Trustees OK Tax District to Pay for Ladera Schools

Future homeowners in the Ladera planned community will be required to pay a yet-to-be-determined tax to build three elementary schools and one middle school in their community.

Trustees of the Capistrano Unified School District this week unanimously accepted a petition by the developers, DMB Ladera LLC and the Rancho Mission Viejo Co., to form a Mello-Roos Community Facilities District to fund school construction.

The tax also will help pay infrastructure costs of the development, which will include up to 8,100 homes, two retail centers, and a 75-acre business and light industrial center.

The amount of the tax will be determined at one of the next two school board meetings.

Work already has begun on the major utilities and roads for the 4,000-acre development; construction of homes is expected to begin soon.

In January, the developers selected nine major home builders to build 900 homes over the next three years in the first phase of the project.

That phase will have 16 small single-family detached-housing developments averaging 50 units each and one attached-housing development of about 100 units.

Plans call for four more development stages over the next 10 to 15 years, including the retail, business and industrial area.

The community will be south of Rancho Santa Margarita, east of Mission Viejo and north of San Juan Capistrano.