We are excited to be working with Lennar to prepare landscape designs for a trail loop park system in Mountain House, CA. This trail loop is designed with the ‘Active Adult’ community in mind, while also preserving and incorporating the existing ponds. As trails users run, bike or walk along the trail, they can take breaks at shaded benches and picnic tables while overlooking a pond, or exercise at par course stations. Two mini parks are also available with playground equipment for children, along with plenty of passive recreation turf areas. Additionally, the loop runs through a larger neighborhood park that includes more play structures, a picnic shade shelter, large and small dog parks, volleyball courts, a multi-use soccer field, pickleball and badminton courts, and opportunities for games like table tennis and chess.

A message from Phil vanderToolen:

January 2024

2024 commences with vanderToolen Associates Landscape Architects approaching its 30th anniversary and I am thrilled to announce another significant milestone, three new shareholders are joining Mary Carden and me in leading vTA.

Please welcome Mary McGovern, Jacqueline Smyth, and Kathryn Mendenhall as our next generation of leaders. Each of these individuals have over a decade of experience with the firm.

I will continue in my role as vanderToolen Associates Founder and President and truly excited to continue mentoring and sharing my over four decades of professional experience with our new partners.

And all of us look forward to continuing our relationships and collaborating with our incredible clients, talented fellow consultants, and professional colleagues.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Phil vanderToolen, ASLA, RLA
President, vanderToolen Associates

Music, matches and mutts! The residents of Mountain House can look forward to enjoying more of these sounds in their community in the near future. vTA is excited to be selected by Mountain House Developers, LLC to prepare landscape designs for the next phase of Central Community Park including an outdoor amphitheater, tennis facility expansion and off-leash dog park. Located east of Town Hall, the 2500 capacity outdoor amphitheater will host concerts, live theater and community events and include a roofed performance stage with storage buildings, vendor tent areas, outdoor dining patios and varied seating options from the lower pit chairs nearest the stage, the central terraced turf seatwalls and the upper sloped turf bowl. The gated tennis facility expansion, located west of the existing tennis courts, will include 6 fenced courts with shaded bleacher viewing areas, covered players benches and an outdoor dining plaza with a combination tennis pro office and restroom building. The dog park will have separated fenced areas for large versus small breeds, as well as double-trap entry gates, meandering pathways, roofed shade structure, canine agility course, shaded bench seating, hydration/hose-down stations and specimen shade trees with seatwalls.