Overview
About Montecido
Montecido at Portola covers 18.7 acres and holds 300 homes on six streets, all of them on 23 ground parcels. The city's land use layer gives 15.3 acres inside the boundary the medium density residential designation and 3.1 acres the low density one, and 18.5 acres are zoned for multiple-family dwellings.
The association runs one community pool, one spa and a playground. This is the Portola Hills side of the city: the ZIP code is 92679, OCFA Station 42 on Ridgeline Road provides fire cover, and street sweeping runs Friday morning. Irvine Ranch Water District supplies the water, and children go to Portola Hills Elementary, Serrano Intermediate and El Toro High.
View available homes in MontecidoHistory
How Montecido was built
Montecido sits on the Portola Hills side of Lake Forest, ground named for Gaspar de Portola, the first Spanish explorer to cross California by land, who passed through this vicinity in 1769. Portola Hills was developed between the late 1980s and early 1990s, was still its own census designated place in 2000, and was annexed into Lake Forest before the 2010 census along with Foothill Ranch.
The condominiums went up in 1990, 300 homes on 19 acres and six streets.
By the Numbers
Montecido by the numbers
Lifestyle
The Montecido 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 Montecido
The City of Lake Forest property record names Portola Hills Elementary for addresses inside Montecido, with Serrano Intermediate for middle school and El Toro High for high school. All three are Saddleback Valley Unified campuses.
9-12 · 1,902 students
7-8 · 868 students
K-6 · 809 students
FAQs
Common questions about Montecido
How big is Montecido?
The community covers 18.7 acres on the city's published boundary, forty-fifth largest of the fifty Lake Forest communities on this site, but holds 300 homes, which ranks twenty-third.
What kind of housing is here?
The 309 addresses inside the boundary sit on 23 ground parcels, which is how the county records attached ownership. The city zones 18.5 of the 18.7 acres for multiple-family dwellings.
When was Montecido laid out?
Tract 13921 was recorded on February 21, 1990 under licensed surveyor J.P. Kapp, filed at MM 654/22-33, and cut from lots 82 to 85 of the earlier tract 13335.
Which schools serve Montecido?
The city's property record names Portola Hills Elementary, Serrano Intermediate and El Toro 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, one spa and one playground inside the boundary, all shared.