and-pop businesses and real estate offices in Canyon Lake’s shopping center.

When the Lake Elsinore school district sought voter approval for a bond measure earlier this year, Canyon Lake supported it--though the proposal was defeated districtwide.

“I’ve seen a lot of gated communities to where people retreat,” said Kay Ceniceros, a Riverside County supervisor who represents Canyon Lake. “But the residents at Canyon Lake aren’t retreating.”

The community incorporated in 1991, partly to wrest local control from the County Board of Supervisors and partly to protect itself from being annexed by neighboring cities.

“Gated developments started showing up in the ‘40s and ‘50s, usually around resorts, and were seen as very, very wealthy enclaves,” said Mary Gil Snyder, a UC Berkeley doctoral student in city and regional planning who is Blakely’s researcher.

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In the 1970s, gated communities became more popular, especially in Southern California and southern Florida, and were most typically associated with retirement communities, such as Leisure World.

As a rule, homes inside gated communities didn’t cost more than in nearby neighborhoods. But developers profited because the homes sold more quickly than those in non-gated communities. The cost of maintaining the gates is absorbed through private homeowner association fees.

“By the mid-’80s, they were showing up around every major metropolitan area,” Snyder said. “Developers found that gates made their products distinctive. Gates could be very impressive, almost ostentatious, and developers used them as marketing tools.”

Because strict development standards were not commonly dictated when Canyon Lake got its start, it is not as tony as most gated communities.

“Canyon Lake’s heterogeneity makes it unusual,” Snyder said. “It was built before developers refined the product. As a result, there’s a great housing mix and a wide demographic range.”

The advent of cityhood brought few remarkable changes to the landscape, because most of the day-to-day services are handled by the Canyon Lake Property Owners Assn.

The municipal government has only three full-time employees. The city contracts with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department for law enforcement, with the California Department of Forestry for fire protection, with a Lake Elsinore organization for animal control, and with private engineers for building inspections.

While the city is paying for improvements to Railroad Canyon Road, which runs outside the wall, all other roads are maintained by the Property Owners’ Assn.--which also provides trash removal, lake maintenance and myriad recreational activities that are the normal province of cities and counties.

The city operates on a $2.2-million budget. The association, with more than 45 full-time and 55 part-time employees, has a $7-million budget, funded by a $1,302-per-home annual assessment.

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The Alexandria, Va.-based Community Assns. Institute this year called the Canyon Lake association the best-managed homeowners association in the nation among about 17,000 in its size category.

One of the association’s most important functions is upholding the codes and restrictions that govern home and property standards. But they are not considered onerous.

There are restrictions on fence heights and locations, for instance. Homeowners are required to landscape their yards, but given wide latitude. Tar-paper roofs and clotheslines are banned; driveways must be concrete. There is no prohibition against storing boats on driveways--and they are more common than basketball nets.

An architectural committee approves house colors depending on its architectural style.

“We don’t like absolutes because each property is developed according to the homeowner’s tastes and desires,” said Marti Van Houten, director of community services for the POA. “We don’t want a sea of Southern California tract homes.”

There are no sidewalks and no street lights in Canyon Lake, contributing to its rural ambience. And motorcycles are banned--a prohibition that was contested and upheld in court.

Residents--including teenagers--must show their POA membership cards if challenged by security guards. A 10 p.m. curfew for minors is strictly enforced.

“The biggest complaint I hear is vandalism--and it’s our own kids, probably,” said Canyon Lake Mayor Bill Trembly. A former Los Angeles police commander, Trembly served as Santa Barbara police chief during the 1970s, and retired here 10 years ago.

“We’re not living in Utopia,” he said. “We suffer from problems, but they’re fewer than elsewhere.”