On November 15, 2011, the Laguna Niguel City Council adopted a comprehensive update to the Laguna Niguel Gateway Specific Plan to provide for up to 2,994 residential units and 2.26 million square feet of retail, office, entertainment, hotel and other non-residential uses resulting in 28% fewer average daily trips than would have been generated under the previously approved 1999 Gateway Specific Plan. It allows existing businesses to remain, but will serve as a guide for the private market to attract and develop new land uses that will gradually transition the Gateway area into an attractive and desirable transit and pedestrian-oriented urban village where people live, work, shop, are entertained and recreate.

The Gateway Specific Plan includes the approximate 315-acre area along Crown Valley Parkway, Cabot and Forbes Roads, bounded by Interstate 5, San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor, and the City limits to the north and south.