Questions about Bristol (Fairmount, Bluff City: gated, apts, new home)

[LookingToGetOuttaAZ]

Good morning folks. I am still trying to find an area that my family and I can land in Tennessee. What is your general feeling about Bristol? Is the area safe? Are there unsafe areas? How about the schools? I appreciate all of your input. Have a great day.

[Rcm58]

Depends on what your looking for really. Bristol like any city has nice and not so nice areas, we have some nice subdivisions and developments, gated community, apts, mansions we also have government housing, trailer parks, old homes converted into apts, homes for humanity neighborhoods, condemned properties. State St. which runs through the old downtown section is Tennessee on one side of the St. and Virginia on the other and is lined with The brick commercial buildings of yesteryear, most have new storefronts, there are a few restaurants, a club, a karate studio, a theater, a pawn shop , several antique shops, a bank and beside the railroad tracks is the recently renovated train station. The place has appeal but the lack of good parking can be a headache.
Volunteer Pkwy offers the majority of the shopping on the TN side and has a traffic count of 40,000 cars a day, State St. west of the old downtown section also offers shopping and restaurants as does exits 5 and 7 on the VA side. Its easy to get out of town and visit the great outdoors, lakes, rivers, mountains dirt, gravel and paved roads.
The public schools are ok, not the best educational system i've seen but some outstanding teachers that honestly care. Funding for certain things is light and there have been problems with bus transportation since they started outsourcing to a private company but your kids are safe in the schools, no need for metal detectors, no fear of shootings etc.
Traffic is only bad two weeks out of the year during the Nascar Races when we have an additional 160,000 people drop in.
If there is anything else you would like info on just let me know and i'll be happy to help

[LookingToGetOuttaAZ]

Originally Posted by Rcm58

Depends on what your looking for really. Bristol like any city has nice and not so nice areas, we have some nice subdivisions and developments, gated community, apts, mansions we also have government housing, trailer parks, old homes converted into apts, homes for humanity neighborhoods, condemned properties. State St. which runs through the old downtown section is Tennessee on one side of the St. and Virginia on the other and is lined with The brick commercial buildings of yesteryear, most have new storefronts, there are a few restaurants, a club, a karate studio, a theater, a pawn shop , several antique shops, a bank and beside the railroad tracks is the recently renovated train station. The place has appeal but the lack of good parking can be a headache.
Volunteer Pkwy offers the majority of the shopping on the TN side and has a traffic count of 40,000 cars a day, State St. west of the old downtown section also offers shopping and restaurants as does exits 5 and 7 on the VA side. Its easy to get out of town and visit the great outdoors, lakes, rivers, mountains dirt, gravel and paved roads.
The public schools are ok, not the best educational system i've seen but some outstanding teachers that honestly care. Funding for certain things is light and there have been problems with bus transportation since they started outsourcing to a private company but your kids are safe in the schools, no need for metal detectors, no fear of shootings etc.
Traffic is only bad two weeks out of the year during the Nascar Races when we have an additional 160,000 people drop in.
If there is anything else you would like info on just let me know and i'll be happy to help

I was looking at a piece of property off of Old Jonesboro Hwy and Bristol Caverns Hwy, are you familiar with the area? Also could you elaborate on the school system there? Thank you soooo much for your input.

[Rcm58]

Yes i'm familiar with that area, its on the outskirts of Bristol out in the country more, Bristol Caverns Hwy Begins at the intersection of Hwy 421 and 394 not far out of town heading towards the South Holston Lake. If you have elementry school age children they would go to Fairmount through the rest of this school year then beginning next year they would go to Holsten View until the new school is completed in 2010. Do you have pictures of the property your looking at?
I'm afraid i'm out of time for this tonight but i'll be back on tomorrow and I can elaborate more on the school system and answer more questions concerning that area.

[LookingToGetOuttaAZ]

Originally Posted by Rcm58

Yes i'm familiar with that area, its on the outskirts of Bristol out in the country more, Bristol Caverns Hwy Begins at the intersection of Hwy 421 and 394 not far out of town heading towards the South Holston Lake. If you have elementry school age children they would go to Fairmount through the rest of this school year then beginning next year they would go to Holsten View until the new school is completed in 2010. Do you have pictures of the property your looking at?
I'm afraid i'm out of time for this tonight but i'll be back on tomorrow and I can elaborate more on the school system and answer more questions concerning that area.

Thank you so much for your input. I have a child that is currently in 7th grade. He plays both football and basketball, so that is also a concern. Is this area a safe one?

[Rcm58]

I'll do my best to describe the area your talking about, you did say off of those roads so I'm not exactly sure the property your talking about. Also heres a link to the school your child would most likely attend: Holston Valley Middle School its a county school.
Most of the homes were built from the 40's-50's, Bungalow style, some kept up some not. The Paperville Rd area is mostly ones that have been let go, some completely unlivable. Along Bristol Caverns hwy you see some singlewides mixed in also and an occasional new home on acreage and dotted with the 1800's farm house, that area is rolling rocky terrain, older buildings still standing in places that were stores at some point in time, cars up on blocks that sort of thing, some farm land, the closest thing to it as far as looks go to compare it too is Hickory Tree area between HWY 421 and Bluff City. If I had a Road Name I'd be happy to snap a few photo's to give you a better Idea of what its like. I drive out to the lake to run with my dog on the dry lake bed at least 3 times a week so no trouble.

[LookingToGetOuttaAZ]

Originally Posted by Rcm58

I'll do my best to describe the area your talking about, you did say off of those roads so I'm not exactly sure the property your talking about. Also heres a link to the school your child would most likely attend: Holston Valley Middle School its a county school.
Most of the homes were built from the 40's-50's, Bungalow style, some kept up some not. The Paperville Rd area is mostly ones that have been let go, some completely unlivable. Along Bristol Caverns hwy you see some singlewides mixed in also and an occasional new home on acreage and dotted with the 1800's farm house, that area is rolling rocky terrain, older buildings still standing in places that were stores at some point in time, cars up on blocks that sort of thing, some farm land, the closest thing to it as far as looks go to compare it too is Hickory Tree area between HWY 421 and Bluff City. If I had a Road Name I'd be happy to snap a few photo's to give you a better Idea of what its like. I drive out to the lake to run with my dog on the dry lake bed at least 3 times a week so no trouble.

RCM, thank you so much for this information. The house we are looking at is on Carolina Ave. I would really appreciate it, if next time you are out that way, you could snap a few photos of that area. Trying to find a nice safe place to live when you are 2000 miles away is tough, especially when I am not familiar with the area. Thank you again. Have a great day.

[WantingoutofAz]

Originally Posted by LookingToGetOuttaAZ

Good morning folks. I am still trying to find an area that my family and I can land in Tennessee. What is your general feeling about Bristol? Is the area safe? Are there unsafe areas? How about the schools? I appreciate all of your input. Have a great day.

Hi LookingtogetouttaAz:

I just wanted to drop you a "hello". It seems we had similar ideas when we picked out our screen names:-) We, too are looking to move to Tennessee and thought we had our hearts set on a suburb north of Nashville but are now considering the Tri-cities area as well. My husband and I are Phoenix natives and currently live in northwest peoria. We were hoping to move by next spring (I really wanted last summer to be my last Phoenix summer) but we can't sell our house here. It is so depressing. We know we want to move to Tennessee just are still trying to figure out what will fit our family perfectly. Good luck in your search and I hope you get out of Az soon.

WantingoutofAz

[kamoshika]

Originally Posted by LookingToGetOuttaAZ

RCM, thank you so much for this information. The house we are looking at is on Carolina Ave. I would really appreciate it, if next time you are out that way, you could snap a few photos of that area. Trying to find a nice safe place to live when you are 2000 miles away is tough, especially when I am not familiar with the area. Thank you again. Have a great day.

You already may've done this, but you can get a decent feel for the lay of the land by looking at aerial photos on Yahoo. Here's a look at Carolina Ave. between Bristol Caverns Hwy. and Old Jonesboro Road:
Yahoo! Maps, Driving Directions, and Traffic

FWIW, most of the homes in that area were built in the '50s and have appraisal values under $60K:
Tennessee Property Data - Enter Selection Criteria

[Rcm58]

No problem, It was a little adventure for me. The first picture is when you first leave Virginia Ave and turn onto Carolina ave heading towards the Bristol Caverns Hwy, Sorry they are so dark. As you go down the hill Government Housing on the right not in picture, on the left you have a new home on about 8-10 acres then into the turn at the bottom of the hill stands a beautiful restored 1800's farm house, from here the homes continue to have larger lots. The 2nd and 3rd pictures are of Valley Pike Elementry School and the homes surrounding it. If you keep following the road there is also a new development with homes in the 130,000 and up range.