Rancho Santa Margarita Movers

By the 1960s, a rural cluster of homes had been in Trabuco Canyon for decades. The area’s 1st tract developed homes didn’t arrive until late in the decade in what would become Coto de Caza, which started as a hunting and fishing resort. The area remained fairly remote until 1986, when the 1st homes in the new master-planned community of Rancho Santa Margarita were sold. The economic boom of the 1980s also fueled home construction in nearby Dove Canyon, Robinson Ranch, Wagon Wheel, and a handful of smaller developments. The area became better linked to the rest of the county in 1992 when extensions of Oso, Antonio, and Alicia Parkways were completed.

In 1989, the people of the Rancho Santa Margarita (RSM) community established a Community Civic Association (CCA) to provide a political voice for the community. The CCA, later known as the Rancho Margarita Civic Association (and still later as the Civic Council), briefly explored self-governance, but it was in 1995 that the RSM Cityhood Committee, a separate community organization, began the official drive for Cityhood. Rancho Santa Margarita was planned to be an urban village, offering the best of 2 worlds: all of the elements and advantages of a small city plus the quality of life of a small village.

Where schools, shopping centers, and residential neighborhoods now stand, Native Americans once lived. On July 23, 1769, they were visited by a Spanish expedition under Captain Gaspar de Portola, who camped near the site of Tijeras Creek Golf Course in Rancho Santa Margarita.