Moving to Jacksonville area and would love recommendations on where to live! (Palm Valley: renting, house)

[Bess0514]

My husband and I are planning a move to Jacksonville by the end of this summer. We have been in Fernandina Beach for the past few weeks and have been doing some driving around to check neighborhoods out. We actually love Fernandina, the downtown, the island type feel, the tree canopies, the neighborhoods off Atlantic and even some of the subdivisions..there isn't much we have seen that we don't like! (But we've only been here for a month)

Our only hangup would be that my brother in law lives in Jacksonville and it's a solid one hour drive if we want to visit family. We also have a child that will be going to elementary school next year and we are unsure if there are alot of children on the island and if the school system is on par with school systems in St. John's county? We've only heard that St. John's is where you ideally want to be with school age children in this area, we don't know from experience, so correct me if I'm wrong.

We decided to venture out of Amelia Island to see some areas that are in St. John's county. St. John's/Fruit Cove was a bit too inland for us, we really want to be closer to the ocean, and Ponte Verde seemed to check more boxes for us than the other areas. It's near the ocean and we were able to find some areas off Solana, N and S Roscoe, and Neck Rd that had more of the established neighborhood type feel that we seem to like.
All that being said though, we don't know if we LOVE Ponte Vedra.

Is there anywhere in the Jacksonville area that is near a beach but has a town center with not all brand new subdivisions, neighborhoods where my daughter can play outside with some kids in the neighborhood, but still is a highly rated school system? Or am I just searching for something that doesn't exist?

As you can see I'm not from the area and would appreciate any guidance or suggestions! Thanks!

[mawipafl]

This will sounds like something out of the Dark Ages, but worth trying. Worked for us. Purchase a large paper street map of Jacksonville and unfold it on a kitchen table, or better, tack it up on a wall. Mark the brother-in-law location. Using the map's scale you can draw a circle around the brother-in-law location with a radius that is well-under an hour's drive. Determine a vertical line from north to south that shows that west of the line is too far from the ocean.

Many maps show school locations (public and private), and the schools that your research shows may fit your needs can be circled on the map (and conversely those that don't can receive a "x").

Jacksonville is so dang big that visually narrowing your focus can help. Some convenience stores have street maps, but bookstores usually have them, or they can be purchased online.

I believe the Nassau County schools are decent. Someone with more knowledge/experience will chime in. If that's the case, and if you feel like Fernandina/Amelia Island are home, then maybe that hour-long ride to visit family isn't truly that much of a hardship unless they are daily visits or multiple times during the week.

[Scottamemnon]

Nassau County is a highly rated school system. I would not go to St Johns over Nassau for school quality only.

This is where you want to go to learn about schools:
Florida School Accountability Reports

Download the big excel spreadsheet and find the schools in the zones you are looking. All of the Fernandina Beach ones are A Rated. In fact most of the Nassau County ones are, with a couple B rated ones with improving numbers year over year. Any school with an A or a B you should have no reservations about honestly.

My wife has taught in all the districts in the Jax area(as a sub, now full time in Nassau). She loves the Nassau county schools. Much smaller class sizes, most of the zones have a single feeder pattern, so the kids are with the same students K-12. On the island for example would be Southside Elementary -> Emma Love Hardee Elementary -> FB Middle -> FB High.

If you felt that there were not enough kids on the island, the developments just off the island have a lot more families. Look at the developments along Amelia Concourse and Old Nassauville Rd. Very close to the island still, but more family, less retiree. Old Nassauville still goes to the island schools, while Amelia Concourse goes to Yulee. The Yulee schools are very good as well.

[Thundarr457]

Please give us a budget so we can be more helpful

[Bess0514]

I am so appreciative of all of these responses. Thank you! Solid point on the drive to my brother in law's and I love the map idea. We both can work remotely so there isn't a daily or multiple weekly trips needed to Jacksonville and we love Fernandina so much. And thank you for the input on the school systems, that is great news. While we are still here, I think I may see if I can check out the schools this week, if possible.

Our ideal budget is 600-800 range but obviously would love to be on the lower end of that. We don't need a huge house and love the ranch and bungalow style homes off of Atlantic Ave. We also think those neighborhoods are more likely to have kids in them vs some of the subdivisions closer to the Ritz area/American Beach area? We are planning on renting initially too to get a feel for things before buying.

We may also take a look at Neptune and Atlantic Beach areas but if I remember correctly from previous visits, the traffic is pretty bad there. And we'd probably be lucky to get something in the 800s..

[Ivan Putski]

Originally Posted by Bess0514

We may also take a look at Neptune and Atlantic Beach areas but if I remember correctly from previous visits, the traffic is pretty bad there. And we'd probably be lucky to get something in the 800s..

Not to disparage AB/NB but their schools aren't the best.

[Thundarr457]

We LOVE PVB. Its near the beach, safe and lots of families (we have no school age children). For that price you could find a nice place here. My brother lives in FB and we love the town and its great for an occasional visit. I personally would not like to live near paper plants. Its a really nice area though, Ft Clinch is a great spot, I am glad we got to see the pier before it was destroyed by Hurricane Matthew. Those blocks on Centre near the water are divine, we like to go for ice cream in the summer even though its an hour from here. For us its a bit far from everything.

[Bess0514]

I have been trying to find info on the papermills because we have definitely noticed them. That is one other consideration that I didn't mention in my initial post. Would you not live near them due to the air quality or the smell? I haven't smelled them yet but I've heard about it.

Any recommendations on what streets or areas to live in PVB? It seems like you need to live within biking or walking distance to be able to go to the beach as there isn't much parking aside from Mickler's landing area.

[Gromicide]

Originally Posted by Bess0514

I have been trying to find info on the papermills because we have definitely noticed them. That is one other consideration that I didn't mention in my initial post. Would you not live near them due to the air quality or the smell? I haven't smelled them yet but I've heard about it.

Any recommendations on what streets or areas to live in PVB? It seems like you need to live within biking or walking distance to be able to go to the beach as there isn't much parking aside from Mickler's landing area.

Correct beach access is limited to Micklers and areas north in Jax beach or south past Micklers. OR you are a member of one of the beach clubs.

Palm Valley rd in PVB has quite a few options. Less culture than Fern Bch....you could word it as more boring, more sterile too lol. It's a beautiful area though.

[gatorlyn]

I am a product of Beach schools, so PM me if you have any questions