Woodbridge is a large suburban housing development, begun in 1975 by The Irvine Company, in the central region of Irvine, California. It covers roughly four square miles and has two large artificial lakes at its center. It contains 5 Elementary Schools, 2 Middle Schools Lakeside and South Lake, and Woodbridge High School. The Interstate 405 forms its southern boundary. Most of the developments were completed by the mid-1990s. In 2013 development began on the first new housing tract in 15 years, consisting of 48 new homes called The Branches.
Village Information:
Groundbreaking: October 2, 1973
Starts to make lakes, plant trees, build communities, parks, pools, schools, tennis courts, streets, apartment homes and houses: October 19, 1973
Opened: February 15, 1975
Video Woodbridge, Irvine, California
Style & Layout
Woodbridge is bisected into two residential segments, called North Lake and South Lake, by a broad strip of retail, commercial and institutional development. The street named Yale Loop encircles the entirety of Woodbridge. it is divided into East and West Yale Loop. Each half of Woodbridge has a lake at its center. The lakes are between three and six feet deep and each is crossed by a large wooden footbridge, owing the village its name. The village is walled off from the rest of Irvine by a row of pine trees and a continuous, 20-foot (6.1 m)-high Privet hedge. Woodbridge, for the most part, is uniformly designed in a New England Cape Cod style.
In Great Streets by Allan B. Jacobs (MIT Press), Pinewood (street name) on the Northern edge of the village off the Yale Loop, is cited as one of the great "new urban" streets. Though the suburban style of place makes it difficult to take the "urban" designation seriously, Mr. Jacobs remarks on its gentle curvilinear aspect; there is no other street in Woodbridge that has the same characteristics. The tract in which Pinewood is the only circular street, it is also noted for its relatively profuse vegetation, particularly rich use of pepper trees, and the natural shake roofs which, in other tracts, have been replaced by steel or cement imitating other materials.
In June 8, 2007, the Google Maps driver was starting to drive by all the streets in Woodbridge. In the South Lake side of Woodbridge, the Google Maps driver was driving down on West Yale Loop passing Main Street heading to Timber Run.
Streets that start from West Yale Loop or end on West Yale Loop: Main Street, Warner Avenue and Yale Avenue
Main Street and West Yale Loop: Traffic light Warner Avenue and West Yale Loop: Stop signs Yale Avenue and West Yale Loop: Stop signs
Streets that pass by on West Yale Loop:
1. Thunder Run 2. Misty Run 3. Echo Run 4. Blue Lake South 5. Timber Run 6. Main Street 7. Eagle Run 8. Blue Lake North 9. Alton Parkway 10. Barranca Parkway 11. Birdsong 12. Stone Creek South 13. Warner Avenue 14. Burwood 15. Stone Creek North 16. Woodhollow 17. Lemongrass 18. Shorebird
Streets that pass by on East Yale Loop:
1. Woodspring 2. Alderwood 3. Briarwood 4. River Run 5. Eastshore 6. Barranca Parkway 7. Osborn 8. Whitherspoon 9. Alton Parkway 10. Knollglen 11. Springbrook North 12. Fallingstar 13. Greenmoor 14. Springbrook South
Both East and West Yale Loop start from Yale Avenue and end on Yale Avenue in 92614 and 92604.
Maps Woodbridge, Irvine, California
Woodbridge Village Association
Concurrent with opening sales of homes in Woodbridge, the Irvine Company established the Woodbridge Village Association ("WVA"). Headquartered out of the community facility located at 31 Creek Road, the WVA is a master homeowner association, maintaining the commonly owned pools, parks, lakes and trails within the Village. Smaller "sub" associations maintain individual neighborhoods within Woodbridge.
The WVA has a board of directors, elected from the homeowner's membership of Woodbridge. Due to the Village's large size, and the number of people subject to the authority of the board, coupled with the size of the WVA's budget and staff, the board and WVA are really not unlike a city council and a small city as opposed to a board for a small homeowner's association. Adding to this perception, WVA normally holds community events much like a small town during holidays of the year, such as an annual Independence Day parade, events and fireworks.
All homeowners are required to become members when purchasing a home and are required to pay association dues for maintenance and upkeep of common areas. The WVA provides a number of services to maintain the community facilities including landscaping; maintenance; lifeguard services during the peak summer season at the larger swim and lake facilities; and a security patrol known as Facility Inspectors- part of its community relations department - that patrols and ensures safety at its facilities.
The WVA requires homeowners to submit applications for any home additions or changes to paint colors, to ensure the integrity and uniformity of colors and themes within the Village. The WVA is sometimes criticized for being authoritarian (like many homeowner associations).
Groundbreaking: October 2, 1973 Builders start building houses, parks, pools, schools and communities: October 19, 1973 Whole village opened: February 15, 1975 All pools opened: April 16, 1975 All parks opened: April 29, 1975 Communities opened: May 13, 1975 Schools opened: September 1975
Lakes and Facilities
The ameneties include 2 lakes with docks, 2 beach lagoons, 22 pools (2 of which are exclusive adult only pools), 16 spas, 13 waders, 24 tennis courts, a splash pad, numerous parks with play equipment, volleyball courts, a big wheel park, horseshoe facilities, and a fitness course. All told, the Association owns and operates 41 recreational facilities.
Each one of Woodbridge's lakes has a "beach club" next to it, where there is a "lagoon" (a sand-surrounded fresh-water swimming pool that empties into the lake), a dock facility to rent human-driven pedal boats, kayaks, canoes, sailboats, and hydro-bikes. Swimming in the lakes is safe, though technically prohibited for insurance reasons. The beach clubs have two volleyball courts each. South lake has a recreation room and a snack shop in it also, which is only open on the 4th of July and Memorial Day.
There are also two "swim clubs," Stonecreek and Bluelake, on each side of Woodbridge. These have lifeguards all day 10am-8pm during summer, and weekends 11am-4pm during fall/spring and none during winter. Stonecreek has a two-meter diving board, and Bluelake has a one meter and a three meter diving board. The Woodbridge swim teams are based out of Stonecreek. Also the pools that are Fallbrook, Woodflower and Ashwood, these have lifeguards but only during summer from 10am-5pm.
Twenty-four tennis courts, twenty of which are lit for night play, pathways, bikeways, and a plethora of recreational parks within the four square miles make Woodbridge a community of interest to young families as well as retirees who enjoy outdoor activities. Its community tennis club trains young.
There are also 24 hour facilities that open in April and close in November. The pools in the South Lake side are Briarglen, Clearbrook, Meadow Pool, Timber Run and Windjammer. The pools in the North Lake side are Woodpine, Creekside, Brookside, Lemongrass, Shorebird, Wildwood and Firwood. They also heat up in May and stops heating in September. So during Spring, Summer and Fall, people can go swimming anytime.
All pools opened on April 16, 1975 and all tennis courts opened on May 20, 1975
Education
There is 1 High School in Woodbridge, Woodbridge High School (Irvine, California)|Woodbridge High School]]. There are 2 Middle Schools, Lakeside and South Lake. Stonecreek, Meadow Park, Springbrook and Eastshore are the 4 Elementary Schools. All of them are California Distinguished, and were named Blue Ribbon Schools.
Woodbridge High School also participates in Decathlon. They placed 2nd in the Orange County competition, in 2015, the students are scheduled to arrive in Sacramento for the state competition.
Number of schools:
Elementary schools before: 5 Elementary schools now: 4 Middle schools: 2 High schools: 1
Total of schools in Woodbridge: 7
Names of schools:
Elementary school before: Alderwood
Elementary schools: Meadow Park, Springbrook, Eastshore and Stone Creek
Middle schools: South Lake and Lakeside
High schools: Woodbridge High School
Alderwood Elementary School:
Opened: September 1975 Closed: June 2012
Desription: In September 1975, the workers opened Alderwood Elementary School in Woodbridge and closed in June 2012 because there will be new houses and make Fallbrook Park new. So the workers opened up Alderwood Elementary School in Quail Hill.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia