This video is all about all the new things that are happening here in the cities of Wildomar and Lake Elsinore, California. I had a chance to go to a city manager's meeting. I got to hear directly from the city managers, as they laid out their plans over the next 12 months they talked about all the new projects that each city has going on, all the new infrastructure they're putting in, and talked about all the really, all the cool stuff that they're working on here in this year in 2023. So if you're thinking about making a move to either of those cities, you're definitely going to want to watch this video. So let's get into it.

Hey, guys. Hey again, my name is Justin Short. I am a realtor and team leader for the Short Real Estate Team here in Temecula, California, Murrieta California, and we serve here the surrounding valley. And like I mentioned, this video is all about the cities of Wildomar and Lake Elsinore, California.

Again, I had a chance to go to that city manager's meeting. They laid out their plans. They talked about all the cool stuff they have going on over the next 12 months, a lot of the different changes, all the infrastructure, all that type of stuff. So this has been a series. We have other videos that covered the cities of Temecula and Murrieta, and Menifee. And this is going to be kind of a two-parter, you'll find out why. But talking about Wildomar and Lake Elsinore, so let's go ahead and get into it in just a second.

But the first thing, if you are watching this video, if you're liking videos like this, do me a favor, please hit like, please hit subscribe. So obviously it helps me, it helps my channel. Obviously I'm trying to continue to grow it. And then if you guys have any real estate questions, I would definitely love to hear from you.

We have people that reach out to me all the time. I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have or do anything we can to help you out with your move. If you are making a move here, of course we would love to help you with our services there, but if not, just to kind of point you in the right direction and give you some general information, always help to at least point you in the right direction as well, so let's go ahead and we'll get into the video.

So the first thing we're going to talk about city of Wildomar. So kind of tell you how everything was set up. So went to this meeting, it's like this big stage and each city, all these city reps talked. So Temecula, Murrieta, Menifee, Wildomar, Lake Elsinore, and they all kind of gave their spiel. It was really cool. It's really good information for me. As a realtor it's good to know all the local happenings, et cetera, right?

So anyways, it was pretty funny because the guy from Wildomar went up there and if you are not from around here and you're not too familiar with Wildomar, so it's just north, it's the next city north of Murrieta, right off of the 15 freeway and it's the next city south from Lake Elsinore. And it's smaller. It's probably the smallest city here locally. It's a newer city. I think it was only established as a city in 2009, right around there.

You could probably Wikipedia me and I'll probably be wrong, but it's right there. So it's a newer city compared to the others and it's smaller. And so the city manager got up there and he is like, "Hey, I'm so-and-so from Wildomar and this is kind of our plan. He laid out some stats and really he's like, "These are some stats about us. Here's like the two things we have going on. And really our plan as a city, just to stay steady, our plan as a city, just to tread water and just keep going along. Not a lot of big changes, but we're going to be a solid steady city."

It was just funny because all the other cities like, "Oh, we're doing this, we're bringing this infrastructure in and this big employer's coming in and we're doing the freeways like this and we have all this new housing going." Stuff, all these plans.

And the guy from Wildomar is like, "Yeah, we're going to tread water and we're going to be all right." So it was just kind of a funny thing. So some of the stats that they went over did kind of surprise me. So City of Wildomar now has 37,000 people that live in the city. The median average age for someone that lives there is 35 and a half years old.

And I was surprised about the average household income now is actually up to $107,000, so that's super comparable to the bigger cities of Murrieta and Temecula. So really it's right there and quite a bit higher than Lake Elsinore, which we'll get to in just a minute. And so really there's three things that they went over.

And so the first one was all about MSJC and they talked about their regenerative agricultural program. So if you don't know what MSJC is, so it's the Mount San Jacinto Junior College. They have a big huge campus in the city of Menifee, which is just close by.

If you watch the video that we did about Menifee, they're building a new football stadium there. They're doing a bunch of expansions. And the junior college has really grown a ton over the last, I don't know, 12, 15 years. I went to junior college there long, long time ago and it's tripled in size since then. So they're always doing a lot of different stuff.

But in Wildomar, so they bought some land a couple years ago and in that piece of land they are now doing a regenerative agricultural department. I guess that's probably the right word, a department where they're going to be teaching that they're going to do certifications. I don't know what regenerative agriculture is.

I'm sure it has to do with plants that reproduce themselves and that are self-sustaining. That's kind of what it sounds like to me. But they're really excited about it and it's going to be coming soon. I'm sure I will learn soon once it actually opens up. So that was the first thing.

The second thing that they talked about was that there are three possible hotel sites that are going to be opening up near where that MSJC Community College is. So they are just kind of in the early planning stage when plans being submitted to the city, so it's nothing official, but they're pretty happy. They might have a couple hotels coming or three, so a few hotels coming.

And they did talk about the Inland Valley Medical Center expansion. So this is something they have been working on for over a year now, but there's a hospital in Wildomar. It's called in Inland Valley Hospital and they are expanding. I think they're going from three stories to nine. So it's a huge expansion and spending a ton of money on it, but it's a small city and that was their third-biggest thing that they had talked about.

Other than that, again, the guy's like, "Eh, we're hanging out. We're doing okay." So that's why we combined these videos, just not a lot of to talk about there. So the next thing we're going to talk about is the city of Lake Elsinore.

All right. So City of Lake Elsinore was definitely a different presentation. So if you don't know, I learned a lot of things about the city. I've lived here for a long time and they gave me some good information that I didn't know. But Lake Elsinore, if you look at a map, just raw size Lake Elsinore, is really, it's a huge city. It covers a vast amount of space, covers a lot of land, and because of that not, well in that large space, a very small portion of it is actually developed.

And so because of that, there's a ton of new construction going on, a ton of development, a ton of things that are happening. So they gave out some general stats. So right now, city of Lake Elsinore, they now have 71,000 people that live there in the city, which is bigger than what actually I had realized.

The median age to someone that lives in Lake Elsinore is 30.6 years old, so it's definitely the youngest out of any of the surrounding cities that we went over. The average income for a family that, a household, not a family, but a household that lives there is now $89,000. So it's definitely up over the last couple years. And really what they're focused on right now is they have a big master plan, as most of the cities do that they talked about, it's called the Dream Extreme 2040.

So basically I think they put it in place back in 2020, but it was a 20-year plan all talking about, all about Dream Extreme. So they're really trying to make it a destination for action sports. So there's motorcycle tracks that are there. They're privately owned, but there's skydiving. They're trying to have just other extreme sports that they'd like to be in a destination for that. And so that's kind of one of the things that they're focusing on.

Couple of the other kind of sections that they talked about in their presentation, the first one was all about housing. So right now there is almost 1,000 housing units that have been approved for construction and that should be built over the next year. So that's a thousand houses or units that include some apartments and that's over six different locations. So they have six different new home developments that are going on right now.

And then part of that, when the new builders are coming in, they're having some open space that is just part of the communities. So some of it's like protected, preserve land, stuff like that. And they actually have 31 acres that they are building out and keeping as protected space. So I thought that was kind of cool.

All right, so the next section that they talked about, which is all about the infrastructure and some of the improvements that they have going on, and they definitely have a lot of things that they listed there. So the first thing they talked about was just all about safety improvements. So they kept it pretty general. It just said they have a ton of safety improvements going on throughout the city, so we're spending a lot of money on that.

Also there's a new Public Works administration building. So I guess before that they were working out of a trailer, a portable trailer, very small. So they have a whole new building and some yard improvements that are there, part of that whole infrastructure so that's a new city building.

They have a couple new interchanges that they're working on. So they have right off the 15 freeway, one of the off-ramps off the freeway is for Main Street. And so they have a new interchange that's being improved right off of Main Street in Lake Elsinore, so that's being worked on right now. It's under construction. Should be completed this year.

Off of Central Avenue, so that's another freeway off ramp interchange right there. They are getting close to getting their final funding for that and they'll be able to start construction so that should happen sometime this year, and it sounds like it's going to take about a year or so to complete construction there. And the city is continuing to work on a revitalization program for what they call the avenue streets.

So they're doing a bunch of improvements down there. So that's doing some new pavement, some new drainage, they're doing some new lighting. So that avenue streets is kind of, it's down by the lake, so if you look there is, Lake Elsinore is the city. There is actually the lake, there is Lake Elsinore, so it's an actual physical lake and near the city is the avenue streets that they're just working on. They're trying to make it nicer and make it more of a desirable place.

Also, they have a urban greening project that they're working on, so they kind of showed some graphics. So really it's kind of a fancy way of saying they're planting a bunch of trees. They're putting some grass in, putting bushes, they're putting trees, but it's probably, it's a nice thing. It's going to make the city look prettier. I thought it was a little bit of an overzealous name, an urban greening project, but probably a good thing.

And they talked about the new civic center that they're working on. So the other building, city building was a public works building that's been completed. They have a civic center that is being worked on and hopefully that'll be completed sometime over the next year. And overall, they look at, it's a ton of money that they're spending between the roads and all the growth and everything they have going on.

They laid out a plan over the next four years where they're going to be spending $481 million. So that's a ton of money that the city's putting out there to really improve the city. So I think that's really a good thing. I know I kind of joked about a couple of things, but they're spending a ton of money, they're making it nicer. And as a city that's continuing to grow, I think that's really the right time for them to do that because it's just going to make this help the city grow with the construction and the space that's being filled up.

All right. And then the next section that they talked about was just about private development. So basically this is private businesses that they have going in. So there is a new six acre retail project that's going on Corydon and Mission Trail. So that's, if you look at a map, it's kind of on the border of Wildomar and Lake Elsinore. I think that's actually a really good thing.

They have a new indoor RV and boat storage that's supposed to open up sometime this year, so that's kind of cool. So it's indoor to protect people's toys. Again, that's a private business, but I know the city's happy about that with just their whole dream extreme plan that they're trying to incorporate. Think a couple other businesses, they have some fast food places, stuff like that.

They got a new In-N-Out that's getting ready to open. So I think that's the second In-N-Out in Elsinore and they have a new Dutch Bros coffee, so I just kind of highlighted a couple of the cool newer businesses.

And so the next section that they talked about was really just about parks and rec and some of the new stuff that they have going on there. So they did talk about Launch Point. So again, Lake Elsinore, the lake, the actual physical lake, it has what's called Launch Point. So Launch Point is the direct destinations, the RV park. You can go and you can park overnight and you have to reserve a spot. But last year they talked a ton about how excited they were about it. How it'd been a big success and it had been really been revitalized over the last five years or so. And it's actually a super nice place to go and hang out now.

So they're now saying that they're sold out now every weekend in the summer, so that was last year. That's what they're forecasting again for this year as well. And so it's really become a much, much more of a destination and place that people actually want to go. They also talked about the Murietta Creek Trail that's under design. So they're doing a public outreach right now to try and see what people would really want there, but they're planning to redo that and refresh the design there and make it nicer.

They talked about a bunch of park upgrades that they have going on. So they resurfaced parking lots, resurfaced sports courts, so it's like tennis courts and basketball courts. They put a bunch of new lighting in, they put in some splash pads, they put in some new shade structures, so they're happy about all of that. And then they just talked about some of the events that are now going on at Storm Stadium.

So if you're not from around here, you probably don't know this, but you can look up the Lake Elsinore Storm and the Storm Stadium. So Lake Elsinore Storm. It's a minor league team here in Lake Elsinore. It's like single A baseball and they have the Storm Stadium. So it's a pretty decent sized sports stadium.

And in the past, the only thing they used it for was for the Storm games, but now they're starting to do a lot more events. So they're doing stuff seems like every few weeks they have something going on. So they have a mariachi festival, they have a summer concert series, so they have a bunch of cover bands and stuff like that. And they actually have the Latin Kings of Comedy that are coming and doing, I think, I'm not sure it's a one night or a three night show there too, which is cool.

And then if you are, I mean it's not on the list, but if you guys aren't familiar with the Storm Stadium, it's actually, it's super, super cool. So I have young kids, I have a five-year-old and a seven-year-old. My five-year-old loves baseball. I coach his baseball team. He's all about baseball, and so we go all the time. So we probably go six or seven times throughout the year.

It's baseball. It's super cheap. It's not packed at all. You can get in, I think it's like eight bucks or something, $10 bucks to get in. It's super laid back. It's super easy. And you get to see professional baseball players that are trying to make it to the Majors. So a lot of people don't actually know too much about it even when they live here. But I think it's a super fun thing, especially if you've got kids that like baseball and stuff, so cool.

The next thing I talked about was just the overall lake habitat. And so I thought this was kind of cool. So the actual Lake, Lake Elsinore has had a bad reputation in the past about being dirty and being not a clean place to be and being just kind of a nasty lake. That's not the case anymore. Really over the last decade they've cleaned it up a ton. It's actually, it's really nice. It looks nice, it smells nice. It's not like a problem or an issue or an eyesore or anything like that.

However, the city is now doing a restoration study with the Army. So the US Army, so I guess the Army Corps of Engineers, but part of the US Army. And they're doing a study and they're looking to do maybe some new restoration stuff with the lake and work with the city and the Army Corps of Engineers will help run that.

So obviously, I don't know all the particulars, I don't even how to say quite all the words, but that was kind of cool. The US Army's getting involved doing, trying a new test program and make the lake even nicer, which is cool.

And then the last section that they talked about was just all about public safety. So really for Lake Elsinore, they talked about having a proactive zero tolerance approach throughout the city. Just try and be a little bit more strict, try and continue to clean up the city, have it be a nice place and have it be an enjoyable place for people to live.

They talked about their code enforcement receiving a big national awards, it's called the Jill Robinson Award. They're really proud about that. It's basically saying the code enforcement's doing a really good job as far as response times and the quality that they're providing.

And they talked about their approach to homelessness. So they have a, what they call SWAG, so which is, it's a Social Work Action Group. So they have a full branding set up, but basically it's a combination effort to help with homelessness. And so they have a task force, they have a street outreach team, they have a public outreach team, and they have a grant funding team.

So they're trying to use several different resources to really tackle homelessness. Obviously I think most people realize homelessness is becoming a bigger and bigger issue in the past, especially by the lake. There were more homeless by the lake in Lake Elsinore, than maybe some other areas. Those numbers have really dwindled and they've really, they actually knew off top of their head how many regular homeless they had in the area. So it was just kind of interesting what their plan is.

They even talked about having some temporary housing situations to help people in transition and therapies and stuff like that. And I thought that was kind of cool because I think that's, in general, that seems to be a problem all across the United States. So I thought it was a pretty cool program that they had and it seems like they're putting a lot of resources into that. And I mean, even having the housing set up for them I think is cool.

And that was really end their presentation. But I guess again, that it's all about the city of Lake Elsinore. I think it's just good to know they have a ton of growth going on. Look at it on the map. Just look at the pure size of the city and how much bare land is out there. So they're going to continue to build and build and build. I think that's going to continue to happen over the next decade. You're going to see more and more people live there.

Right now, 71,000 people, but I wouldn't be surprised if that doubles over the next decade. So you're going to see more and more growth. So again, hopefully that's good information for you guys. If you guys have any questions, feel free to reach out. You can call, text or email and we'd love to answer your question you have and hopefully talk to you soon. Thanks.