Diablo Grande is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Stanislaus County, California Stanislaus County ( ; ) is a County (United States), county located in the San Joaquin Valley of the U.S. state of California. As of 2023, its estimated population is 564,404. The county seat is Modesto, California, Modesto. Stanislaus County ...

, United States. It is a gated

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

nestled in the

Diablo Range The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges in northern California, United States. It stretches from the eastern San Francisco Bay Area at its northern end to the Salinas Valley a ...

, whence it gets its name. Diablo Grande sits at an elevation of . It is about southwest of

Patterson Patterson may refer to: People * Patterson (surname) * Patterson family Places ;Australia * Patterson railway station ;Canada * Pattersons Corners, Ontario * Patterson Township, Ontario * Patterson, Calgary a neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta. ...

. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined that community as a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP). The 2010 United States census reported Diablo Grande's population was 826. The 2018 estimated population was 1,200.

Background

The preliminary plans for a

gated community A gated community (or walled community) is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences ...

and golf resort to be developed by

Don Panoz Donald Panoz ( or ; February 13, 1935 – September 11, 2018) was an American entrepreneur who founded two pharmaceutical companies. Early life Panoz was an Italian-American. His father, Eugene Panunzio, immigrated to the United States from ...

were distributed in May 1990. The project was approved by the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors in the fall of 1993. By 1999, the

Stanislaus County Stanislaus County ( ; ) is a county located in the San Joaquin Valley of the U.S. state of California. As of 2023, its estimated population is 564,404. The county seat is Modesto. Stanislaus County makes up the Modesto metropolitan statistic ...

superior court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...

had rejected Diablo Grande's second

environmental impact report An environmental impact statement (EIS), under United States environmental law, is a document required by the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for certain actions "significantly affecting the quality of the human environment". An EIS ...

with the argument that it had failed to properly protect the surrounding environment and there was no answer to where water would come from due to the area not containing adequate on-site water. In response, Diablo Grande created the Western Hills Water District to serve the community. Water transfers from former agriculture land to the community were arranged and were preserved for wildlife. Developer Donald Panoz envisioned Diablo Grande to consist of 5,000 to 10,000 homes, a

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that aims to provide most of a vacationer's needs. This includes food, drink, swimming, accommodation, sports, entertainment and shopping, on the premises. A hotel ...

hotel and spa, six

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...

s, an

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...

center, vineyards, a winery and commercial properties, including a high-tech research park. After investing $120 million into Diablo Grande and the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

occurring, the investors of the community filed for

chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

on March 10, 2008. There were more than $54 million in unpaid debts and 70 out of the 350 homes built faced

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has Default (finance), stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the Collateral (finance), coll ...

. In October 2008, World International LLC purchased Diablo Grande for $20 million. The California Department of Health temporarily suspended new building permits in January 2009 when water tests showed

trihalomethane In chemistry, trihalomethanes (THMs) are chemical compounds in which three of the four hydrogen atoms of methane () are replaced by halogen atoms. Trihalomethanes with all the same halogen atoms are called haloforms. Many trihalomethanes find uses ...

levels at 0.103 milligrams per liter vs. the state standard of 0.080 milligrams per liter. Diablo Grande's Legends golf course, designed by

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (; born January 21, 1940), nicknamed "the Golden Bear", is an American retired professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greate ...

and

Gene Sarazen Gene Sarazen (; born Eugenio Saraceni, February 27, 1902 – May 13, 1999) was an American professional golfer, one of the world's top players in the 1920s and 1930s, and the winner of seven major championships. He is one of six players (alon ...

, was closed in March 2014 due to the drought in California. In May 2017, the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors approved a revised plan for the community. An additional 1,000 single-family homes could be built by reducing the number of condos and townhouses and eliminating apartments. Also, instead of building homes spread along the hillsides, residential areas were grouped together, leaving more open terrain and walking trails. The revised plan brought the total number of housing units to 2,354. By the fall of 2019, it was announced that the remaining golf course at Diablo Grande would close in October. It was also revealed that World International has outstanding tax bills on about half of its 340 parcels at Diablo Grande, totaling more than $6 million, and is looking for a new owner. On May 7, 2020, World International, LLC sold substantially all of its property within the Phase 1 development area of the District to Angel’s Crossing, LLC. On August 19, 2020 at 3:00 PM Pacific Time, due to the SCU Lightning Complex fires of 2020, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention issued an evacuation order of Diablo Grande. The evacuation order was lifted on August 20, 2020 at 2:00 PM.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the CDP covers an area of 5.1 square miles (13.2 km²), 99.99% of it land and 0.01% of it water.

Demographics

The 2020 United States census reported that Diablo Grande had a population of 1,669. The population density was . The racial makeup of Diablo Grande was 714 (42.8%)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 147 (8.8%)

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 18 (1.1%) Native American, 212 (12.7%) Asian, 6 (0.4%)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 279 (16.7%) from other races, and 293 (17.6%) from two or more races.

Hispanic or Latino ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While many use the terms interchangeably, for example, the United States Census Bureau ...

of any race were 614 persons (36.8%). The whole population lived in households. There were 583 households, out of which 211 (36.2%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 363 (62.3%) were married-couple households, 46 (7.9%) were

cohabiting Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become incr ...

couple households, 69 (11.8%) had a female householder with no partner present, and 105 (18.0%) had a male householder with no partner present. 102 households (17.5%) were one person, and 44 (7.5%) were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.86. There were 445

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

(76.3% of all households). The age distribution was 426 people (25.5%) under the age of 18, 118 people (7.1%) aged 18 to 24, 432 people (25.9%) aged 25 to 44, 451 people (27.0%) aged 45 to 64, and 242 people (14.5%) who were 65years of age or older. The median age was 38.4years. For every 100 females, there were 103.0 males. There were 632 housing units at an average density of , of which 583 (92.2%) were occupied. Of these, 496 (85.1%) were owner-occupied, and 87 (14.9%) were occupied by renters. In 2023, the US Census Bureau estimated that the median household income was $160,741, and the

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

was $50,331. About 4.0% of families and 2.8% of the population were below the poverty line.

References

{{authority control Census-designated places in Stanislaus County, California Census-designated places in California Diablo Range