LARMAC's Splurge on a Costly Farmscape Farm
Without seeking input from the community, the LARMAC Board has decided to shut down Ladera's popular Heritage Garden and replace it with a costly Farmscape farm modeled after those in Rancho Mission Viejo.
The issue? According to public tax records, RMV's Farmscape farms cost over $500,000 in 2023 alone, with similar costs in previous years. By comparison, Ladera's two community gardens combined cost about $1,000 per year, which breaks down to just 16 cents per household annually.
Same size. Same membership numbers. Very different price tag.
Say no to the Ladera Farmscape farm. Keep Ladera's community gardens open. Sign the petition to bring fiscal responsibility and Board transparency back to LARMAC.
RMV’s Farmscape Model: Three Layers of Cost
Here's how RMV's Community Services Organization (aka. Ranch Life) paid the $532,818 Farmscape farm bill in 2023:
-
Home Sale Fee – A portion of every home sale – usually paid by the seller – is used to fund Ranch Life, which in turn pays for the Farmscape farms. This means every time a home is sold, the seller loses a percentage of their profit to help pay for an expensive farm that they may have never used.
-
Membership Fees – Gardeners must pay extra every six months to participate and may also have to join a waitlist before they can tend the farm.
-
Farmstand Sales – Households pay even more to buy produce from the farm.
That’s three separate ways RMV homeowners are charged to sustain their Farmscape farms!
➡ Tell the Board: NO Farmscape farm! Send a message to the Board on Laderalife.com today.
Farmscape farm costs seem unbelievable? See for yourself:
RMV's Community Services Organization (aka. Ranch Life) 2023 tax returns are publicly available as they're a not-for-profit corporation. This is handy: it lets us see that RMV spent $532,818 on their Farmscape farms, giving us an idea of what it will cost Ladera Ranch.
$296,360 is the first farm-related expense. This appears to be a payment directly to Farmscape for operating the farm in 2023.
$27,937 is the income from the farm. This income likely comes from member fees and farmstand sales, offsetting expenses by a small margin.
$236,458 is the next farm-related expense. This is in addition to the Farmscape payment above per the tax form instructions. These are likely expenses for supplies, services, utilities, and, maintenance.
Ladera’s Gardens: A Loved, Self-sustaining Amenity
The Heritage and Terramor gardens are popular and fully occupied—even with a $60 annual plot fee and gardeners covering their own supplies. Despite minimal HOA support, they thrive because gardeners fund nearly the entire $6,000 annual budget themselves, leaving only a small $1,000 shortfall—about 16 cents per homeowner.
To close that gap, Heritage gardeners offered to raise their own fees. Instead, LARMAC chose to eliminate the gardens altogether and replace them with a costly outsourced farm, shifting expenses from willing gardeners to homeowners, regardless of use.
This decision makes no financial sense. If the gardens were underused, maybe closure could be justified. But they’re not—they’re active, loved, and largely self-funded.
Heritage Garden: A Thriving Community Worth Protecting
For over 20 years, the Heritage Garden has been more than just a place to grow plants—it has been a community. Generations of Ladera Ranch residents have come together here, building friendships, sharing harvests, and passing down the joy of gardening. Grandparents bring their grandkids to pick fresh tomatoes right off the vine, experiencing the simple pleasure of food grown with their own hands. Neighbors swap gardening tips, celebrate seasonal harvests, and teach their children the value of patience, care, and sustainability.
LARMAC has supported this community for decades, and we, the gardeners, appreciate that support. That’s why we are shocked and saddened by the sudden decision to shut down the garden—without warning, without community input, and without a clear financial justification.
Gardeners take pride in the challenge of growing their own food—experimenting, adapting, and learning from both success and failure. Surrendering this hands-on experience to professional farmers strips away the sense of ownership, accomplishment, and connection that makes community gardening so meaningful.
Why Didn’t Homeowners Get a Say in This Decision?
We asked LARMAC—and their response was that this is how they normally make significant financial decisions: behind closed doors in executive session, without community input. Replacing Heritage Garden with an expensive outsourced farm is just the latest example.
But this isn’t just frustrating—it may be unlawful. Under California’s Davis-Stirling Act, HOA boards must discuss major changes to community amenities in open meetings, giving homeowners the chance to listen, ask questions, and be heard. Instead, LARMAC made this decision in secret, denying residents their legal right to transparency and participation.
This didn’t have to happen. A simple conversation with the community could have prevented a great deal of frustration and disappointment.
Please join the Heritage gardeners in urging the LARMAC board to reverse course and start listening. Residents want to preserve what makes Ladera special—not watch a cherished, self-sustaining amenity be replaced by a costly farm no one asked for.
There are better ways to spend HOA funds. If LARMAC has “extra” money, why not use it to keep dues flat—or invest in the amenities homeowners actually requested in the LARMAC Facility and Amenity Survey?
➡ Sign the Petition: Don't dismantle this thriving community garden without community input.
➡ Write the LARMAC Board: Major decisions that impact our community and our pocketbooks must be discussed in the open. Follow the law. Listen to the residents.