Where to live - far east suburbs of Atlanta? (Dunwoody: transplants, crime)

[kf20878]

My husband is considering accepting an offer from Baxter to work at their new facility 10 miles east of Covington. We are currently in the DC suburbs and I am concerned about our options for where to live. Good schools & safe neighborhood are top priorities; it would be preferable to be at least within a feasible commuting distance to Atlanta for me (we're used to awful traffic) -- so we are looking for somewhere in between. We are also used to having a fair level of amenities, shopping, etc. nearby. Most posts seem to recommend the northern suburbs, but that seems too far to commute to Social Circle area even though it would probably be against traffic. Does anyone have any recommendations or is this a lost cause?

[jeoff]

Oconee county is a great far East suburb of Atlanta! Some of the best public schools in the state. Very safe. Very nice new housing stock, with a nice little old downtown area with older homes in Watkinsville. It is sort of a suburb of Athens where the University of Georgia is located. So there is a lot of nice but inexpensive restaurants and cultural activities that are not available in other small towns. Relatively speaking the schools are lacking in diversity, but attitudes of folks there are for the most part pretty good. Trips to Atlanta are a little more than an hour without traffic. Some folks actually commute to Atlanta from Oconee (I think that there is also a van that makes the trip), but it is too much for me. So, with a change in jobs, and a bit of apprehension we are moving back to Atlanta. Not sure if you can trust what realtors say, but mine says that quite a few of the Baxter transplants are interested in Oconee county.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by kf20878

My husband is considering accepting an offer from Baxter to work at their new facility 10 miles east of Covington. We are currently in the DC suburbs and I am concerned about our options for where to live. Good schools & safe neighborhood are top priorities; it would be preferable to be at least within a feasible commuting distance to Atlanta for me (we're used to awful traffic) -- so we are looking for somewhere in between. We are also used to having a fair level of amenities, shopping, etc. nearby. Most posts seem to recommend the northern suburbs, but that seems too far to commute to Social Circle area even though it would probably be against traffic. Does anyone have any recommendations or is this a lost cause?

My recommendations:

1. Eastern Newton County (Eastside High District)
2. The Union Grove High School District of Henry County
3. Social Circle City Schools
4. The City of Madison and Morgan County
5. The Loganville and Walnut Grove Area of Walton County


and...

Maybe--the Heritage High District of South Rockdale County and the Alcovy High District of Newton County.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by kf20878

My husband is considering accepting an offer from Baxter to work at their new facility 10 miles east of Covington. We are currently in the DC suburbs and I am concerned about our options for where to live. Good schools & safe neighborhood are top priorities; it would be preferable to be at least within a feasible commuting distance to Atlanta for me (we're used to awful traffic) -- so we are looking for somewhere in between. We are also used to having a fair level of amenities, shopping, etc. nearby. Most posts seem to recommend the northern suburbs, but that seems too far to commute to Social Circle area even though it would probably be against traffic. Does anyone have any recommendations or is this a lost cause?

...As you will soon find out when you move here, Atlanta is a very northside-centric city and metro area.

This is mostly by accident of topography and geography because of Atlanta's relatively-close location to the Blue Ridge chain of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and how the foothills of those mountains are a significant (if not dominant in some cases) physical feature of North Metro Atlanta's topography.

Add in the heavily-wooded physical features of the Chattahoochee River Valley and the northside location of popular recreational and water-supply manmade mega lakes Allatoona and Lanier and you have much of the reason why Atlanta's Northside gets all the attention.

The much more hilly to rolling to mountainous topography, the two big lakes and the relatively close location to the Blue Ridge Mountains have made the Northside popular with the super-wealthy and the highly-affluent and the people (industry, employment, shopping, amenities, services, etc) who want to be very near those super-wealthy and highly-affluent people and their money and financial resources.

The Northside is where almost all of Atlanta's political and financial affluence lies as the 8 counties or so that make up the suburbs of North Metro Atlanta (Paulding, Cobb, Cherokee, North Fulton, the Dunwoody area of extreme North DeKalb, Forsyth, Gwinnett, Hall) almost completely dominate the state's political climate.

Outside of Metro Atlanta's continuing obsession with all things north of the I-20 (the rough political and social dividing line between the highly-desired Northside and the sometimes-overlooked Southside of the Atlanta region), there are some good areas out the I-20 East Corridor that may work for you and your family.

Outer-suburban Covington and surrounding Newton County are good places to look with lots of newer housing that is very-affordable and schools that are fairly good (the Newton County HS and Eastside HS clusters of the Newton County School system), not to mention that the area is very-close to where your husband will be working.

The problem with Covington is that except for about 3 grocery stores (Ingles, Food Depot and Kroger), a Big K-Mart and a Wal-Mart Supercenter, Covington may not necessarily have much in the way of what you might like in shopping or amenities.

Slightly closer-in but still outer-suburban Conyers and Rockdale County has much the same affordability with much newer housing and fairly good schools (the Rockdale County HS, Heritage HS and Salem HS clusters of the Rockdale County School system).

But Conyers and Rockdale County has much more shopping and amenities with a large shopping cluster around the often-congested I-20 and GA Highway 20-138 interchange and a growing shopping strip that stretches along GA Hwy 20-138 for about a couple of miles south from the I-20.

Crime is not much of an issue in Rockdale and Newton Counties so it is not really not anything that you will have to worry about in the outer-suburbs of the I-20 East Corridor.

[arjay57]

I would second the recommendation for Oconee county.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by arjay57

I would second the recommendation for Oconee county.

Third here.

[PT 3000]

Originally Posted by jeoff

Oconee county is a great far East suburb of Atlanta! Some of the best public schools in the state. Very safe. Very nice new housing stock, with a nice little old downtown area with older homes in Watkinsville. It is sort of a suburb of Athens where the University of Georgia is located. So there is a lot of nice but inexpensive restaurants and cultural activities that are not available in other small towns. Relatively speaking the schools are lacking in diversity, but attitudes of folks there are for the most part pretty good. Trips to Atlanta are a little more than an hour without traffic. Some folks actually commute to Atlanta from Oconee (I think that there is also a van that makes the trip), but it is too much for me. So, with a change in jobs, and a bit of apprehension we are moving back to Atlanta. Not sure if you can trust what realtors say, but mine says that quite a few of the Baxter transplants are interested in Oconee county.

Oconee Co. isn't a suburb of Atlanta at all, while a few may commute from Oconee Co. to Atlanta it is a true suburb of Athens. Social Circle or East Newton Co. are good areas to locate if your husband really wants to save time on his commute, as far as shopping, Oconee really didn't have anything the last time I passed through about two years ago, but it is right next door to Athens which has everything you probably want shopping wise.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by PT 3000

Oconee Co. isn't a suburb of Atlanta at all, while a few may commute from Oconee Co. to Atlanta it is a true suburb of Athens. Social Circle or East Newton Co. are good areas to locate if your husband really wants to save time on his commute, as far as shopping, Oconee really didn't have anything the last time I passed through about two years ago, but it is right next door to Athens which has everything you probably want shopping wise.

Agreed. Oconee is nice, but it is kind of far from Baxter.

And Oconee County is not a suburb of Atlanta.

Originally Posted by aries4118

My recommendations:

*1. Eastern Newton County (Eastside High District)
2. The Union Grove High School District of Henry County (I am lessening my recommendation for this area because it is about the same distance from Baxter that Oconee County is.)
*3. Social Circle City Schools
*4. The City of Madison and Morgan County
*5. The Loganville and Walnut Grove Area of Walton County


and...

Maybe--the Heritage High District of South Rockdale County and the Alcovy High District of Newton County.

* = strongly recommended.


Oconee County could work--but then you should extend your search to Eastern/South-eastern Henry County as well.


So...

Top recommendations
1. The Eastside High School District of Newton County
2. The Loganville and Walnut Grove Area of Walton County
3. The City of Madison/Morgan County
4. Social Circle City Schools

Other Possibilities
1. Oconee County
2. The Union Grove High School District and the Ola High School District of Henry County

Maybes
1. The Heritage High School District of Rockdale County
2. The Alcovy High School District of Newton County

[mrkhou]

Originally Posted by kf20878

My husband is considering accepting an offer from Baxter to work at their new facility 10 miles east of Covington. We are currently in the DC suburbs and I am concerned about our options for where to live. Good schools & safe neighborhood are top priorities; it would be preferable to be at least within a feasible commuting distance to Atlanta for me (we're used to awful traffic) -- so we are looking for somewhere in between. We are also used to having a fair level of amenities, shopping, etc. nearby. Most posts seem to recommend the northern suburbs, but that seems too far to commute to Social Circle area even though it would probably be against traffic. Does anyone have any recommendations or is this a lost cause?

Hi. I would be very interested in finding out if you and your husband moved to GA. If so, where did you decide to settle. I, too am thinking about moving to the general Covington area and haven't been able to find much information on where to go. I am kind of in the same situation as you. I live in the portland suburbs and have access to just about any amenities. Plus I have a toddler, so accessibility is a must. Thank you in advance for any info you can provide.

[jeoff]

Originally Posted by PT 3000

Oconee Co. isn't a suburb of Atlanta at all, while a few may commute from Oconee Co. to Atlanta it is a true suburb of Athens. Social Circle or East Newton Co. are good areas to locate if your husband really wants to save time on his commute, as far as shopping, Oconee really didn't have anything the last time I passed through about two years ago, but it is right next door to Athens which has everything you probably want shopping wise.

What "far east" suburbs of Atlanta means, is up for interpretation, but the "no shopping" statement is not correct. In the last ten years, Oconee has received almost all of the new shopping developments in the area with the latest being the 80 acre Epps Bridge Center that opened last Summer. Athens-Clarke and Oconee do sort of blend together, with part of the Athens "Loop" being in Oconee County, so I could understand how someone might think that this area is part of Athens-Clarke.