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Although not a fledged city
for too many years, Mission Viejo is steeped in
a tradition that dates back to the vanishing days
of men on horses driving cattle.Nearly 25 years
ago, the Mission Viejo Co. bought a 10,000-acre
section of Rancho Mission Viejo from the O'Neill
family, which once owned much of the land from
Oceanside to El Toro.The company would create
a master plan for a community, specifying the
number of parks, homes, recreational activities
and retail spaces.
The rolling hills of the valley,
home to a sea of grazing cattle, soon would also
become home to seekers of "The California
Promise."The vision for the community began
in 1963 with a planners blueprint. The general
development plan wound its way through the maze
of county permits and by 1966 the first homes
were sold, according to the Mission Viejo Co.Fewer
than a handful of changes - among them the additions
of Saddleback College and lake Mission Viejo -
have been made to that initial plan.
Currently, over 96,000 people
call Mission Viejo home.
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