(Above) One of the 18-holes under construction on the Woods Valley Golf Course in Escondido, California.

Nestled in the rural hillsides of northeast San Diego County is Woods Valley, a gated enclave of 270 country homes with traditional principles of privacy and sustained quality of life. Surrounded by over 100 acres of natural open space, an 18-hole championship golf course and graced with rolling hillside views, Woods Valley is billed as one of the last great places to call home where you can be a part of nature without leaving civilization. Newland Communities purchased the Woods Valley property in January 2002.

Woods Valley, is located in the Valley Center area near Escondido, and is being developed by San Diego-based Newland Communities. Woods Valley Golf Course, to be managed by Peerless Golf, just opened part of the facility to members and guests with PGA Golf Professional Glenn Stuart serving as director of golf. "This is a really good golf course,' Stuart commented, "and a great place to live." With home sites situated well back from or above the golf course, Stuart predicted that there would be "no balls in swimming pools here."

The Woods Valley golf course is opening in two phases. The front nine opened in January and the back nine will probably open in March or April. The driving range is scheduled to open later this summer or fall with the completion of the widening of Woods Valley Road. A total of 250 golf memberships were made available to the public with the remainder reserved for Woods Valley homeowners.

(Pictured Left) Nestled in a rural hillside of Valley Center, in northeast San Diego County is Woods Valley, a gated enclave of 270 country homes with traditional principles of privacy and a sustained quality of life. Surrounded by over 100 acres of natural open space, a championship golf course and graced with rolling hillside views, Woods Valley is one of the last great place to call home where you can be a part of nature without leaving civilization.

The Newland Communities golf project, designed by David Ginkel Design, features vegetation that is being grown using organic fertilizers and the course is irrigated with ground and/or reclaimed water. Plus, Stuart reports to keep both pollution and noise to a minimum; grounds equipment is powered by electricity only.

"The most difficult hole,' Stuart explained, "has got to be 14 as far as making par. It is a par 4 and 430 yards with a very narrow driving area that requires precision in order to get an angle on the green. The green is tucked around some oak trees and if you don't get the ball on the left side of the fairway you probably can't hit a straightaway shot into the green. The back nine will probably be 2-3 shots more difficult than the front and the par 5's are pretty honest here."

A host of contractors and sub-contractors have been involved in the construction of the gated community and golf course. TNT Grading, Inc., based in San Marcos, did all the grading work for the course. TNT started the job in October 2002 and heavy grading was completed in January. "There was a lot of ancillary work that went on afterwards,' according to TNT Grading's Bob Vlach. "We had anywhere from 20-25 people out there at any one time."

TNT, who processed over 100,000 tons of rock at an on-site crushing operation, didn't encounter any real obstacles during the project that Vlach described as a "rock job." Ground water also didn't come into play as TNT's scrapers, dozers and other equipment moved over 2 million yards of dirt and 25,000 yards of rock. "We own the majority of our equipment but there is always rental equipment on site," the company's estimator added.

Scanlan Construction, based in Murrieta, brought in its crews in October 2002 to put in the water; sewer and storm drain system with completion scheduled for April 2003. Karl Scanlan reports the $4 million project included crossing the golf course that includes seven lakes and the installation of the temporary sewage treatment plant for the complex. "We ran into rock and groundwater problems on the project,' he added, "and we provided a crew of about 15 to work on construction. The project involved putting over 100,000 feet of pipe in place. The pipe ranged from 4" to 60" in size." While Scanlan had never worked with Newland Communities before, Scanlan revealed his firm had worked with Newland's Project Manager Jim Stewart on several previous projects.

(Above left) CAT D6 making a rock fill for Scanlan Construction. (Above right) Volvo articulating rock truck hauling a load to the rock fill.

Woods Valley lots range from 6,000 sq. ft. to over one-half acre with the majority ranging from 1,500 to 20,000 sq. feet according. Offsite improvements include widening and straightening Woods Valley Road and installing a stop light at the intersection of Woods Valley and Valley Center Roads. Newland's California division vice president Jim Delhamer once described the intersection as "one of the most dangerous intersections in San Diego County."

Newland Communities is also working with the Valley Center Municipal Water District to install the interim wastewater facility and construct a permanent wastewater treatment facility (5,000-15,000 gpd - 60 EDUs) scheduled for completion on or before January 2005. Newland is also creating a channel to Moosa Creek for the 100-year flood event along with planting oak and willows, "so that someday others will be able to enjoy what will look like a continuous forest."

"Over the past 30 years, Newland Communities has developed 40 distinctive communities in nine states and currently has development operations in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. Newland's developments have included over 55,000 acres of residential land containing 135,000 homes, 12 golf courses ands 10,400 acres of open space. Newland, based in La Jolla, fulfills the dual role of master-planned community developer and advisor to pension funds and other institutional partners on the acquisition and development of residential communities.

David Ginkel Design is based in Gilroy and for the past dozen years has worked exclusively on golf courses and golf course related communities. The firm has designed courses and renovations throughout the United States and the Far East. California renovation projects include Claremont Country Club in Oakland and Sharon Heights Golf and Country Club in Menlo Park.