Gate 12 Guest Access Policy

Gate 12 operates differently from other Village gates due to the absence of security arms. To help prevent unauthorized nonresident use of amenities, Security Services offers the following key points for residents to keep in mind when inviting guests to amenities at Gate 12.

  • One-day guest passes are required for all guests visiting Gate 12. Create passes via dwellingLIVE or call Gate Clearance at 949-597-4301. Only one-day guest passes are available for Gate 12. Two-week or annual passes are not offered for this gate.
  • When using Gate Clearance, residents don’t need to explain the purpose of the visit. Just request a Gate 12 guest pass and provide your manor number, resident ID, and the guest’s name when asked by the Gate Ambassador.
  • When creating a pass in dwellingLIVE, click Gate 12 in the dropdown menu. For help with registering or using dwellingLIVE, click here. Residents can generate a QR code in dwellingLIVE and send it to their guest’s mobile device. The guest shows the QR code to the Gate Ambassador, who scans it and prints a one-day permit for the guest to display on their vehicle dashboard.

Gate Ambassadors will always check IDs, including resident IDs, to ensure rules are followed for the 19 Restaurant & Lounge and to prevent unauthorized nonresidents from using golf, lawn bowling and pickleball facilities.

Remember, residents must stay with their guests at all times when using Village amenities.

For more Village news, click on the tag “What’s Up in the Village” below.

At Your Service

The Maintenance and Construction Department provides chargeable services to residents at a lower cost than available from outside services. Some sample comparisons with Home Depot:

ServiceVMSHome Depot
Bathroom grab bar installation$55$75-$150
Replace electrical outlet$59-$80$65-$125
Replace light fixture$92$75-$125
Water heater installation (Third, 38 gal., 10-year warranty)$1,720$1,600-$5,400

Find detailed information on benchmarking comparisons for this VMS department on pages 37 and 38 of the full VMS Benchmarking Report, available online.

For more Village news, click on the tag “What’s Up in the Village” below.

Jan/Feb Village Breeze

What’s more SoCal than personality-packed sea lions voicing their opinions at passers-by and boaters? This issue’s cover duo are a perfect depiction of Southern California winters near the beach.

Inside This Issue

  • Uncover the effects of stress and learn proven ways to cope.
  • Gain insights into plans to build a system that will support future technologies for decades to come.
  • Find a handy guide to navigating the new Village website.
  • Discover how Landscaping Services leaders seek to create thriving beautiful and sustainable green spaces.
  • Explore the latest news and services from VMS departments.
  • Read updates from your boards of directors.

Where to Find the Village Breeze

The Village Breeze is delivered to every manor via the United States Postal Service’s Every Door Direct program. However, if delivery misses its mark at your door, copies are available throughout the Village:

  • Clubhouse 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 offices
  • Community Center: Resident Services, concierge desk, fitness center, recreation office
  • Equestrian Center office
  • Garden Center 2 office
  • Golf pro shop, par 3 office
  • Tennis clubhouse
  • Village Library

For more Village news, click on the tag “The Village Breeze” below. 

New ADA Website Enhancements

VMS is excited to announce the addition of a new accessibility feature on the LagunaWoodsVillage.com community website: the accessiBe widget. This innovative tool enhances website accessibility, providing a more inclusive and user-friendly experience for everyone, including individuals with disabilities.

How to Use the Widget

  1. Locate the widget: Find the blue accessibility widget at the bottom right corner of your screen.

Mobile View

Desktop View

  • Activate the menu: Click the icon to open the accessibility menu and explore a variety of options designed to enhance your browsing experience. At the top, you can reset your settings, read the accessibility statement or hide the widget. Additionally, you can use the search bar to look up terms in the dictionary.
  • Customize your experience: Choose from a range of options, including accessibility profiles, content adjustments, color settings and orientation modifications.

Accessibility profiles let you tailor your experience by choosing from the following options: seizure safe, vision impaired, ADHD friendly, cognitive disability, keyboard navigation and blind users. To enable or disable a profile, simply toggle the on/off switch.

Content adjustments let you customize the overall content and font size, text alignment and line height. You can also highlight titles, emphasize links and magnify text. Simply click each button to enable these features or use the blue up and down buttons to adjust the size to your preference.

Color adjustments enable you to modify contrast, saturation and the colors of text, titles and backgrounds to suit your preferences.

Last, orientation adjustments allow you to mute sounds, hide images, turn the page into reading mode and more.

  • Enjoy Enhanced Accessibility: Once you’ve made your selections, the changes will be applied instantly, providing a smoother and more comfortable browsing experience.

For more Village news, click on the tag “What’s Up in the Village” below.

2025 Lap Challenge

Who’s ready to take the plunge in the 2025 Lap Challenge? Embark on an epic swim adventure—a virtual “journey” covering 180 miles from Busan, South Korea, to Nagasaki, Japan. That’s 6,300 laps or 12,600 lengths of aquatic glory!

How it works:

  • Swim at lap pools 2 and 5 anytime during the year.
  • Log your progress with the pool attendant after each session to track your miles.

This exciting challenge is open to all residents, so dive in, stay motivated, and make every lap count. Are you ready to join the fun? Challenge ends December 31, 2025!

2024 Lap Challenge Highlights

A huge round of applause for the 2024 Lap Challenge swimmers!

  • Champion: Richard Fairweather swam an astonishing 19,792 lengths to complete the challenge.
  • Runner-up: Eng-Hong Lin clocked in at 11,321 lengths.
  • Third place: Y Soong powered through 7,432 lengths.
  • Fourth place: Jim Quigley rounded things out with 7,024 lengths.

Additional participants:

  • Manfred Koppitsch: 3,760 lengths
  • Christian Cruz: 1,870 lengths
  • Judy Green: 1,155 lengths
  • Ram S. Ronen: 1,672 lengths
  • Melinda Smith: 786 lengths
  • Anonymous: 462 lengths
  • Hedy Williamson: 130 lengths
  • Joanie Graves: 96 lengths
  • Leena Walker: 64 lengths
  • Phil Evans: 50 lengths

Congratulations to everyone who participated in 2024, and best of luck to the 2025 challenge hopefuls!

For more Village news, click on the tag “Recreation Events” below.

VMS Resident Satisfaction Survey

The November VMS resident satisfaction survey results are in, and residents can read the survey report online at lagunawoodsvillage.com/vms-survey-results. This valuable input will enable VMS to continuously improve and meet its strategic goal of providing exceptional service.

The VMS board of directors and VMS Inc. thank all residents who took the time to submit feedback.

For more Village news, click on the tag “What’s Up in the Village” below.

Our Grass Is Greener

Why is the grass greener in Laguna Woods Village? Residents enjoy stunning, well-maintained landscaping, thanks to our dedicated in-house crews who provide exceptional service at a significantly lower cost than outside contractors.

Specifically, in-house maintenance is more cost-effective for both turf and shrub bed services.

Turf maintenance costs:

  • In-house: $150 per acre
  • Contracted: $185 per acre

Shrub bed maintenance costs:

  • In-house: $0.27 per square foot
  • Contracted: $0.35 per square foot

Further, VMS operates its own plant nursery, with inventory ranging from about 46,000 to 51,000 plants, at an average cost of $6.17 per plant from 2022 to 2023. The average quoted cost for the same plant assortment from three local wholesale nurseries is $8.56, or 39% higher.

Also, VMS operates its own green waste processing center for $135,000 per year, generating usable mulch worth $360,000. Without the center, VMS would have to contract with CR&R to haul away the 35,000 cubic yards of green waste generated annually from shrub bed maintenance, turf removal, tree trimming and removals at a cost of $2.12 million. The total yearly benefit to the community is $2.34 million.

Detailed information on Landscaping Services’ benchmarking comparisons can be found on pages 31-36 of the full VMS Benchmarking Report, available online.

For more Village news, click on the tag “What’s Up in the Village” below.

Recycle Your Christmas Trees

The last day for Landscaping Services Department to pick up Village Christmas trees is Friday, January 10. All discarded trees will be ground into mulch and used in the shrub beds and slopes throughout the community.

Contact Resident Services at residentservices@vmsinc.org or 949-597-4600 48 hours prior to placing the tree by the curb. Please be sure to remove all tinsel, ornaments and lights from the tree before placing it adjacent to the street or at the curb.

For more Village news, click on the tag “What’s Up in the Village” below.

Post Election Discussion

Clubhouse 1
January 10 (second Friday monthly)
10 a.m.
Members free, guests $15

The National Council of Jewish Women is hosting a post election discussion on January 10. Sara Wallace Goodman, PhD (Department Chair, Chancellor’s Fellow and Dean’s Professor of Political Science) will discuss the ramifications of the presidential election and will lead a discussion of the expected consequences.

A Touch of Love Works is a non-profit organization in Orange County committed to helping people experiencing homelessness. We will be collecting clean, slightly-used coats, jackets, sweaters, hats, scarves, gloves for men, women and children.

Contact Muriel Asch 949-374-3833/morshar2@yahoo.com for more information.

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