thumb|300px|A photograph looking down 3rd St. at its intersection with Mercantile Way in Ladera Ranch
Ladera Ranch is a master-planned community and census-designated place
History
Ladera Ranch is a planned community, bordered by the cities of Mission Viejo and San Juan Capistrano to the west and the city of Rancho Santa Margarita to the north. Located along Antonio Parkway and Crown Valley Parkway, construction of the community began in 1999 on portions of the O'Neill, Avery, & Moiso families' Rancho Mission Viejo cattle ranch, which was the largest remaining working ranch in Orange County.
Geography
Ladera Ranch is located in the foothills of the Orange County Saddleback. It is bordered by Rancho Mission Viejo to the south, Las Flores to the north, and the city of Mission Viejo to the west.
Design and development
The Ladera Ranch development is divided into nine "villages". Within each village, individual builders develop an area called a neighborhood. There are ten or more neighborhoods per village. The villages are:
- Oak Knoll Village
- Bridgepark
- Flintridge Village
- Township
- Wycliffe Village
- Echo Ridge Village
- Avendale Villages
- Terramor Village
- Covenant Hills
Four of the nine villages have clubhouses themed on a particular architecture style that is emphasized within that village. There are also parks, pools, playgrounds and open areas within each village. The Covenant Hills village is a gated community which is closed to the general public, but accessible to all card-carrying residents of Ladera Ranch. There are no other gated villages in the community.
In addition to the various clubhouses, the community has a private water park and skate park, 18 community parks, a dog park, six smaller neighborhood pools, many pocket parks and green belts, shopping districts called Mercantile East and Mercantile West Shopping Centers, and miles of hiking/biking trails that connect to Doheny Beach.