Where to live in the Harrisburg area and surroundings? (York: real estate, apartment)

[needles]

Hi.

My family and I will be moving to the Harrisburg area due to work. I'll be working in 2 sites at Mechanicsburg and Harrisburg. We are in the process of looking for a house/apartment to rent that is in the middle of both. Our requirements it be a safe area, close to amenities, has parks and family oriented.

The other request is in the eventuality that we have to get a place in Harrisburg itself, which areas would you recommend?

Thanks for all the help in advance.

[ki0eh]

The standard recommendations would be Camp Hill Borough http://www.camphillborough.com/ for the older kind of suburb that's still nice, or one of the Cumberland Valley School District towns. Both are between Mechanicsburg and Harrisburg. Mechanicsburg Borough Borough of Mechanicsburg - Home Page is also a nice older town and some prefer its schools (although much of Cumberland Valley SD will have Mechanicsburg or Camp Hill postal addresses, they are administratively separate). The "West Shore" suburbs of Harrisburg also include the East Pennsboro and West Shore school districts.

By "in Harrisburg itself", do you mean there's a requirement to live within the City limits of Harrisburg? I'm not quite understanding why that would be an "eventuality," because if that were a condition of employment I would think one would need to show that in the near term, rather than moving again. The Harrisburg city school district ranks dead last in the PA education department rankings of the 501 school districts in the state. If education is any kind of priority one would send your kids to private or parochial school if you live within the City limits. There are nicer row home areas in Shipoke south of downtown, or the revitalizing Midtown section north of downtown. Maybe you could find nicer single detached homes in the city limits far out on Second Street. But be aware the City limits of Harrisburg are very small even by Northeastern standards. The interwar Craftsman-bungalow style neighborhoods inside many other city limits just don't exist. Those are in the West Shore suburbs of, say, New Cumberland or Camp Hill, or in Susquehanna Township.

If you need for some reason to have a Harrisburg postal address, that carries out well into Susquehanna Township, Central Dauphin, Steelton-Highspire, and Lower Dauphin school districts, any of which (especially L.D.) would be better choices.

Many commute from the greater West Shore suburbs into Harrisburg - East Pennsboro, Camp Hill, and some parts of West Shore schools are very close in to downtown.

[needles]

Thanks for such speedy reply. I will actually be in the Mechanicsburg area this year and will be working mostly at the Harrisburg area next year. I only said that in the eventuality we live in Harrisburg is because my husband was thinking of living in the Harrisburg area and just commute to Mechanicsburg. HE said that I'd be going against traffic anyways. Of course we're not sure though as we are not from pennsylvania. I wasn't too sold on the Harrisburg area so I was looking actually for places in the west shore that is in between both.

How is the New Cumberland and Lemoyne area? Which other areas would you recommend that the commute would not be mind-bogglingly difficult?

[ki0eh]

A Mechanicsburg address covers both sections of I-81 area, and US 15 area, so the traffic knot-up points are different. Likewise a Harrisburg address covers a pretty wide area, like six interchanges of I-81. If you're coming from, say, DC area, you probably won't notice the traffic. If you're coming from a small town, there's traffic everywhere in this area. So might need to have a bit more info on where you're trying to get to to give more insight.

[danwxman]

Originally Posted by needles

Thanks for such speedy reply. I will actually be in the Mechanicsburg area this year and will be working mostly at the Harrisburg area next year. I only said that in the eventuality we live in Harrisburg is because my husband was thinking of living in the Harrisburg area and just commute to Mechanicsburg. HE said that I'd be going against traffic anyways. Of course we're not sure though as we are not from pennsylvania. I wasn't too sold on the Harrisburg area so I was looking actually for places in the west shore that is in between both.

How is the New Cumberland and Lemoyne area? Which other areas would you recommend that the commute would not be mind-bogglingly difficult?

Generally nowhere around here is going to have a mind-boggingly difficult commute. The traffic just isn't that bad compared to larger metros. New Cumberland and Lemoyne are good choices, both are right next to I-83 which gives you easy access to both the east and west shores. 83 is busier and has more backups during rush hour then 81, but 81 doesn't get you close to as many areas. Just something to consider.

[ki0eh]

Here's my take on the inner West Shore municipalities:

Camp Hill Boro - Kids walk to school, no bad areas, some middle priced to middle-high, mall with flagship Giant grocery on the edge, a few different shops on Market Street. Traffic knots up some on Market Street but mostly on the 32nd Street so-called "bypass".

Lemoyne Boro - More serviceable shopping, traffic knots up on just about all the streets. When biking or walking around just seems more "blah" than Camp Hill. Although ther are high priced hill areas the housing stock in general is more modest than C.H., maybe even a little shabby in some parts but not scary. Streetscape improvements are said to be on the way.

Wormleysburg Boro - Often overlooked, the hill areas are just as nice as adjacent Camp Hill, the blocks along the river are more modest (and most can flood) but IMHO not shabbily so. Some kind of river walk seems to be proceeding slowly and incrementally, and rebuilding the Walnut Street pedestrian bridge seems to be mostly non-starting.

New Cumberland Boro - Full range of homes and local services on Bridge Street. The river's essentially inaccessible, the "front" is basically the Yellow Breeches Creek which was a little hard for me to get used to at first. Nothing scary here either. Some sprprising flood areas, such as parts of Green Lane Farms just outside town.

East Pennsboro Twp - A real mixed bag, from postwar executive style homes bordering Camp Hill, to rather trashy spots, to new development. Extra points for re-absorbing West Fairview Boro a few years ago.

[needles]

Thank you for all the help and it's great to know that traffic is not that bad there. I currently live in a smaller city as well where I would describe traffic as practically non-existent when compared to the bigger cities. I love it that I'm not aging while waiting for the traffic to move.

KiOeh, thank you for the description on the various neighborhoods. That totally helps. My first choice is Camp Hill actually, but will definitely consider Wormleysburg and New Cumberland now. I don't know if I want to deal with traffic knots on every street at Lemoyne. I've not done any sort of looking at the East pennsboro but will check that out.

I'm going to go a bit further and ask if you know any rental houses there. If not that's okay, I appreciate all the help already. There the internet after all.

Thanks. If other wants to put any more input on the topic, I'd still love to hear it.

[needles]

Is the West Fairview area an okay place to live?? I't not yet scheduled to move to Harrisburg so I have no idea. I have a few potentials already at Camp Hill and new Cumberland but just wanted to know if West fairview is okay as well too. Thanks!!

[ki0eh]

West Fairview is one way in, one way out. No longer an independent borough, it's back to being part of East Pennsboro Twp. It's not considered the iffy part of East Pennsboro. Some places have great views over the river. Or you can hear the railroad yard (once supposedly the world's largest) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Yard.

Oops, unless you mean Fairview Township which is just across the Yellow Breeches Creek from New Cumberland (actually York County, still West Shore Area schools). Maybe there was some sort of historic connection (like between East Pennsboro which is on the river, and West Pennsboro which is the other side of Carlisle, broke apart sometime around the French & Indian War and further subdivided.)

[BevoInPA]

If you work on the West Shore then live on the West Shore. I have to drive around the area quite a bit because I work in commercial real estate.

I live in Camp Hill, where I went to school, moved away for 15 years and came back. I loved going to school in this small district which has no buses because almost everyone lives within walking distance (except for north Country Club Hills). You used to be able to go home for lunch (is that still the same?). The taxes are high but I know my neighbors, can walk to the Giant, restaurants, outdoor concerts, and my neighbors also take a lot of pride in their homes/yards. Most houses were built between the 20's and 40's and will either be expensive (by Harrisburg standards), look like hell, or take another $100k after you buy it to fix the bathroom sinks with a separate faucet for hot water and cold water.

I have encountered very bad traffic on I-83 and the I-83 bridge during rush hour. US 15 has been slow but it is being upgraded quickly. If I leave for work by 7:45 it is fine, 15 minutes later it is hell.

West Fairview, as mentioned, used to be a borough that went bankrupt I think. It has the worst foreclosure problem in Cumberland County. It is a compact little "town" but there is not much to do there and not very attractive. I also think it is in the flood plain.

You can't go by town name for the school district. Camp Hill Borough is the CH S.D. but part of Lower Allen Township (Allendale, Cliffs, etc. are in West Shore), part of "Camp Hill" is East Pennsboro Township (Victoria Glen, Ridley Park, etc.) and part is Cumberland Valley (Pinebrook, Point Ridge, etc.). This is the same with Mechanicsburg, part is in Cumberland Valley S.D., part in Mechanicsburg S.D. and part in West Shore S.D.

I will be honest, I do not think people living in New Cumberland, for the most part, are taking care of their houses and I do not think it is a good investment.