Talega is the name of a tract housing project in the city of San Clemente in Orange County, California. It began construction in 1999.
It is located near the Northrop Grumman Capistrano Test Site (formerly TRW), active today and where the Lunar Module Descent Engine (LMDE) engines were developed in the 1960s for the moon landing. It is about 8 miles (13 km) from the San Onofre nuclear power plant and east of the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.
There is an 18-hole golf course, two elementary schools, and a middle school. It is served by the Capistrano Unified School District, and was recently annexed to San Clemente from the unincorporated territories it existed in upon the beginning of construction.
Talega is home to 9,000 residents and, when completed, will have a total of 3,500 residential units. Most are tract houses, with apartments, condos and a low-income project that share the same master pools and facilities. There are no full-custom homes. The community has a predominant Spanish-Tuscan architecture, which is carried out in almost every home, and all the public spaces and buildings within the community.
Talega is a master-planned community in San Clemente. It consists of 19 neighborhoods which are mostly single-family homes, some condominiums and a few apartments. The Talega Specific Plan area encompasses a total of 3,510 acres (14.2 km2) in the Northeastern portion of the City. The major streets within the Talega Specific Plan are Avenida Pico, Camino La Pedriza, Avenida Vista Hermosa and Avenida Talega.
Talega is located about 3 miles (4.8 km) from the coast and 2 miles (3.2 km) east of the I-5 freeway, between the streets of Avenida Pico and Camino De Los Mares. Some of the homes offer views of the ocean, their local golf course, mountains and its parks. There is a swim and Athletic Club also.
City Maintained Parks:
Talega HOA Maintained Parks:
There is also an area called The Talega Gallery that is a 55+ Community consisting of the following communities:
In December 2007 the Southern California Multiple Listing Service moved Talega out of San Clemente and made it its own city. This move by MLS provoked such an uproar among San Clemente real estate agents that the MLS eventually put Talega listings back into San Clemente.
Due to its location tucked into the hills, Talega faces several transportation issues. As of March 2009, there are only two main roads out of the community. There is a proposed extension of La Pata that would bridge the 1.5 mile gap between Talega and the point where the road currently ends in San Juan Capistrano. The current Orange County Master Plan places the location of this extension very close to homes in Talega which is a concern to adjacent homeowners. A suggestion to relocate the route to a path halfway between Talega and the adjacent Forester Ranch community would involve relocating power lines and would be the most expensive option. However, the county does not currently have the fund to complete this extension and it will be many years before work is completed there.
In December 2008, the US Commerce Department suggested relocating the controversial 241 Toll Road extension along a path that would route this major highway directly into Talega, eliminating 176 homes and dumping the freeway onto city streets. The transportation authority (TCA) had not previously considered this path and is not likely to pursue that option.