What is Owensville and Batavia area like? Do pople like it out there? Is it a good location? (Cincinnati: home)

[icetea123]

I was wondering if anyone could tell me about Batavia and Owensville OH area

~ Is it a good location/do people like to commute from there?
~ Is it considered out in the boonies (middle of nowhere) ?
~ Is it a safe area to live in?
~ Would it be a good area to live in/buy home in?
~ How are the schools?

If anyone has any feedback they could tell me....It would be very appreciated!

[kjbrill]

To me Batavia and Owensville were distinctly different.

Batavia straddles OH-32 (Appalachian Highway) and is a much older and more established town, though I understand it is still considered a village. Many Cincinnatians are only familiar with it as on the way to East Fork Lake State Park.

The company my daughter works for recently relocated from a Hebron KY location to an industrial park off Route 32 in the Eastgate Area. She has been trying to find a location to live, presently residing with us in Mason. She says Dad the traffic from I-275 out to Batavia just keeps getting worse. I can get from Mason to Eastgate on I-275 in just about the same time as from Eastgate out to Batavia. She is trying to forecast her condition job commute wise if the new company does not produce. From a potential job location she considers Batavia risky from a commute time/distance perspective.

Owensville of course is a sleepy little town on US-50, the 3,200 mile road from east to west coasts. But US-50 is little known, passing through a large number of sleepy little towns like Owensville along its route.

If you click on a property just outside of Owensville, you will likely be given a Batavia mailing address. The business office development which has ballooned in the Eastgate area cannot be denied. This has in turn ballooned the subdivision development in such as near Batavia and Amelia, also the increase in home prices. If you are looking for the low cost, country property, type of experience, I feel you will be surprised. And with all of the development, the governmental agencies are not changing significantly. The majority of the development is in township jurisdictions. Townships are fine, but when development reaches a certain point there needs to be a change, but little has happened.

Blanchester is a prime example, as it is still a village. Should have become a city a long time ago. But if developers are permitted to exploit the township status, it won't happen.

Why am I harping on this? Because when I moved to Mason it was already a city, but a very small one. Thankfully it grew in population immensely. At mid-70s in age, we now are enjoying the fruits of what the development fathers, men like Lou Eves, envisioned and fought for in Mason. Lou was the proprietor of the Houston Inn Restaurant north of Mason. I believe his sons still run it. As a local and successful business owner, Lou was Mayor of Mason for several terms.

I have a hospital procedure scheduled for Bethesda North tomorrow morning. My brother is taking me. He called earlier and moved the departure time up due to iffy weather. Yes I agree, iffy weather, but this much I know, the streets of Mason will be drivable. Once we hit the Interstate bets may be off. But the winter drivability in Mason is one of the benefits of a man like Lou Eves. Obviously he knew that for patrons to get to his restaurant the streets had to be drivable.

[Zen_master]

Originally Posted by icetea123

I was wondering if anyone could tell me about Batavia and Owensville OH area

~ Is it a good location/do people like to commute from there?
~ Is it considered out in the boonies (middle of nowhere) ?
~ Is it a safe area to live in?
~ Would it be a good area to live in/buy home in?
~ How are the schools?

If anyone has any feedback they could tell me....It would be very appreciated!

Regarding the commute, where will you be working?

For a while, the Batavia / Owensville area was considered boonies and the middle of nowhere. However, as KJBrill has mentioned, the Eastgate Mall area has undergone significant development in the last ten years or so. I would still categorize these two communities as somewhat country and undeveloped relative to their northern suburban counterparts. Safety shouldn't be a concern. Density is low and there is a positive correlation between density and crime. Home affordability will be on the higher side than other more developed suburbs, which are also closer to Cincinnati's central core. Batavia Schools received a higher grade on the State of Ohio report card than Clermont-Northeastern.

More info on school districts can be found here.

[Ohiogirl81]

If it comes down to school districts, I'd choose Batavia over Clermont Northeastern. Both are good, but Batavia is just that much a little better, with more resources for its kids.

The difference between Batavia and Owensville is Batavia - not so much the village itself, but the township and the general area - has grown along with Eastgate and Ohio 32.

Owensville has the county fairgrounds and a few OK businesses. But that's what some people are looking for.

Originally Posted by kjbrill

The company my daughter works for recently relocated from a Hebron KY location to an industrial park off Route 32 in the Eastgate Area. She has been trying to find a location to live, presently residing with us in Mason. She says Dad the traffic from I-275 out to Batavia just keeps getting worse.

Off topic, and I don't know what her living situation is or what she wants or needs, but tell her to consider eastern Hamilton County - Anderson, Madison Place, Newtown. When I worked in Batavia, in the village, it took me about 20 minutes to get to the office from Madison Place. Barring anything stupid traffic-wise going on in Newtown east to 275, the commute still shouldn't be that bad.

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

If it comes down to school districts, I'd choose Batavia over Clermont Northeastern. Both are good, but Batavia is just that much a little better, with more resources for its kids.

The difference between Batavia and Owensville is Batavia - not so much the village itself, but the township and the general area - has grown along with Eastgate and Ohio 32.

Owensville has the county fairgrounds and a few OK businesses. But that's what some people are looking for.


Off topic, and I don't know what her living situation is or what she wants or needs, but tell her to consider eastern Hamilton County - Anderson, Madison Place, Newtown. When I worked in Batavia, in the village, it took me about 20 minutes to get to the office from Madison Place. Barring anything stupid traffic-wise going on in Newtown east to 275, the commute still shouldn't be that bad.

The point I wanted to make is that commutes from Batavia and Amelia from close as Eastgate are becoming rapidly longer due to the residential building going on. Nice enough if things remain stable.

My daughter is 50 and I believe single (divorced) for about 20 years. The company she worked for in Hebron KY was the machine tool remnants of Cincinnati Milacron bought by a New York investor. He was speculative and got investors to purchase up the remains of several machine tool companies, both in the US and France/Germany. I recognize many of the names since it was the industry I spent my entire working career in.

For a period of years the company was quite successful, providing services for the old, well- built machine tools still in existence. Then the latest business downturn put them into a free fall. He split the company in two. The basic machine tool service and parts operation was sold to a French entity. I couldn't figure out why until I realized they also owned several former French machine tool companies. The non-mechanical portion of the business from a support standpoint, he used to form a new company using primarily software controlled, fast machining processes, to locate in Eastgate. My daughter is concerned if this venture is not successful, where does she look for her next job and how long will be the commute.

But getting back to Eastgate and the areas out to Batavia, Amelia, etc. All of the business office, etc. building in Eastgate is a natural demand for housing further east such as Batavia and Amelia.

In my opinion, here is what I foresee as a problem. These more outlying Clermont districts, mainly towns in townships, should be applying for what I know Mason did for a number of years. As developers applied for permits to build subdivision plats in Mason, the city said yes we can do, but to obtain all City services such as water, sewer, streets, and the rest, you must apply for annexation to Mason.

What is wrong with that? It bounds a residential neighborhood to the City for the future. Long after the developers are gone the City is still there. If people moving into the City are reasonably intelligent, they vote to maintain the growth of the City.

For those desiring to purchase land at a value long gone, please set your sights outside of the Cincinnati Metro area. Please note I said Metro area. That now covers a long distance and is not where the low cost land is located.