Location with good commute and schools (Columbia, West Columbia: middle school, living, move)

[Chi2Midlands]

Originally Posted by JEJA

Thank you for the information. I really appreciate it. We will be looking for an agent once it is 100% for sure that we are moving.

Are there any particular communities that I should be looking into? We really like the "life style" that Lake Carolina offered but want to look into different options too.

I actually live in Lake Carolina and commute to my job at the Airport. When I first moved to Columbia, my job was in the Northeast Columbia so that's why we settled here (we also fell in love with the LC community and "lifestyle", as you say). However, I changed jobs so I now work at the airport. I leave the front entrance of Lake Carolina at about 7:45-7:50am and arrive at work around 8:30am, so the commute is not bad (although I really miss my last commute which was only 20-25 minutes or so). The main trick is to avoid as much of Hard Scrabble Road as possible and get onto Interstate 77 as quick as possible, since it is a relatively fast highway (there are a few alternatives depending on what part of LC you live in).

As much as I love LC and the Northeast Richland area, I would not recommend moving to this side of town unless you are absolutely adamant on a Lake Carolina-type community, because there is nothing else like it in the Midlands. As Brandon mentioned, there are "smaller versions" of LC but you will not find near the amenities in a large self-contained community as LC (e.g., schools, YMCA, walking trail, pools, commercial town center, day care, etc.). His recommendation of Lake Frances is probably the best option you have on the Airport side of town because it is in the excellent Lexington 1 school district (it is zoned for schools that are very comparable to Lake Carolina-zoned schools) and it is by the same developer as LC.

Broadly speaking I would recommend looking at the Lexington side of town in the Lexington 1 school district - you will find lots of high-quality 4-bedroom homes in the $250k range (this price point goes far in the Midlands, and there is a good supply of newer homes in this range). The closer you get to Lake Murray to the north, generally, the houses will get more expensive and the schools are slightly better (i.e., those that feed into Lexington HS), although the ones a bit further south that feed into White Knoll HS are still very good. Honestly I would not hair-split too much on test scores on Lexington 1 schools that are generally in the 29072 and 29073 zip codes. You won't be looking at any other further-out areas like Gilbert and Pelion since they are largely rural and do not have the type of subdivision you're looking for.

Keep in mind that the commute from Lexington neighborhoods to the Airport can be a bit congested since there is a lot of suburban growth there and there is no good interstate route into the Airport from there. You will find quite a bit of traffic on the major arteries like US 1, US 378, SC 6, SC 302, etc. It may still take 30 minutes plus depending on where you live.

The Irmo area up I-26 is an option but you will have to go quite far north into the more distant Dutch Fork area to get any mini-LC-type community. I-26 is also the most congested interstate in the Midlands as it goes from many established Irmo-area suburban neighborhoods straight into downtown Columbia, and has a few very hairy interchanges.

Also, if you are into a bit more urban living, I would take waccamatt's recommendation and look into the Shandon, Rosewood, SE Columbia, and Forest Acres areas that feed into Richland 1's best schools (e.g., Dreher HS and AC Flora HS feeders). They are quite convenient to the Airport and are not that different in commute than some parts of Lexington anyways.

Anyways, good luck! If you do choose LC, you won't regret it, and the commute, while not ideal, is definitely manageable.

[Palmetto Heel]

I do like Lake Carolina... well, Harborside anyway... but since I work downtown it doesn't make much sense for me to live all the way up there, 'though a few of my co-workers do. One thing that I don't understand about the way that TND is implemented in Lake Carolina is that the neighborhood doesn't really have everything that you need in the way of retail. The closest grocery store is still 2 miles away.

[JEJA]

ChiMidlands:

Thank you for your response it was very helpful. I really like having the YMCA and the walking trails available. The town center was nice but it wouldn't be a necessity. I was looking at Lake Frances's website and it seems to be nice too. I saw a house plan that I really liked, but being close to the airport is a concern. I believe I read it was three miles away. I don't want the experience like being at Shea Stadium that you feel you can touch the plane. (No I am not a Mets fan, just been to a game or two years ago)

Palmetto Heel:

Thanks for your responses too. A grocery store two miles away is a great in my opinion since where I currently live it take 20 minutes to get one (driving on a highway at 65 mph) My choice for shopping is either Super Walmart or Big Kmart. However, I would prefer my husband not to have a long commute. Right now he drives about 100 miles round trip a day. My husband never really has to experience traffic unless there is a major accident. Myself when I use to commute towards NYC years ago a commute that should have taken no more then one hour took about and hour and 45 minutes. As the area grows I am sure the commute will just get longer and longer.




It is nice to see the options that we have and I am sure there are plenty more. Hopefully with me researching and getting ideas in what I like and don't like it will make the realtor's job a bit more easy. I was concern when a coworker of my husband told him the Columbia was not a great area and he wouldn't consider moving his family there. He was once in the military and was stationed there.


Thanks again everyone for your advice.

[Palmetto Heel]

Originally Posted by JEJA

A grocery store two miles away is a great in my opinion since where I currently live it take 20 minutes to get one (driving on a highway at 65 mph)

Oh yeah, relative to most situations a grocery store 2 miles down the road is a good thing. My point is that the Harborside neighborhood in Lake Carolina was meant to be a TND and that it would have made sense for the developers to plan for a grocery store within walking distance. I suspect though, that a grocery store didn't make financial sense.

[Chi2Midlands]

Originally Posted by JEJA

ChiMidlands:

Thank you for your response it was very helpful. I really like having the YMCA and the walking trails available. The town center was nice but it wouldn't be a necessity. I was looking at Lake Frances's website and it seems to be nice too. I saw a house plan that I really liked, but being close to the airport is a concern. I believe I read it was three miles away. I don't want the experience like being at Shea Stadium that you feel you can touch the plane. (No I am not a Mets fan, just been to a game or two years ago)

While I would do more research and actual visiting of neighborhoods near the Airport, my impression is that airplane noise should not be a problem in a subdivision like Lake Frances. I was just talking to a Columbia Airport operations person yesterday and they have pretty good noise abatement routes for aircraft to follow, especially considering UPS has a small hub there and their aircraft do fly at night. I don't think you will find anything close to LaGuardia-style noise problems as it is located in the middle of a densely populated city and literally about 20 times busier than Columbia. Flights are routed over Shea Stadium (less than 1.5 miles from LaGuardia) and the US Tennis Center because the alternative is to route them over dense residential areas in the surrounding parts of Queens. Columbia Metro Airport has mostly forests, light industrial, and commercial development surrounding it. There are no large subdivisions near it, and I honestly think Lake Frances should be fine. It's definitely not under a direct flight path to/from a runway, either. The airport has done a good job of maintaining property and buffers so that development doesn't encroach on it and threaten the quality of life in the area.

[Chi2Midlands]

Originally Posted by Palmetto Heel

I do like Lake Carolina... well, Harborside anyway... but since I work downtown it doesn't make much sense for me to live all the way up there, 'though a few of my co-workers do. One thing that I don't understand about the way that TND is implemented in Lake Carolina is that the neighborhood doesn't really have everything that you need in the way of retail. The closest grocery store is still 2 miles away.

The town center has definitely been a disappointment, especially in the way of high-profile retail (restaurants, etc.). The services (pharmacy, eyeglass store, doctor, lawyer, insurance, real estate, etc.) have done well and are very stable.

I've heard a couple rumors, don't know if they're true, but it would explain why it hasn't developed as originally visioned: (1) no national chain stores allowed (2) Rents are too high. These may be moot points because a major chain wouldn't locate there anyways since there isn't enough local traffic generated being on the fringe end of a two-lane road (albeit an overcrowded one) and the town center doesn't front directly onto Hard Scrabble (that's a bigger factor, IMO). We asked the folks that own the a coffee/bake shop a couple miles away why they didn't open in Lake Carolina - they said "we wanted to stay in business". This leads me to believe lack of traffic is the #1 reason why business haven't flourished there, and that's a symptom of poor location and lack of direct frontage (or even access) to the main road. Even at near-$4/gallon gasoline, it's too easy to drive down the road to Publix and the Village at Sandhill (I think had Lake Carolina been located on a 4-lane arterial road, the results would have been far better).

I will say we do like the new ice cream shop in the town center and seems to be doing well.

[JEJA]

Originally Posted by Chi2Midlands

While I would do more research and actual visiting of neighborhoods near the Airport, my impression is that airplane noise should not be a problem in a subdivision like Lake Frances. I was just talking to a Columbia Airport operations person yesterday and they have pretty good noise abatement routes for aircraft to follow, especially considering UPS has a small hub there and their aircraft do fly at night. I don't think you will find anything close to LaGuardia-style noise problems as it is located in the middle of a densely populated city and literally about 20 times busier than Columbia. Flights are routed over Shea Stadium (less than 1.5 miles from LaGuardia) and the US Tennis Center because the alternative is to route them over dense residential areas in the surrounding parts of Queens. Columbia Metro Airport has mostly forests, light industrial, and commercial development surrounding it. There are no large subdivisions near it, and I honestly think Lake Frances should be fine. It's definitely not under a direct flight path to/from a runway, either. The airport has done a good job of maintaining property and buffers so that development doesn't encroach on it and threaten the quality of life in the area.

Thank you again for response. I really appreciate it.

[gngmurphy]

I just want to say that I find this to be a very impressive forum. This has been a bad year for us, and I've been all over the country on this forum looking at regions. These are some of the most consistent and unbiased school didtrict assessments I've ever seen. If we do end up in the Columbia area, it may possibly be sight unseen, unfortunately. These answers are very helpful.
Thank you!

[churchill]

Originally Posted by Brandon Hoffman

If you're looking up to $250 you'll have a lot of choices in that price range. Vintner's Woods would work, as would Baneberry, Southberry Park but I think the best 2 fits for new construction would be Lake Frances (smaller version of Lake Carolina in W.Columbia) or Wellesly which a green neighborhood with 3 different builders (Shumaker and Holliday are building in your price range there).

Lake Frances is in West Columbia. There are three sections. Laurel Bluff, Churchill Park and The Shores.

I live in Churchill Park.

Dave

[Brandon Hoffman]

Originally Posted by churchill

Lake Frances is in West Columbia. There are three sections. Laurel Bluff, Churchill Park and The Shores.

I live in Churchill Park.

Dave

I realize that but thanks for the clarification for other readers. Lake Frances, located in West Columbia, is a smaller version of Lake Carolina which is located in NE Columbia. I've sold a home in Lake Frances and it is an excellent subdivision, great location. Common lake, pool, clubhouse, nice amenities.