anybody care to give some advice (Union County) to a northerner? :-) (Charlotte: property taxes)

[mhetfiel]

Well, let me start off by introducing myself and telling you a little about my situation...in case you care My fiance and I live in Michigan (we have our whole lives), we are highschool sweethearts and attended college together, we graduated from the University of Michigan last August with our B.S. in Elem Edu., and have been searching for a teaching job up here ever since.
Now, if you know anything about MI, you know that our state is in a ridiculous depression right now, and there are NO jobs to be found, especially in the teaching profession. People are literally fleeing the state in record numbers, and most days it is even hard to book a moving van. I work as an aide in a school right now, and our student numbers are declining rapidly, we are being forced to shut down 1 of 5 of our elementary schools next year due to this. This makes me really sad since I have so much love and support for my hometown and state, but like my dad always says..."You have to look out for #1, before you step in #2."...
So, we started considering moving to NC in August, after we get married in July, in order to actually have a job in the profession that we love and went to school for. We have 4 interviews the 1st week of April, in Wingate, Monroe, Matthews and Indian Trail, we decided to focus our search in Union County after reading many good reviews about the schools and county as a whole.
I have a few concerns, and if anyone is exceptionally bored, and would like to address them, I would whole-heartedly appreciate it!
************************************************** *
1) We are looking at living in Indian Trail, Matthews or possibly Wingate, I have read as many statistics on crime and what-not, but I would like a locals honest opinion, do you live in/like one of these particular communities? We have began looking at houses in these area, and they seem somewhat affordable for what we would be making. How is the crime? What reasturants/stores are in the communities? How often does one make a trip to Charlotte?
2) Is there any "bad feelings" towards northerners? I have read a few stories about parents getting upset that a "northerner" was teaching their child...to me there is no difference if youare from the north or south, I know that there are different cultures and what-not, but it's just where you live!
3)We live in a city of 30,000, we have 5 elementary schools, 1 middle school and 1 high school. There is abundant farmland and woods to be found, and we like it that way (we don't consider ourselves "city" folk!) we have just about every fastfood reasturant, along with 20 or so sit-down choices, a movie theatre, a bowling alley, YMCA, walking/biking trail and little to no crime...we are looking for a city about the same size with about the same "ammenities"...any suggestions?
4) My fiance is an AVID hunter (in particular whitetail and turkey), how is the hunting down there? What do your tags allow you to get and so on? When are the seasons? I enjoy fishing, is there anywhere in Union county to go?

Well, I think that's all I can think of now...but I am sure more will come up later! Thanks in advance, and I am sorry this is so long, but this is a huge move for us and I want to feel relaxed about it! I am so happy to have found this forum, you all seem so nice! I guess that's what they mean about southern hospitality!

[jlat]

Originally Posted by mhetfiel

1) We are looking at living in Indian Trail, Matthews or possibly Wingate, I have read as many statistics on crime and what-not, but I would like a locals honest opinion, do you live in/like one of these particular communities? We have began looking at houses in these area, and they seem somewhat affordable for what we would be making. How is the crime? What reasturants/stores are in the communities? How often does one make a trip to Charlotte?
2) Is there any "bad feelings" towards northerners? I have read a few stories about parents getting upset that a "northerner" was teaching their child...to me there is no difference if youare from the north or south, I know that there are different cultures and what-not, but it's just where you live!
3)We live in a city of 30,000, we have 5 elementary schools, 1 middle school and 1 high school. There is abundant farmland and woods to be found, and we like it that way (we don't consider ourselves "city" folk!) we have just about every fastfood reasturant, along with 20 or so sit-down choices, a movie theatre, a bowling alley, YMCA, walking/biking trail and little to no crime...we are looking for a city about the same size with about the same "ammenities"...any suggestions?
4) My fiance is an AVID hunter (in particular whitetail and turkey), how is the hunting down there? What do your tags allow you to get and so on? When are the seasons? I enjoy fishing, is there anywhere in Union county to go?

Hi there,

I'll try to address what I can, I know there will be others that will also jump on here and tell you how wonderful of place UC is. So, I will try to be real, and leave the boosterism to the others. I am a long time resident, my family has farmed in UC for 7 generations. I grew up in Charlotte, but as soon as I could I moved back here. I love the area, but am a bit disturbed about the uncontrolled growth that has happened in the western part of the county. That area, Weddington, Waxhaw, Wesley Chapel, Marvin etc are all bedroom communities of Charlotte. They have little of the charm that they once had. Waxhaw still has a small downtown area, but struggles as the area surrounding is choked with spec home developments, retail strips small, sometimes very crowded roads. Weddington, Marvin and Wesley Chapel were all once just crossroads. They now are struggling to catch up with all the growth, and having to deal with more people in less space. The idyllic green grass scenes that you are looking for are soon to be gone from these areas, replaced with strip centers and well landscaped housing development entrances.

Matthews also is a bedroom community, but has already experienced most of its growth and now they struggle with traffic, crime and infrastructure issues. Indian Trail is a pretty established community, but they are currently struggling with local government issues that are dividing the town. Surprisingly enough it isn't a north vs. south thing, but more issues related to growth as there is a strong movement to get liquor by the drink law passed and the Monroe by-pass road is probably going to go through a major section of Indian Trail. There's also a fair amount of in-fighting at the local government level.

The Wingate area is probably the closest to what you are looking for. It is still very rural, very small and is home to Wingate University. WU is mostly a commuter school, but has a good reputation and a good school of pharmacy. If you are a hunter, this part of the county is a better place to be. Deer is plentiful,as is birds and turkeys. You'll see a lot of hunter's out that way. A big gun ownership/use controversy is brewing up in Wesley Chapel, and soon it most likely will be illegal to shoot guns in that area is it is in Weddington, Marvin etc. For fishing, there's Cane Creek Park, but with the recent drought that has hit the area hard, the fishing isn't nearly as good as it once was. There are lots of private ponds around that people also fish. Lake Wateree is about 45 mins away and has lots of good fishing. Lake Twitty also, but I have not fished there.

We have the same restaurants as they have all over the country. We have Crapplebees and O'Chuckels, KFC's and Blojangles. Fifty-flavors of tacos, wok-a-terias and pizza joints abound. Fast food always comes before much of anything else is fast growing areas. I wouldn't say that there is great and diverse culinary community in the county. There's probably a very small handful of decent non-chain places that I would say are worthwhile. The big grocery here is Harris Teeter (its corp. HQ is Matthews). There's one on just about every corner or will be. It is a nice enough place, but could use some significant competition. We also have Bi-Lo, Food Lion and Lowe's Foods about. Then there's always Wally world in Monroe and Indian Trail. There's usually always plenty of roadside produce available in the warm weather months. Waxhaw, Matthews and Monroe have really good farmer's markets and the organic farming industry is really starting to take off and you can always "grow yer own" here.

Most people that live here, work in the Charlotte area, so traffic during drive times is the worst. Some will say it isn't as bad as <again, insert your favorite northern town>, but it takes you more that 20 minutes to go less that 5 miles (in bound I-485 between Hwy 16 and Johnston rd), then that's a problem. I try to spend my money in UC as much as possible, so I don't go to Charlotte all that often if I can get it here, I do. Some people never go to Charlotte, some never go anywhere else. If you need really high end goods, then you probably won't find it in UC, but hey, there's a super flea market on Hwy 74 that has just about any thing you'd ever want, in fact it might have been your's once anyway.

The schools, at least in the western parts are very good. I have two little girls in a brand new elementary school. I think that their teachers are first rate (both are from the north btw), but the administration is not as good as it could be and at times morale at the school has suffered. I think that this is mostly just growing pains as the chief administrator is a first time principal in a brand new school. There are other schools that are also first rate and rank high in testing and scores. The major problem here is overcrowding in the middle and high school level. Last year we were at a tiny elementary school that had 20 mobile units on the lot, now this year, with new schools coming on line, those units have been removed. There's been and will continue to be for a period, some re-districting, so the school you attend this year may not be the school you go to next year. The problem is, paying for these schools have been expensive. We are going through a tax re-evaluation right now, and while I didn't get hit as hard as some of my neighbors property taxes are probably going up at least double digit percentages again (they went up 11% last year). Many of the "newcomers" say that this is the price you have to pay and it is still cheaper than <insert your favorite northern town>, but to me, it is still pretty painful considering what I was paying 10-15 years ago in the very same area.

Crime is definitely on the rise. As much as you hear on this board that it isn't a problem in some areas of the UC, realistically, all areas are seeing crime on the increase. Mostly, things like breaking and entering and car break ins. Not as much violent crime that you see in the Charlotte area though. I think that there is some false sense of security out here, but people need to realize that crime is everywhere and is another part of the struggles of growth. A good example; just the other day, a woman was having lunch in a fairly upscale restaurant near Weddington. Her car was broken into and they stole her garage opener and also her car registration. Before she got home, (in Wesley Chapel), they had gone to her home and broken in. Also note that small towns such as Marvin, Wesley Chapel, Weddington and even Indian Trail do not have police forces. They contract their enforcement from the county, so you don't see a lot of patrolling in those areas and they also use mostly volunteers for fire and first response medical. There was also a private plane crash in the area this week, I suspect this will start a grass roots, neighborhood petition drive to end all planes flying over the county as it could have an affect on property values and curtail childern's nap times. (okay that one was sarcastic, but if you live here, you'll get the humor)

There are definitely cultural issues. There's very little diversity in the area other than north and south. It is predominately white middle to upper class. There's a lot of hard feelings at times that all the "newcomers" are pushing their ways over on those that have lived here for longer periods. I can certainly see how this can happen as I am the only native UC'er or NC'er, for that matter, in my neighbor hood. I regularly volunteer at my kid’s school, and I am the one that stands out for having an "accent" (as well as being the only male). I have no problem with most people, regardless of where they are from; as there are as many obnoxious rednecks as there are obnoxious yankees, so I stand on a policy of live and let live. The really funny thing is that the people largely responsible for all the growth and associated problems, are actually FROM the county and are not transplants. Our county level government is directly funded by the developer community and has done little to protect the land from it being gobbled up and developed ad hoc.

But despite the warts, UC is a really great place to be. It is struggling to hold on to it's small towness as the growth and all the areas that go with that eat at its core. As high class as it wants to be, it is still the 4th largest farming county in the state (out of 100 counties). I am still very glad I made the decision 20 years ago to move out of Charlotte and back to my roots. I don't think that you'll find too many "newcomers" who what to go back to where they come from. They'll tell you how much they miss this or that, or how better this thing or that thing was in <last time...insert your favorite northern town>, but you won't hear too many wishing to go back.

Hope this helps a little and sorry for the length. You'll get a vast number of responses here so hopefully this will help in your decision making. I wish you nothing but success.

J-Lat

PS here's a good article that was posted today

Charlotte Observer | 03/23/2008 | Growth widens old-new<br> divide in Union County

[mhetfiel]

Thank you so much, you have no idea how much I appreciate your time in answering all of our concerns! Happy Easter!

[anifani821]

JLAT - just had to thank you for this wonderful and honest post. You really covered things well. I don't live in UC so don't feel qualified to comment on much, except that my perception of things as far as the way the county is being developed is right on target w/ what you have stated. This thread is good enuff to be a sticky.

[vindaloo]

People in Charlotte don't have bad attitudes towards northerners, just some northerner's attitudes (just a few). Hey! you're from Michigan. You are a midwesterner anyway.

Originally Posted by mhetfiel

Well, let me start off by introducing myself and telling you a little about my situation...in case you care My fiance and I live in Michigan (we have our whole lives), we are highschool sweethearts and attended college together, we graduated from the University of Michigan last August with our B.S. in Elem Edu., and have been searching for a teaching job up here ever since.
Now, if you know anything about MI, you know that our state is in a ridiculous depression right now, and there are NO jobs to be found, especially in the teaching profession. People are literally fleeing the state in record numbers, and most days it is even hard to book a moving van. I work as an aide in a school right now, and our student numbers are declining rapidly, we are being forced to shut down 1 of 5 of our elementary schools next year due to this. This makes me really sad since I have so much love and support for my hometown and state, but like my dad always says..."You have to look out for #1, before you step in #2."...
So, we started considering moving to NC in August, after we get married in July, in order to actually have a job in the profession that we love and went to school for. We have 4 interviews the 1st week of April, in Wingate, Monroe, Matthews and Indian Trail, we decided to focus our search in Union County after reading many good reviews about the schools and county as a whole.
I have a few concerns, and if anyone is exceptionally bored, and would like to address them, I would whole-heartedly appreciate it!
************************************************** *
1) We are looking at living in Indian Trail, Matthews or possibly Wingate, I have read as many statistics on crime and what-not, but I would like a locals honest opinion, do you live in/like one of these particular communities? We have began looking at houses in these area, and they seem somewhat affordable for what we would be making. How is the crime? What reasturants/stores are in the communities? How often does one make a trip to Charlotte?
2) Is there any "bad feelings" towards northerners? I have read a few stories about parents getting upset that a "northerner" was teaching their child...to me there is no difference if youare from the north or south, I know that there are different cultures and what-not, but it's just where you live!
3)We live in a city of 30,000, we have 5 elementary schools, 1 middle school and 1 high school. There is abundant farmland and woods to be found, and we like it that way (we don't consider ourselves "city" folk!) we have just about every fastfood reasturant, along with 20 or so sit-down choices, a movie theatre, a bowling alley, YMCA, walking/biking trail and little to no crime...we are looking for a city about the same size with about the same "ammenities"...any suggestions?
4) My fiance is an AVID hunter (in particular whitetail and turkey), how is the hunting down there? What do your tags allow you to get and so on? When are the seasons? I enjoy fishing, is there anywhere in Union county to go?

Well, I think that's all I can think of now...but I am sure more will come up later! Thanks in advance, and I am sorry this is so long, but this is a huge move for us and I want to feel relaxed about it! I am so happy to have found this forum, you all seem so nice! I guess that's what they mean about southern hospitality!

[mhetfiel]

you're right, I am a midwesterner...a northern midwesterner :-)

[MikeyKid]

Originally Posted by jlat

Hi there,

<SNIP> Greatest post ever </SNIP>

J-Lat

PS here's a good article that was posted today

Charlotte Observer | 03/23/2008 | Growth widens old-new<br> divide in Union County

That is hands down one of the best posts ever... you should blog for the area. I would read it.

[MikeyKid]

Originally Posted by anifani821

This thread is good enuff to be a sticky.

/second

Considering how many posts daily ask about UC, this is worthy of a sticky.

[raybourne]

I think UC means 'under construction'

[anifani821]

Originally Posted by raybourne

I think UC means 'under construction'

Well then . . . that fits Union County. Growing and under construction!