Brighton Landing, Vacaville, CA

Brighton Landing is one of the newest communities on Vacaville's east side, and the landscaping gives that away. Sidewalks are crisp, front yards are young, and the trees have not yet reached the rooflines. According to the city, the plan is for roughly 770 detached homes grouped into a dozen villages, with The New Home Company building the Bristol and Oxford villages. The same plan leaves room for a small park with trails, a public school site and a much larger parcel for a private high school, so the picture here will keep changing for a while. Time outdoors mostly happens at the parks next door. Play 4 All Park is an easy walk, Patwin Park is just beyond it, and Arbor Oaks Park, past that, has an off-leash dog area. The community's own trails are meant to connect with that string of green space as they are built. Food is a drive. Tamales Chepo's, about a quarter mile away, is the closest named restaurant. In past winters a family on Hawk Drive has put on a holiday light show set to music, and the display has become a seasonal landmark on these streets. Groceries mean driving a mile or more. Elmira Road and Leisure Town Road meet at the community's edge, and nearly every trip starts on one of them. The city expects Leisure Town Road to become part of the Jepson Parkway in time. The cost of living on the frontier is distance. The newest neighborhoods have the fewest businesses nearby, and shops and restaurants tend to arrive after the houses do. That private school site is worth keeping in mind, because a campus that size will change how busy the surrounding roads feel once it opens. For now, Brighton Landing is quiet, tidy and young, a place where the trees are still catching up to the houses.