Santaluz, a part of Black Mountain Ranch, and located 30 miles north of downtown San Diego, originally consisted of 4,000 acres of overgrazed non-native grassland. The goal of the project was to create a seamless, integrated landscape design that harkened of a time when the foothills of the region rolled with native shrubs, grasslands, rich riparian channels, and majestic plantings of Coast Live Oak, California Sycamore and Willow trees.

GMP worked in partnership with co-consultants and governing agencies to develop a native grassland planting palette set upon a sensitive approach to the grading of the project site. In collaboration with revegetation specialists, we developed the plant palettes that existed prior to the overgrazed, non-native plant community, and worked with the governing agencies to develop and implement a design solution that did not follow the accepted norms of slope revegetation and plant distribution.

Founded on a native grassland concept and design, this project is unique to San Diego. In avoiding the typical slope conditions, unique grading solutions and lot layouts afforded the ability to create rounded pad conditions and minimized building envelopes which lent to the open, rural rolling grassland experience envisioned for the project. Santaluz consists of 2,500 acre planned community, a golf course, extensive gated luxury housing areas and a central retail village area. The project was recognized as a finalist for the 2005 Urban Land Institute Award for Excellence and a recipient of the 2003 ASLA Merit Award.