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Towns such as Fairfield will often have different names for different areas/neighborhoods, but that's just for geographical purposes on a map. It's similar to the counties of Ct., with different sections/counties of Ct. having a different name.
It wasnt that I was looking for anything in particular - Im open at the moment and frankly not at all sure what I am looking for - but we will get there.
It just that Fairfield seems to have defined sections stratfield, greenfield hill (I think), southport ... Im not going to suggest I know much about those sections just that they exist. So when I saw house listings include sub names, of Guilford for example, I began to get curious about what it might mean or what someone might need/want to know about it. If anything.
All so helpful.
PS... In our moving planning I feel somewhat addicted to reading all the amazingly helpful posts on this site. I'm so thankful to you all !
Some of that probably dates back to Colonial New England - Southport, Stratfield, Greenfield Hill, etc were all likely small villages 200+ years ago that were eventually combined into the town of Fairfield.
Middletown has Wesleyan Hills, which is a planned community from the mid 70s, with a mix of condos, small lots, and bigger lots. There is an HOA with some minor fees and some pretty restrictive covenants.
There are some large subdivisions in Glastonbury that parallel Route 2 around exit 10.
Some would attempt them down as 'McMansions'..but if you ask me, they're quite ideal with all the modern amenities that are quite lacking around here. Much better than these postage stamp sized lots that you see in places like West Hartford.
Why is it so taboo to not want to be right on top of your neighbors, anyway?
Yeah, I was scratching my head for awhile wondering what sort of "communities" posters were talking about here. Neighborhoods are rarely divided into "communities" with planned activities etc. We have some "subdivisions" or complexes, or whatever you want to call them, with HOA dues, but they are few and far between here in Ct. I live in a neighborhood that was built many years ago by a developer, and he did name the roads personally. The neighborhood/development did have a name, it's on the town records, but it's generally lost to history. It's a typical Ct. suburban neighborhood, not a planned development often seen in other states. A lot of such neighborhoods, even on large lots of an acre or more DO have planned get-togethers, though. But I think if the OP is looking for a planned community with HOA fees etc., it might be helpful to clarify since that is uncommon in Ct.
I grew up in one of those too. It was built in the late 1950's I think, in Hamden. It was originally called the Avendale Development but I don't know of anyone living there who is aware of that. We were one of the first residents of the development - and resided there from 1962 until the mid-1990's when my parents moved to Florida. It was built specifically as a family neighborhood, with a "wrap-around" road and a central pass-through street, sidewalks on every street, driveways on every property with street-side parking as well. I believe every home was between 1/8 acre and 1/4 acre and was a mixture of dwelling styles - primarily raised ranches (ours was a split-level and across the street was a cape).
This was the kind of neighborhood where everyone knew everyone, everyone's kids grew up together playing in the back yards where everyone else's parents could keep an eye on them - these days it's called being a "free-range" kid - back then it was just "being normal."
Not gated, no HOA, no central community building, no communal grounds, though they do have a town park with a swingset and kite-flying days and a hill for sleds in the winter. But that's part of the town parks & rec department, not exclusive to the neighborhood.
What the OP was asking about, doesn't sound anything like what I lived in. Also the area he specified in Guilford is definitely NOT anything like what I lived in. It is - very definitely - a very small, exclusive number of McMansions on oversized lots that make each one look like its own country estate - and for all intents and purposes, that's what they are. Definitely NOT a "neighbor-friendly" neighborhood, or even any kind of neighborhood at all.
If you do a street-view google earth of that area, you'll see what I mean.
Why is it so taboo to not want to be right on top of your neighbors, anyway?
I didn't know it was taboo. I live on a couple acres, wooded lot. I can't even see other houses when the leaves grow in the spring and that's the way I like it, dammit
I didn't know it was taboo. I live on a couple acres, wooded lot. I can't even see other houses when the leaves grow in the spring and that's the way I like it, dammit
Me too : ) I treasure my Sunday mornings in the summertime when I can sit out on my deck and read the paper and sip my coffee in my robe without fear that anyone is peeping at me
It wasnt that I was looking for anything in particular - Im open at the moment and frankly not at all sure what I am looking for - but we will get there.
It just that Fairfield seems to have defined sections stratfield, greenfield hill (I think), southport ... Im not going to suggest I know much about those sections just that they exist. So when I saw house listings include sub names, of Guilford for example, I began to get curious about what it might mean or what someone might need/want to know about it. If anything.
All so helpful.
PS... In our moving planning I feel somewhat addicted to reading all the amazingly helpful posts on this site. I'm so thankful to you all !
Depends on where you are. A section of a town isn't really a subdivision. I've noticed that some town governments call them this though, but what they generally mean is neighborhood or district.
A subdivision is as others have already stated. A single parcel of land, broken down by one developer. A lot of the ones in CT are nice. The problem with some subdivisions though is that some have very specific rules, like "Christmas lights must be white," or "no above ground pool" or things like that, even though there isn't really an HOA. I've noticed in my line of work that that's more prevalent in places like Maryland, but I've seen it a couple times in CT too. And I'd be concerned of course if such a rule existed for a piece of land and a home that I purchased with my own money. It would deter me completely. So it's something to watch out for.
the big one I always recall from subdivisions is no clotheslines. But, I think the town of Longmeadow in Mass has that rule for the entire town - or at least, they used to have it.
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