Working at Sunflower, where to live? (Kansas City, Topeka: for sale, amusement parks, crime)

[UtahGuy]

Hey everybody, I have been going through old posts trying to find an answer to my question, but haven't found exactly what I was looking for.

I have been offered a job at the Sunflower Ammunition Plant and would like to find a nice place, close by to raise my family. My wife and I were both born and raised in Utah and live in a somewhat rural area (approx. 15,000 residents) of the state. I would like to find a place with the same small town feel, with access to shopping (for my wife), a good school system for the kids and want to feel safe when I turn the lights off at night. I have been looking (only on the internet) at towns such as Eudora, DeSoto, Lawrence, Olathe, Lenexa, but it is hard to tell what info is upto date and what is old. Are Eudora and DeSoto too small? Do they have stores and restuarants? Are Olathe and Lenexa safe? Are they growing to fast and creating slums as they expand?
I would like to be within 20 ~ 30 minutes from work as well as keep my wife's driving time to shopping, shuttling the kids to different attractions at the same time frame. I don't want to live in the middle of downtown KC, but don't want to isolate myself and my family from cultural experiences (if that makes any sense??).

Any adviceis greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Robert

[rasperin]

DeSoto (while a long commute) would be a really good place for coming from a small town in east kansas. You can get into some pretty remote areas. Also, I suggest Spring Hill. That is a very small population town which is safe (a lot of grandparents live around there). Right outside (and actually part of) the burbs (Johnson County). Really great BBQ place called K&M you have a casies and a school. Most places outside of KC and Topeka (stay away from the Ottawa area as it is rampant with meth users and kids who love to vandalize. (This is also personal experience)). Personal experience of growing up in Ottawa, Cookie Cutter burbs, KC, Gardner, Spring Hill.

[Mathguy]

I live in Lenexa, been here about 7 years and love it.
Schools are excellent, crime is low....and it's a short drive to practically everything.

You can reach almost anywhere in the KC metro area in <40minutes so zoo, baseball games, amusement parks etc etc. are easy to get to.

Shawnee Mission is really nice too.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Mathguy

I live in Lenexa, been here about 7 years and love it.
Schools are excellent, crime is low....and it's a short drive to practically everything.

You can reach almost anywhere in the KC metro area in <40minutes so zoo, baseball games, amusement parks etc etc. are easy to get to.

Shawnee Mission is really nice too.

Shawnee Mission is NOT an actual town.

Shawnee is a large suburban city.
Mission is a small city (population wise) within the larger metro area.

[GraniteStater]

I would definitely recommend De Soto or Eudora if you are looking for a smaller town that is not to far away from the Kansas City metro area. Both of these towns are located right near Kansas Highway 10, so they have direct access to the Kansas City metro suburbs.
I would not recommend Gardner or Spring Hill because they will be overwhelmed by development in the next few years. Gardner is the location of the new inter-modal hub and that negatively impacted property values, and many properties are for sale. Olathe and Gardner are also excessively conservative in my opinion (politically speaking)

[2005hawk]

DeSoto and Eudora are located immediately adjacent to Sunflower and both are quiet small towns with good access to larger cities nearby. Lawrence is about 5 minutes west of Eudora and Olathe/Lenexa is about 5 minutes east of De Soto. Neither town has much in the way of restaurants (only fast food or local diners) and each are worse in their respective offering of shopping. However, as has been pointed out, both are very close to much larger cities with plenty of shopping and dining to choose from. I would think these two or Olathe/Lenexa or Lawrence would be your best options. Baldwin City may not be a bad choice either. Most other places would be a bit of a commute.

[UtahGuy]

Thanks for the information, I will hopefully be coming out there in the next couple of weeks to see it for myself.

[straw hat]

My son and his family live in Eudora. The schools are very good. The link to everything you are looking for is Hwy. 10. Have you heard of Kansas City, Mo.? Kansas City, Ks and Kansas City, Mo. share the same state line. There are several towns (Lenexa ect.) that sound like freestanding towns however they are just across the street to the next town; and the next town; and the next town; and the next town is Kansas City, Ks. You might as well live in K.C.

[CWeathers]

Towns along K10 highway (DeSoto & Eudora) would be VERY close to Sunflower. If you only see DeSoto from the highway, then you will only see the fastfood places. If you actually drive into town, you will see a few other resturants. But you need to keep in mind that DeSoto is a small town with EASY access to Lawrence, Lenexa, Olathe, etc. so going out to eat outside of DeSoto is still relatively easy. DeSoto is a growing area with VERY highly rated schools. You could be in Olathe, Shawnee, & Lenexa and still be attending DeSoto schools.

If you need 'liberal' surroundings, then you should consider taking a look at Lawrence. It is still very close to Sunflower, is a college town, plenty of independent resturants, and known for being a spot of blue in a sea of red.

Finally, the areas you are looking at are all growing VERY fast. It is entirely likely that if the websites you are looking at have not been updated in the last 6-12 months, then the schools, populations, and new-home starts have all increased by now.

DeSoto, Eudora, and southern edges (more rural) of Lawrence sound like what you are looking for.

[UtahGuy]

CWeathers,
Thanks for the info, I am going to be in the area in about a month and DeSoto is high on my list of places to check out.

Thanks,

Robert