Relocating: Possibly moving to Georgia - Gwinnett County? (Atlanta, Lawrenceville: hotel, townhome)

[ByetoWI?]

Hi.

My family and I are considering moving to Georgia. Anyone who can provide honest feedback, it would be much appreciated!

Wifey and I have started looking into Gwinnett county, also Athens, but we're still fairly open to any place in particular that has good amounts of safe neighborhoods, good public schools, and not too bad of a commute to Atlanta, assuming that we would have to work there. Actually we would prefer to live AND work someplace outside of, but relatively near Atlanta. We want to have a good amount of stuff going on around us...stores and such, but not obscene amounts of traffic and noise...you know, a place with a friendly smallish town feel but still semi-progressive and still in touch with the city... What can you tell us about Snellville and other such places?

Basically, I am tired of the cold, long Wisconsin winters, the inferior public schools (overall), the very obvious segregation, the high taxes, the small houses and properties (in our price range, unless you really want to be in a bad neighborhood), the loss and/or worsening of public services, the depressed economy, the depressing landscape, and on and on. At the absolute least, I would like to be in a similar life situation overall, but with better weather and a much nicer, bigger house. From the little I know, lots of parts of Georgia have potential for us, and Gwinnett County is very intruiging in particular.

Thanks everyone.

[TakeAhike]

It is a good idea to gain an overview of the area but identifying the location of employment is critical to selecting where to live.

Snellville is northeast of Atlanta. I consider it more of a suburb than a small town. Plenty of 'Everything'. Lawrenceville, Dacula, Loganville and Grayson might also be worth consideration.
Snellville>>>
http://www.city-data.com/forum/atlan...nellville.html

[LovinDecatur]

Gwinnett county IMO is a perfect example of rampant growth run amok and unchecked. I've been living next to it for my entire life and have never understood why it would appeal to anyone. An exception might be upper Duluth, Suwanee and Buford, but that's it.

[OhioNative]

IMO, Gwinnett is good if you stick to Peachtree Corners or the part of the county west of I-85 and north of, say, where Pleasant Hill and Peachtree Industrial intersect - e.g. Duluth, Suwanee, Sugar Hill, parts of Buford. There are other good areas, but, personally, I do not care for other areas of Gwinnett due to the traffic and unplanned growth.

[ByetoWI?]

Thx, LovinDecatur and OhioNative. What do you mean when you say unplanned growth? What are the problems stemming from that? (Aside: It's almost completely foreign for me to think of what that could mean...in our neck of the woods, if anything, it's that people are leaving faster than you can count!)

What's the deal with Snellville?

Thx again.

[TakeAhike]

Urban Sprawl/Gwinnett County>>>
Gwinnett; Is there a "there" there? | Duluth.Talk | ajc.com

:>)

"They Paved Paradise and Put Up a Parking Lot"
They paved paradise and put up a parkin' lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swingin' hot spot
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got till it's gone
They paved paradise and put up a parking lot
~~~


'Basically, I am tired of the cold, long Wisconsin winters, the inferior public schools (overall), the very obvious segregation, the high taxes, the small houses and properties (in our price range, unless you really want to be in a bad neighborhood), the loss and/or worsening of public services, the depressed economy, the depressing landscape, and on and on. At the absolute least, I would like to be in a similar life situation overall, but with better weather and a much nicer, bigger house. From the little I know, lots of parts of Georgia have potential for us, and Gwinnett County is very intruiging in particular.'
~~~
I think you could find a better quality of life in Gwinnett. There are many posters who can explain the economic challenges facing Georgia eloquently but it is a 'pretty good' place to live, imho.

Grayson and Loganville are just beyond Snellville and seem to be developing more slowly from what I have heard. One or both may be located in Walton County.
Previous CD thread/Grayson and Loganville>>>
http://www.city-data.com/forum/atlan...e-grayson.html

[OhioNative]

Originally Posted by ByetoWI?

Thx, LovinDecatur and OhioNative. What do you mean when you say unplanned growth? What are the problems stemming from that? (Aside: It's almost completely foreign for me to think of what that could mean...in our neck of the woods, if anything, it's that people are leaving faster than you can count!)

What's the deal with Snellville?

Thx again.

Picture massive townhome complexes and cluster home subdivisions (houses about 2 feet from each other) placed on every available piece of land. Picture strip mall after strip mall on two lane roads that were not designed for commercial development. Picture gridlock traffic just getting out of your subdivision, let alone getting to work or shopping. Picture older strip malls with abandoned stores, just down the road from a brand new Wal-Mart or Target that replaced the one that just closed. Picture overcrowded schools where every available square foot of land is covered with trailers to accomodate the kids, and where they have to start lunch periods at 10:50 to fit all the kids in the cafeteria. That is unplanned growth. The advantage of the areas that I mentioned is that, while there still is some growth, most of the land is already developed and there really isn't much more room. Snellville specifically used to be nice, but now, IMHO, is arguably the worst traffic area in Gwinnett county.

[LovinDecatur]

Originally Posted by OhioNative

Picture older strip malls with abandoned stores, just down the road from a brand new Wal-Mart or Target that replaced the one that just closed

OhioNative put it quite eloquently...this statement stood out to me, as I have read that in Gwinnett the avg life span for a shopping center is 4-5 years. It's hard to explain to someone that hasn't experienced growth like that...in 30 years Gwinnett went from a sleepy semi-rural county to the second largest in the state. Imagine all that implies.

[capoeira]

Originally Posted by ByetoWI?

Wifey and I have started looking into Gwinnett county, also Athens, but we're still fairly open to any place in particular that has good amounts of safe neighborhoods, good public schools, and not too bad of a commute to Atlanta, assuming that we would have to work there. Actually we would prefer to live AND work someplace outside of, but relatively near Atlanta. We want to have a good amount of stuff going on around us...stores and such, but not obscene amounts of traffic and noise...you know, a place with a friendly smallish town feel but still semi-progressive and still in touch with the city... What can you tell us about Snellville and other such places?

... Gwinnett County is very intruiging in particular.

Someone else was just asking about Gwinnett so here is a link to that reply:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/3440218-post27.html

The traffic in the metro Atlanta suburbs would definitely be in the category of "obscene traffic" to such an extent that you cannot even imagine it coming from Milwaukee. Have you visited the area yet?

Even though I like Gwinnett the best, Snellville is not my favorite city in Gwinnett. If you look on the map you see it is far away from the 85 freeway. The traffic on highway 78 is a mess in Snellville.

Athens is a nice town. If you compare it to Madison,WI it has a similar college town atmosphere and is about 1/3 the size of Madison.

[Lizzy5]

I think Suwanee is a great place to live with all of it's green space. There are many parks, ball fields and great high schools.