Luxury Remodeling in Lake Forest

Many of Lake Forest's residential rules are written planned community by planned community, from El Toro and Lake Forest to Foothill Ranch and Portola Hills, each with its own setbacks and minimum lot sizes. Near the lake, Planning Areas 12 and 19 of the Lake Forest planned community allow zero side and rear setbacks, while the city's R1 district generally asks for 5 feet at the side and 25 at the rear. Three state-mapped liquefaction zones run along El Toro Road, Serrano Creek and Borrego Canyon Wash, and liquefaction heads the city's minimum requirements for a soils report. The General Plan places most of Foothill Ranch and Portola Hills in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone, and its fire-safe design policy points to fire-resistant building and site design, materials and landscaping there, so decking, patio covers and outdoor kitchen finishes deserve early thought. The Municipal Code also gives eucalyptus trees a chapter of their own, covering their conversion, maintenance and removal.

Minimum lot sizes vary by zoning district and planned community: 7,200 square feet in the city's R1 district, 5,000 square feet in the Lake Forest and Rancho Serrano planned communities, 3,000 square feet for conventional detached lots in Foothill Ranch and Portola Hills, and one acre for Portola Hills rural estate lots. In Portola Hills, an attached or detached covered patio must sit at least 3 feet from a property line, or 8 feet from the street side of a corner lot.

One team designs, permits and builds every project, and our own crews self-perform the work, so the people who plan your Lake Forest project are the people on site building it.