Overview
About Whispering Hills
Whispering Hills covers 37.4 acres and holds 345 homes across 40 named streets, the sixth highest street count in the city on a boundary that ranks only twenty-first by acreage. All 371 addresses sit on 47 ground parcels. The city zones 25.6 acres inside the boundary high density residential, 7.7 acres heavy density, 2.3 acres open space and 0.6 acres medium density.
The association runs two community pools, three spas and a playground, alongside a single private backyard pool on the city's layer. Irvine Ranch Water District supplies the water, OCFA Station 54 on Pauling covers the addresses, and street sweeping runs Tuesday in the small hours. Children go to Lake Forest Elementary, Serrano Intermediate and El Toro High.
View available homes in Whispering HillsHistory
How Whispering Hills was built
Whispering Hills sits at the Foothill Ranch end of Lake Forest, on the upper reaches of what was Rancho Canada de los Alisos. Governor Juan Bautista Alvarado granted those 10,668 acres to Jose Antonio Serrano in 1842, Pio Pico enlarged the grant in 1846, and the family ran cattle for hides and tallow until the drought that began in 1863 killed the herds and cost them the land.
The rancho went to a Los Angeles banker, and Dwight Whiting of Boston bought most of it in 1884. He brought a rail line through, subdivided, and planted olives, grape vines and about 400 acres of eucalyptus near Serrano Creek as a lumber crop meant to attract settlers to a village he called Aliso City. The farming failed. The eucalyptus grew into the forest that Occidental Petroleum built among in the late 1960s, and with two dug lakes it gave the city its name in 1991.
By the Numbers
Whispering Hills by the numbers
Lifestyle
The Whispering Hills 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 Whispering Hills
The City of Lake Forest property record names Lake Forest Elementary for addresses inside Whispering Hills, 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 · 640 students
FAQs
Common questions about Whispering Hills
How big is Whispering Hills?
The community covers 37.4 acres on the city's published boundary and holds 345 homes on 47 ground parcels across 40 named streets. That street count is the sixth highest in Lake Forest despite the community ranking twenty-first by acreage.
What kind of housing is here?
The 371 addresses inside the boundary sit on 47 ground parcels, which is how the county records attached ownership. The city zones 33.3 acres of the boundary across its high and heavy density residential categories.
When was Whispering Hills laid out?
All five subdivision maps inside the boundary were recorded in 1986, two by Hall and Foreman Inc. under George D. Shambeck and three by Greiner Engineering under Mark S. Anderson.
Which schools serve Whispering Hills?
The city's property record names Lake Forest 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 two community pools, three spas and one playground inside the boundary, alongside a single private backyard pool.