Moving to Chesapeake - Neighborhood Suggestions? (home, neighborhoods, living)

[DanZ2008]

There are decent new community homes at Western Branch, Chesapeake 23321 (lows $200K Pughsville Crossing, 1500-2580SF)), Town Park at Goose Creek (Airline Blvd, lows $220K, single family 1850-2250-SF), Dock Harbour (high $300K, Dock Landing Road, 3000-SF, single family). You can check Chittum Elem School, Western Branch Primary, HS, Int School, Jolliff MidSch on this link:
Chesapeake City Public Schools School District, VA - Chesapeake City Public Schools County Schools in Virginia / VA.

Hope these info with help you.

[DanZ2008]

Also, you can also visit this website to find out the different establishments closest to the neighborhood you wish to buy a home. Here's the link: Walk Score - Helping homebuyers, renters, and real estate agents find houses and apartments in great neighborhoods.

[Wrapitb4utapit88]

Here's an overview of the main communities in Chesapeake

GREAT BRIDGE- Great schools, friendly people, and its right next to the Greenbrier area for shopping, dining, entertainment, but still has a small town feel. All the municipal buildings are located in GB (library, courthouse, jail, city hall...etc) Traffic can get rough during rush hour, but thats the normal thing in Hampton Roads. Pray and hope you dont get caught when the bridge is up though.

GREENBRIER- Major commercial hub. This is where the mall is located along with a plethora of different chain and privately owned restaurants, department stores (Wal-mart, Target. Lowe's..etc), movie theaters, a few apartment complexes, condos, and ritzy golf course communities. Borders Va Beach. I believe its in the Indian River, Oscar Smith school district. Both schools are alright. Not the "gem" schools of the city though. Dollar Tree's headquarters is here. Nice city park that hosts a jubilee every may with live music, carnival rides, and the whole shabang.

WESTERN BRANCH- Borders Portsmouth. Wester Branch HS is a good school i heard, but i also heard it was overcrowded. Mostly all residential, except for a few strip malls. Chesapeake Square Mall is located here.

DEEP CREEK- One of the older communites, that still retains its rural character. On the edge of the Great Dismal Swamp. It's kinda dirty to me IMO. The school is an older school. It's not TOO bad.

HICKORY- Probably the most rural section of Chesapeake. Lots of rednecks, pickup trucks and camoflouge. Borders North Carolina. A few subdivisions with houses with big lots, which are pretty pricey. Horse farms, farmer's markets and corn, and soybean fields. Nice place to live if you like peacefulness, but its still pretty close to shopping, dining..etc. Hickory HS is one of the better schools of the city. Its getting developed pretty fast.

GRASSFIELD- See "Hickory"

SOUTH NORFOLK- Borders Norfolk hence the name. Right outside of Downtown Norfolk where theres TONS of shopping, bars, clubs, restaurants, and MacArthur Mall. Kind of a seedy area, but its not too bad. It's in the Oscar Smith HS district. Mostly African American working class people.


I'd look into Greenbrier area because there is so much to do there. Housing might be pricey but there are tons of condos and apartment complexes. Perfect place to open a business.

I'd also look into the Indian River/Kempsville area of Virginia Beach which is not far at all from Greenbrier. It's the "newer" part of VA Beach all the way on the western end of the city. It has the same atmosphere and "feel" as Chesapeake but in Virginia Beach.

Wikipedia knows EVERYTHING!

[bmrg]

Hi everyone, We are been relocate it to VA and we are thiking to buy a house by the railroad aerea in wilmund place, Chesapeake. Can anybody give me any advise about this neigborhood? we have 2 children age 10 and 5 is this a family safety enviroment? please help, thanks

[Slig]

I am speaking as an outsider so feel free to disagree with me. I traveled to Chesapeake on business in November and my impression of it was it felt like a giant suburb. Everything was really spread out, very cookie cutterish, all the businesses in the Greenbrier area were chains..I felt like the area didn't have a whole lot of character. I was a bigger fan of Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Newport News from an ambience perspective. Mind you I was only there for 4 days so this was completely just upon a quick first impression basis. Anyways, is that what you all find attractive about the place? I've always been more of a fan of denser, more historic looking neighborhoods, ma and pop family owned shops and restaurants and small businesses, parks with mature trees, etc.

[ellar]

Sure Chesapeake is more like a suburb than a city, but some of us like that. Here is why we live in Chesapeake instead of other areas of Hampton Roads:
-less crime
-better schools
-nicer neighborhoods, including ones where you can have a yard
-lots of families with kids
-relatively easy commute to Norfolk for work and elsewhere for play
-nice parks
-friendly people
-parking availability if you go to a restaurant or store (I hate trying to find parking, and I'm terrible at parallel parking).
-some newer shopping centers (yes strip malls) that look nicer than some of the older ones elsewhere in the area

Overall, I was not that excited about the appearance of many parts of Hampton Roads when we first visited, but we've been happy here. We originally wanted to live in Virginia Beach. We were priced out of some of the nicer VB neighborhoods and were warned about a potential 264 commute. Living somewhere like Sandbridge would be fantastic, but it wasn't practical for us. Therefore we call Chesapeake home sweet home!

[Slig]

I will tell you that the freeways in Hampton Roads are some of the most aesthetically appealing ones I've seen in the country. I love how they are lined by thickets of tall trees, it almost feels like you're driving through a forest.

[damian]

Chesapeake is essentially a suburb/bedroom community. It was known as Norfolk county up until the 60s, when at that point the town of South Norfolk and Norfolk county decided to consolidate and form the "city" of Chesapeake. In fact, Chesapeake, Newport News, Hampton, Suffolk, VA Beach formed this way; all were counties with towns that formed "cities". Only Norfolk and Portsmouth existed without consolidation. the five above mentioned cities all have an urban area, a vast suburban area and pockets of rural areas as well

[monimagnet]

I also live in the Chesapeake Area. South Norfolk Historical District to be exact. I live in a home that was built in 1910. I am looking to move to the Great Bridge area going away from City Hall on Cedar Road. I am not particularly content living in the SoNo district only because I am tired of not being able to make improvements to my home due to the Historical rules and needing to get permission every time I want to do something to my house. I love my old house but it is a money pit! the cost of the houses here is starting to get outrageous due to all the updating that is being done. Just down the street from me the city has erected condos with stores for shopping at the base of the structure. This has caused taxes to rise and the city has become extremely picky about what is allowed in your yard if you can see the yard from the street.

I thought if I put up a privacy fence, I would be able to landscape how I wanted in my backyard....not so! The city has to approve the type of privacy fence I can use. It must coincide with the coloring and material make up of the house......(my house is made up of shingles which I am sure contain asbestos considering the age). My hubby and I painted our house 4 years ago and was fined by the city because we did not submit our colors for approval. The house is White with Burgundy trim (go figure)!

As for the crime rate, the only time we had problems were from teens from other surrounding neighborhoods coming in and causing a ruckus with the teens from this neighborhood. All taking place during the summer months. The other crimes (break-ins, vandalisms and physical assaults) can be found in any neighborhood you move into unless you move into a neighborhood where the houses start at $300,000 and up.

My suggestion to you is to weigh your options carefully. Chesapeake is a place that is a lot of fun and has a lot of things to do with plenty of shopping and dining options. Look it over carefully.

[monimagnet]

Contrary to popular belief, there are the same amount of Caucasian families as African American families that live in SoNo. And.....are you hinting that the amount of African American working class people that live in SoNo make for'seedy living'?