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I have asked a few times before on this forum about three towns, Southington, Southbury and Oxford, stating that my Wife and I want to buy a Connecticut home with a bit of privacy from neighbors, not on a main street and close to family and friends (who are in the Branford, Bridgewater, Newtown, New Milford & Danbury) and close to employment opportunities like Hartford.
So far I have been pleased with the many responses you have left me and I thank you, but it sort of sums up that Oxford is the most rural with 1 – 2 acre zoning and lots of “farm-like” settings with many homes that offer a good degree of privacy from neighbors. Southbury coming in a close second for “ruralness” and privacy but perhaps a bit more pricey homes than Oxford.
Then when most people have responded to Southington, I have mostly heard that Southington is “crowded” and “growing out of control” and soon will not be that quiet, acre in the woods type of lot that your house sits on, although right now buying a home there is the best “bang-for-the-buck” of all three towns listed.
I grew up many, many years ago in Milford, Connecticut (born 1953, graduated H.S. in ’71) before moving to Huntington (Shelton) in 1984 and then leaving Connecticut in 2001 and moving to Florida (a bad mistake we regret EVERY day !!)
We certainly don’t want to move back to Connecticut into an area that will not be what we are really looking for, or will ultimately be happy living there, but we don’t have a lot of money either and must keep the home purchase in the $300K - $325K range which makes Southbury and Oxford a bit more difficult to buy into. This is why Southington has sincerely sparked our interest. I wish I could fly up, rent a car, and just drive around Southington for a week, but that would NOT be possible in my present situation. This can only happen once we sell (yeah, I know Good Luck) our house here in Florida.
IMO Southington has grown...BUT it's nothing like some areas in the South with uncontrolled sprawl and nightmare traffic on 8 lane wide blvds.
Comparing it to other metro's with overcrowded "growth" areas, it's nothing like that. No sub division after sub division of stamped out row houses and endless strip mall development.
The most traffic you will encounter is on RT10 in the "strip mall district", and even then we are talking about a couple miles of blvd. That's it.
As with any town, there are portions that will be more "congested" than others. The larger lot areas will be less congested and the business areas more congested. It is hard to draw a comparision but much of Southington reminds me of Milford, north of the Post Road (Route 1). Basically nice homes on nice larger (1/2 acre or more) lots. There are sections that are more dense and there are apartments and condos. There are also business districts but nothing as congested as the Post Road. Southington High School is one of the largest high schools in the state and it is getting bigger due to the new homes getting built. I do not think the town planned very well with having just one high school. Hope this helps, Jay
As with any town, there are portions that will be more "congested" than others. The larger lot areas will be less congested and the business areas more congested. It is hard to draw a comparision but much of Southington reminds me of Milford, north of the Post Road (Route 1). Basically nice homes on nice larger (1/2 acre or more) lots. There are sections that are more dense and there are apartments and condos. There are also business districts but nothing as congested as the Post Road. Southington High School is one of the largest high schools in the state and it is getting bigger due to the new homes getting built. I do not think the town planned very well with having just one high school. Hope this helps, Jay
Yes it does help........ THANKS !!
As mentioned, I grew up and lived in Milford for many years. I watched it go from a Town with a majority of "farms" with housing springing up between (in the 50's and 60's) to a surge of Condos, Strip Malls and small lot homes in the 80's and 90's. My Mom passed away (in Milford) in '92, a Town she was living ever since 1949, and I thus had no need to go there anymore, although I often drove around Milford and by the old house, when I used to go shopping down that way.
I know when you say "north of the Post Road" what you mean. Back there off Wheeler's Farm Road were some nice homes on nice lots. But remember, this is getting close to the Orange, CT. border too, with Orange being an "expensive" place to live !!
I would just love to take a couple of weeks off, fly up from Florida to Connecticut, stay with a friend (have plenty of offers) and rent a car and spend several days just "cruising the towns" to see the "busy, congested spots" as well as the nice, "secluded" parts of the towns we are interested in. I did this EXACT scenerio (except I stayed at HoJo's) in Lake County, Florida. After a week of looking at houses (with a Realtor) and driving hundreds of miles a day (alone) checking out all the towns we were interested in (Leesburg, Clermont, Tavares, Eustis, Groveland, etc.) It was very easy to make a decision on what City we wanted to live in and then I found a great house there, with a great yard, all in fantastic condition.... put a deposit on it and bought it. Remind you, this was all while my Wife was home in Connecticut. We exchanged pics (I must have taken hundreds) online and she almost instantly saw the houses I viewed, too.
Once again..... when the time comes (after we get a bid on our Florida house) I will immediately fly up to Connecticut, hook-up with an agressive and willing Realtor, and off we go looking at houses to buy !!
I wouldn't say Southington is growing too fast. Oxford is the town that is leading the state in growth at the moment, so this is where careful planning comes in. Southington had its major growth spurt in the 70's and 80's after I-84 and then I-691 came through. I would say the town is close to reaching maturity, but from records it almost leads the state in new housing permits per year, where there is demand there will be supply.
From what I've seen, it is a very nice community nestled inbetween two small mountains, hilly and curvey roads. the majority of homes are on atleast an a half acre if not a full acre or more and many neighborhoods have sidewalks. The most traffic would be on Rt. 10 near the I-84 interchange which serves as a regional shopping area, but by no means is the traffic bad, I would say its a bit less than the post road since the stores are pretty much concentrated in one area. The town center looks like it is really picking up and is very nice looking.
The schools I don't think are that crowded as they were as there was just an article in today's Hartford Courant that the town has recently expanded 3 elementary schools, added onto the high school, and is starting construction on two more elementary schools while looking at expanding middle schools. Someone told me that Southington never ended up with two high schools due to political interference and the issue of the sports teams getting split up, Its always politics that interfer with the best interests of towns. By CT standards its a large school at over 2,000 students, on the other hand Glastonbury, Manchester, and Greenwich operate single high schools of equal size or greater.
By CT standards its a large school at over 2,000 students, on the other hand Glastonbury, Manchester, and Greenwich operate single high schools of equal size or greater.
According to the Connecticut State Education Department, Southington High School has 2,157 students in the 2005-2006 school year (the latest year this information is available). Glastonbury had 2,014 students; Manchester had 2,260 students; and Greenwich had 2,743 students. The largest high school in the state was New Britain High School with 3,204 students. Jay
Southington is broken up into different areas, Marion(Milldale), Plantsville and Southington proper, so it's spread out over a large area.
But if you're worried that Southington might be too crowded, then you might even like Berlin (or it's Kensington section) that borders it to the west. It's much quieter with a smaller population, and some areas are very appealing with woods and open spaces.
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