Hartford west suburbs - walkable neighborhoods? (West Hartford, Southington: real estate, houses, rent)

[rajmelk]

I just accepted a job in Farmington, and will begin househunting in a couple of weeks. We have been told to look at Farmington, Avon, Simsbury, and W. Hartford as areas which are close to work and have good schools.

We are further interested in neighborhoods/subdivisions which have sidewalks (and maybe even streetlights). We are moving from the Albany/Schenectady area in upstate NY where the latter two features are rarities or non-existent. Any suggestions as to where we should focus our searches?

Thanks a lot!

[Rich Lee]

You will find more sidewalks in West Hartford. Otherwise, you will probably have to search for subdivisions in Avon, Farmington, or Simsbury to find them. As for street lights, they will be limited to the main (busier) roads in all four towns.

[westender]

West Hartford is very walkable. Check out Walk Score - Helping homebuyers, renters, and real estate agents find houses and apartments in great neighborhoods. to compare towns and walkability.

[tchemgrrl]

I'd say West Hartford, too. I lived in Farmington growing up, and it has some lovely spots, but there's plenty of areas where either a: it's very suburban, or b: you'd have to cross Farmington Ave. to get somewhere, which is a monster. Example: I just typed my old address (probably as walkable a spot in town as you could get) into that walk score site listed above, and got a 50, except about half the businesses are across Farmington Ave. and I know I never walked to them, even though I was in high school and had no car.

Around LaSalle Rd. in WH, on the other hand, you get a score of 92. And depending on exactly where you're working/living, it'll probably be a pretty reasonable drive to work.

[JayCT]

West hartford would most likely have neighborhoods with sidewalks and street lights, but the street lights would be few and far between. Connecticut towns in general do not encourage the use of street lighting in order to save money. Probably the best area would be around West Hartford Center. Good luck, Jay

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by westender

West Hartford is very walkable. Check out Walk Score - Helping homebuyers, renters, and real estate agents find houses and apartments in great neighborhoods. to compare towns and walkability.

Westender - I checked out this web site and the information appears to be somewhat outdated and some down right incorrect. There are businesses listed that have long been closed (Showcase Cinemas in East HArtford) and some that have never existed (Lowes Home Center on Glastonbury Boulevard). They show a supermarket on Hebron Avenue that does not exist and to my knowledge never did. I will say that it does give you an idea of where things are located and how easy or not they would be to walk to. My neighborhood rated a 14 which is pretty bad. I would hate to see what other parts of town rated. Jay

[rajmelk]

Everyone: thanks for the replies! Our interest in sidewalks is primarily driven by safety...we like to go for walks, plus our 8-year-old loves her scooter, and our current neighborhood is not the most conducive.

Looks like we will look closely at W. Hartford, plus hopefully find at least a few subdivisions in Farmington which fit the bill.

Thanks again for the info!

[jdhall1]

Jay,

If you think your score was low, my current address got me a score of 5.

[njguy]

My locale got a score of 65 here in Ridgefield, NJ.

[glxyman21]

A tip when looking at houses is to look more towards the center of the town. As you get towards the outskirts, most towns zone the lots for larger than one acre and don't require sidewalks. Most of the towns listed do have street lights, but mostly between 50-100 ft apart(Unless on more busy roads, electricity rates in CT are expensive to encourage excess use). Towns west of the river and near Hartford that would have what you desire would be in Farmington, Plainville, Berlin, and Southington. For these towns, depending on lot zoning, require sidewalks and street lights for most of their subdivisions.