New Kids on Every Block
Everything about Susan and Darren Murtha’s move to the new Ladera Ranch housing development has been a little ahead of the curve.
Months before the first models for this eventual community of about 8,000 homes were open, they were sneaking in for a look around, poking undetected among the unfinished drywall structures and shopping for the perfect floor plan to begin their lives together.
They were married in May, and when the homes went on the market in early August the Murthas were among the first people to sign up.
So it’s not surprising that this young couple from Huntington Beach were also the very first residents of Oak Knoll, the very first village in Ladera Ranch. They closed escrow on their three-bedroom French Colonial on Nov. 29 and spent the next night there--even though there was no gas or electricity.
Touted as a revolutionary approach to the planned community, Ladera Ranch was designed to combine an old-fashioned sense of community with some of the most state-of-the-art technology. Completely wired for cable modem, the whole town will eventually be connected via its own intranet, a private network for residents to e-mail each other and post announcements about community activities.
To avoid the monotonous, mass-produced appearance of many planned communities, architectural styles are varied and the cul-de-sac streets are curved and meandering.
The curbs will be lined with grass and shade trees. Several miles of walking paths will lace the community, leading to a series of clubhouses, parks and eventually a town green. The 4,000-acre development will be divided into five villages, each consisting of several small neighborhoods.
The homes will range from the $200,000s to more than $1 million.
Of course the fact that people can e-mail their neighbors doesn’t mean they will, skeptics have pointed out. And just because they have front porches doesn’t mean they’ll sit on them.
Yet even as Oak Knoll remains in large part just an eerie outline of a neighborhood--with dusty unfinished houses among a daunting jungle of dirt, trucks and bulldozers--there are already signs that it is coming to life.
And perhaps the sorts of people who were drawn to a place like Ladera in the first place are exactly the kinds of folks who will make its optimistic, folksy marketing campaign ring true.
Susan Murtha, who works at a retail store in Mission Viejo, was home painting her new living room last week.
She pointed to a plate of Christmas cookies and a greeting card that her future neighbors--another young couple from Huntington Beach--left for the Murthas shortly after they arrived in their new home.
“We’ll probably have them over for dinner when they’re unpacking,” said Darren, 24, a real estate broker in south Orange County.
“It’s definitely something we’ve thought about, how the collective energy of all the new neighbors will be kind of . . . heartwarming and friendly and exciting.”
Anna Garrity certainly thinks so. From the day she and her husband found Ladera Ranch literally by mistake during the community’s grand opening celebration, it has just seemed meant to be that they should live there.
Having raised four daughters in Garden Grove, Anna and her husband, Bill, felt ready to move into a new phase in their lives.
Their youngest daughter is in college. Their five-bedroom house seemed a little big, and no one had used the swimming pool in the backyard more than a couple of times last summer.
“We just thought we had given our daughters roots, and now it was time to give them wings,” Anna explained in the lobby of the couple’s Honda repair shop, H. Heaven in Huntington Beach.
They had been looking for a brand new community, got lost, and stumbled on Ladera Ranch.
Then Anna saw the development’s motto: “Roots and Wings.”
“When I saw that on the brochure, I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I just feel it’s so right.”
Anna took only one photo that day she stumbled into Ladera Ranch. It was the model of a blue farmhouse with white trim, nearly exactly like the one that now belongs to her and Bill.
After a tearful last Thanksgiving dinner in their old house, the Garritys moved out of their home of 21 years on Nov. 30.
Anna is staying with her parents, and Bill is camping out with one of the girls in some empty office space above their repair shop.
Two of their daughters have found their wings and moved to new places.
The other two will move into the Garritys’ new home with them next week.
Oldest daughter Christy, 26, an interior decorator, already has found several clients in the new neighborhood.
There is something rejuvenating about starting fresh, the Garritys say.
“It’s almost like a new start. We’ve met a few of the neighbors, and everyone will be new. We won’t be the only new kids on the block,” Bill said.
“I like new things. I’m excited to be able to walk through the neighborhoods as they grow.”
So far on the Murthas’ block, it has been just Susan, Darren and an armed guard at the end of the street.
They were pioneers, of a sort. Until the street lamps were installed last week, the construction company lighted their way home with a giant boom light.
And without any shades or curtains on their windows, the couple huddled in a back bedroom to sleep because it felt the most private.
But by now they have met nearly everyone who will live on their block.
Several are moving in this weekend.
