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on another note are there any good olympic size indoor swimming pools in the south burlington area?....do you need to join and are the memebership fees expensive?.....also is there a big town pool open to the public in the summer.....when we went to waterbury a few weeks ago, when getting off the highway at exit 10, there was a huge public outdoor pool right off the highway packed with people....we were there durung the heat wave a couple weeks back, so thats why i am talking so much about pools...it seemed like it hit 95 degrees almost every day we were there.
Not a lot of outdoor pools..there is a nice one in Essex. There is a pretty darn big lake that you can cool off in!
Yes, there are a few indoor pool/gym places. Sports and Fitness Edge comes to mind.
Sports & Fitness Edge, Vermont Health Clubs, Premiere Health Clubs in Vermont, Vermont Fitness (http://sfedge.com/page.php?pid=1&pname=Home%20Page,home - broken link)
Hmm, interesting point about safety considerations at Heatherfield.
My husband vetoed the Rivercrest townhomes; he doesn't like the way they've configured the neighborhood and he doesn't like the space inside the townhomes. As far as taxes, I think Shelburne, Charlotte, South Burlington and Burlington are about equal.
In a ski resort area, you could probably find what you're looking for. There are many upscale condos/townhomes near Sugarbush (and I'm sure near other ski areas, too, but I'm only familiar with Sugarbush) that have the amenities you're talking about, but I know of none in the Chittenden county area.
There is a town pool in Vergennes and Essex and Waterbury, as you mentioned.
There is a condo development behind Dorset park in Shelburne that has a community outdoor pool and some in Williston have outdoor pools. Oh, and I'm pretty sure the Dorset Farms condos have a community pool.
And, as Vter said, Sports and Fitness edge has a large indoor pool (don't know if it's Olympic sized). Check out their website.
South Burlington wanted to add a community pool at Dorset Park years ago but rumor had it that Sports and Fitness Edge lobbied hard against it.
We moved here from NYC almost 20 years ago, and I just don't think you need to worry about safety that much. Sure, there's crime here, but really not enough to justify a gated community, IMO. Although I think your point about Heatherfield is a good one.
When I'm looking at a particular house/condo/neighborhood, I check the local police logs to see what's been happening in the last few months. Since I'm mostly looking in Shelburne, I check the Shelburne News; they have police logs listed weekly (it's on their website, too). Mostly it's a good way to get a few laughs ("caller reported a suspicious looking man on her street; police were dispatched and the man was found and determined to be a neighborhood resident").
Anyway, the clearer you can be on what you're looking for, the more we can be helpful.
BTW, what brought you to Waterbury? We lived there for five years, before moving to South Burlington for five years, before moving to Charlotte for (now) five years. We've also lived in Montpelier, Bristol, and Burlington proper.
Hmm, interesting point about safety considerations at Heatherfield.
My husband vetoed the Rivercrest townhomes; he doesn't like the way they've configured the neighborhood and he doesn't like the space inside the townhomes. As far as taxes, I think Shelburne, Charlotte, South Burlington and Burlington are about equal.
In a ski resort area, you could probably find what you're looking for. There are many upscale condos/townhomes near Sugarbush (and I'm sure near other ski areas, too, but I'm only familiar with Sugarbush) that have the amenities you're talking about, but I know of none in the Chittenden county area.
There is a town pool in Vergennes and Essex and Waterbury, as you mentioned.
There is a condo development behind Dorset park in Shelburne that has a community outdoor pool and some in Williston have outdoor pools. Oh, and I'm pretty sure the Dorset Farms condos have a community pool.
And, as Vter said, Sports and Fitness edge has a large indoor pool (don't know if it's Olympic sized). Check out their website.
South Burlington wanted to add a community pool at Dorset Park years ago but rumor had it that Sports and Fitness Edge lobbied hard against it.
We moved here from NYC almost 20 years ago, and I just don't think you need to worry about safety that much. Sure, there's crime here, but really not enough to justify a gated community, IMO. Although I think your point about Heatherfield is a good one.
When I'm looking at a particular house/condo/neighborhood, I check the local police logs to see what's been happening in the last few months. Since I'm mostly looking in Shelburne, I check the Shelburne News; they have police logs listed weekly (it's on their website, too). Mostly it's a good way to get a few laughs ("caller reported a suspicious looking man on her street; police were dispatched and the man was found and determined to be a neighborhood resident").
Anyway, the clearer you can be on what you're looking for, the more we can be helpful.
BTW, what brought you to Waterbury? We lived there for five years, before moving to South Burlington for five years, before moving to Charlotte for (now) five years. We've also lived in Montpelier, Bristol, and Burlington proper.
hi lori, sorry for the slow responses, but i can only check in on the website so often, but i always eventually do check in and respond.....your husband is spot on with the rivercrest homes in shelburne....terrible use of the space inside and the configuration as well....we vetoed it right away too....for some reason i thought taxes were higher in shelburne, but you know better than me, and i'm glad to hear they are in the same range as south burlington and burlington....someone once referred to shelburne of vermont as the greenich of connecticut....high end and ritzy....actually one of the things that lowered shelburne on our list is the assumption that housing taxes were so exorbitantly high....we once viewed a place that housing taxes were about 12,000 for the year...while at heatherfield it's more like 6,000 to 6,500 yearly.....
as far as looking into sugarbush and the ski areas, we aren't going to do that...we actually like south burlington the most as we want to be near burlington, just not right in the heart of the tourism.....we really find shelburne and the charlotte vicinity nice as well....i have resorted to the idea that the amenities i mentioned are generally not in abundance in vermont and that's fine....i certainly can live without them....i just thought to mention it in case i was overlooking some locals.....
what a shame that south burlington wasn't able to add a nice outdoor community pool to the dorset park vicinity due to resistance by the sports club....wouldn't it only make the area a little better?
we too are in the new york area, and we have absolutely been drawn to vermont for years and finally are going to make the move....it's quite a big move for us since we are so rooted in new york and are "stuff" people....so it's a huge decision and we really need to find the ideal location....just winging it and grabbing a random spot on a whim would be a mistake we could regrat a couple years down the line....
i like your research methods...checking police blogs and what not....lol....pretty nifty....also are there any more communities that are popping up or newly designed in the shelburne area like heatherfield or rivercrest....or anything we might have overlooked in south burlington?....for some reason we like the idea of these new townhome communities but don't know of many in the area...we really like the shelburne area almost as much as south burlington....even essex junction, colchester, and mallets bay are wonderful as well.....
also when we come up to vermont we like to make our rounds to our favorite spots and areas.....when we first journeyed up to vt, our first visiting spot was stowe, tourist central, and we loved it....so we are familiar with that area and waterbury as well....i have always enjoyed craft beers (not just recently as the craft brew scene has really blossomed) and waterbury has what is known to be one of the best beer spots in the country....the alchemist....however we never seemed to get there...until now.....on our last visit up during the 4th of july we finally got to enjoy the restaurant and beer....we also like hen of the wood...great food, pricey, but well worth it....so thats basically what we were doing in waterbury...oh yes, and admiring the community swimming pool when coming off the highway in the sweltering 95 degree heat.
Not a lot of outdoor pools..there is a nice one in Essex. There is a pretty darn big lake that you can cool off in!
Yes, there are a few indoor pool/gym places. Sports and Fitness Edge comes to mind.
Sports & Fitness Edge, Vermont Health Clubs, Premiere Health Clubs in Vermont, Vermont Fitness (http://sfedge.com/page.php?pid=1&pname=Home%20Page,home - broken link)
thanks for the info vt...good stuff.....what if you don't want to join a place like that and you just want to find a good olympic size indoor swimming pool....in new york city they have the ymca....i'm not so sure i want to drop thousands of dollars on fitness memberships every year.....word on the street is you need to watch your output in vermont since a good income is not that easy to come by in the green mountain state.
The YMCA is in Winooski (I think...they are building a new building there and am not sure if they've moved yet).
For other townhome communities in SB check out Summerwoods or Quarry Ridge off Patchen Road. Really nice. There are also some new townhomes being constructed off Patchen Road right now as well. Not sure what the development is called. There are also a bunch along the golf course.
Are you working with a realtor?
Phenom-
I'll bet the taxes were so high on that house you looked at in Shelburne because it was twice as big as the townhome you saw in So. Burl. There are some monster houses out there!
We just showed our house to a family who looked around Vermont for a while and decided to settle down in Charlotte, VT. They sold their Brooklyn apartment in April and are renting here for a while while deciding whether to build or which house to buy.
You are in the catbird seat right now....the market is flooded and sales are very slow in this area. So many people are selling for a big loss (including, possibly us). It's pretty sad, but it's a good situation if you're looking to buy.
I have a friend in an upscale neighborhood in S. Burl. (Pinnacle at Spear) who told me that there are two houses that are being rented on her street....the owners tried to sell, couldn't, and had to get out, so they are renting. These are pretty fancy houses, mind you! So you might think about something like that, as it will be much easier to make this decision when you are actually living here.
There are very few townhomes in Shelburne; Rivercrest is the only new one that I'm aware of.
You asked if you had overlooked anything in South Burlington....eeeeek.....I don't know. There is so much development going on in S. Burl. all the time. I don't know what your price range is, how much space you need, etc. But currently, the Cider Mill is in development, South Village, Heatherfield. There are a few "older" ones for sale at Inverness and Ironwood and.....oooh, I forgot the name of the ones up on the golf course on Park Road, but if you Google Park Road South Burlington, you will come up with some, like this one: 148 Park Rd, South Burlington Vermont - Coldwell Banker Hickok & Boardman Realty (which is way out of our price range, and way overpriced. It's been on the market for quite a while with a lot of competition...hint, hint).
I think we've ruled out condos and townhomes for our family because we have three dogs, and most of these places allow only two dogs, if any at all. And we just saw some very cute puppies yesterday, so we're tempted to get #4.
Renting is a good point. We were able to rent in Brennan Woods in Williston for a year because the owner couldn't afford to sell it at current prices. That way we were able to live in a regular house with room for all our kids, pets, and stuff (from moving from a similarly sized house), and take the time to get to know the area and find the right deal. It was good to be in the "cat bird" seat. As it turns out, we stayed in Brennan Woods. We bought another house in the neighborhood.
on another note are there any good olympic size indoor swimming pools in the south burlington area?....do you need to join and are the memebership fees expensive?.....also is there a big town pool open to the public in the summer.....when we went to waterbury a few weeks ago, when getting off the highway at exit 10, there was a huge public outdoor pool right off the highway packed with people....we were there durung the heat wave a couple weeks back, so thats why i am talking so much about pools...it seemed like it hit 95 degrees almost every day we were there.
I really wish we'd get a new fitness center because the Edge is a dump in my opinion. I used to belong to the one in Willison and left because it was expensive and dirty. The equipment is outdated too. Of course, since there's no real competition, they aren't going to spend any money. I never used the pool but it looked old and small too.
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