Need Reccomendations on Relocating- Potential Areas with Easy Commute to MSP Airport (Minneapolis: 2013)

[meredithhr]

Background Information: My husband currently commutes from Saint Louis to work at MSP. We have a 19 month old daughter. If we relocate, my current job is willing to let me work from home. We currently live in the South County area of STL- so we are looking for something with a suburban feel, lots of families with young children, and a strong school district.

Some locations that look interesting are- Apple Valley, Eagan, Burnsville, Lakeville. Are there any other locations that we should add to our list? From reading a lot of other posts- I hear reccomendations about living south of the airport- is that just the easiest commute?

When we visit to see the area more, where would be some fun places to take to my daughter?

[golfgal]

Yes, living south is the easiest commute to the airport. Basically anything between the Mississippi river (east of the metro) and 35W is fine for a commute to the airport. Apple Valley, Eagan and Rosemount (196 schools) are your best bet for the shortest commutes, top schools and lots of families. Rosemount probably having more younger families but Eagan is good too. Apple Valley is a bit older but still plenty of young families.

Make sure you sign up for Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) when you get here (in all school districts in the state). GREAT way to meet families with kids the same ages.

I have family in O'Fallon, MO. The south metro is going to be fairly similar to that area--O'Fallon, Chesterfield, St. Charles, etc. Suburban but with rolling hills, lots of trees, more lakes, etc. though. Easy access to the Zoo, nice parks, etc. The Twin Cities is more "organized" and a LOT less busy than those areas though. By organized I mean that, the city planners do a better job putting like retail together, sign ordinances are such that they don't dominate the views, etc. You don't find a house next to a car dealership next to a restaurant next to an MRI place like you see around St. Louis . Overall though, I think you will find the areas very similar, except for the weather.

[ferr0052]

I would say Eagan hands down. But, anything in the 196 school district will be good (Apple Valley, Rosemount, Eagan, and a sliver of Burnsville).

[GBCommenter]

I would be inclined to agree with other posters, for your stated purposes. Eagan and Apple Valley will be somewhat more built up. Burnsville somewhat in between, and Lakeville or Rosemount moving towards exurban feel. I would guess Eagan and Apple Valley would have your shortest commutes of those four. As mentioned, District 196 would likely be the strongest of the school districts for this specific area.

Richfield or Bloomington would also have a short commute (depending what side east or west), but will not likely have as strong a school system, at least relative to the other cities mentioned. Both of these 'burbs are typical post-WWII suburbs with grid streets and mostly rambler style houses.

For places to visit: of course Mall of America is popular, Minnesota Zoo (in Apple Valley), if willing to drive into St. Paul the Como Zoo and Conservatory with a small amusement park, Minnehaha Falls and park in Minneapolis - to name a few.

[meredithhr]

Thanks to everyone for their advice and suggestions.

We went up to Minnie in mid-July to check out a few places. Loved the Water Park at the Raddison, went down to the State Fair (not sure if it was the big one- it was south of Lakeville). We walked around some park in Edina that was surronded by a shopping mall and then walked to another shopping mall for lunch about 1.5 miles away. We drove to Woodbury since a friend of our family used to live there, and decided that was too far. Ate at Famous Dave's near Uptown. Also managed to get in on a free breakfast day at IKEA. We went jogging by Lake Harriet / Lake Calhoun and then went for a walk over in the Saint Paul area and saw the University of St. Thomas campus . We went to Lebanon Hills State Park. I really liked the parks system, the scenery. Everyone was very nice. MSP is a lot bigger than STL, but it seems to have a better layout.

So a few takeaways from my trip:
1). With the open enrollment statute, how easy it is to get into District 196 if you decide to live in the city?
2). Is there a significant difference between District 196 and 197? From looking at the districts- the quality of education appears to be higher than in St. Louis- so I am pretty thrilled about that.
3). With St. Louis Park being so close to Lake Calhoun- is it pretty commutable to the airport? I really liked the areas by the Lake.
4). Got the impression that Eagan, while nice, you have to drive everywhere. Is it easy to walk to any of the parks? Didn't look around as much as I wanted to while driving, my daughter is a handful in the car at times.
5). As far as next steps with getting to know the school districts a bit more- do the districts offer open houses to families?

Thanks for everyone's help. We still haven't completely decided on the move- but we're leaning on moving possibly early 2013.

We're going to do a second visit this weekend.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by meredithhr

Thanks to everyone for their advice and suggestions.

We went up to Minnie in mid-July to check out a few places. Loved the Water Park at the Raddison, went down to the State Fair (not sure if it was the big one- it was south of Lakeville). We walked around some park in Edina that was surronded by a shopping mall and then walked to another shopping mall for lunch about 1.5 miles away. We drove to Woodbury since a friend of our family used to live there, and decided that was too far. Ate at Famous Dave's near Uptown. Also managed to get in on a free breakfast day at IKEA. We went jogging by Lake Harriet / Lake Calhoun and then went for a walk over in the Saint Paul area and saw the University of St. Thomas campus . We went to Lebanon Hills State Park. I really liked the parks system, the scenery. Everyone was very nice. MSP is a lot bigger than STL, but it seems to have a better layout.

So a few takeaways from my trip:
1). With the open enrollment statute, how easy it is to get into District 196 if you decide to live in the city?
2). Is there a significant difference between District 196 and 197? From looking at the districts- the quality of education appears to be higher than in St. Louis- so I am pretty thrilled about that.
3). With St. Louis Park being so close to Lake Calhoun- is it pretty commutable to the airport? I really liked the areas by the Lake.
4). Got the impression that Eagan, while nice, you have to drive everywhere. Is it easy to walk to any of the parks? Didn't look around as much as I wanted to while driving, my daughter is a handful in the car at times.
5). As far as next steps with getting to know the school districts a bit more- do the districts offer open houses to families?

Thanks for everyone's help. We still haven't completely decided on the move- but we're leaning on moving possibly early 2013.

We're going to do a second visit this weekend.

St. Louis Park to the airport is one of the worst commutes in the cities during rush hour. If you are traveling nonpeak times, not too bad but still not great. Woodbury would be an easier commute to the airport then St. Louis Park.

Are you thinking about living in Minneapolis and commuting to a 196 school? Personally I would not do that. It's just not worth driving that far every morning/every afternoon. It's much easier to live in Eagan or Rosemount or Apple Valley and take that once every week or two trip the other way. Getting into the schools are hit or miss depending on how much room they have. I know our high school is basically full so getting in there is difficult, for example. As for waking in Eagan, it really depends on where you live. There are plenty of places in Eagan where you can walk to most things. St. Louis Park is not all that walkable to shopping, etc. either. There is a lot of traffic and congestion in and around the shopping areas there. Both towns are fine for walking to neighborhood parks, etc.

There isn't much difference between the 196 and 197 districts. The 196 district is considered better but they are both good and quite honestly, way better than anything in Missouri. You really can't go wrong with either district. I am a graduate of the 197 schools and our kids are in the 196 schools and I do prefer the 196 district.

I know that the 196 schools have back to school open houses but do personal tours for people looking at moving to the area or moving into the schools. You just need to call the school and set up a time to do that. I don't know that any school around here that wouldn't give a personal tour.

Next time you are in the area, look at Rosemount. I think that it might be more of what you are looking for as far as a place where kids can bike from one end of town to the other, walk to the park, walk to coffee shops, etc. It also has the "youngest" population of the areas you are considering so lots of little kids around.

Also, where ever you end up, sign up for the Early Childhood Family Education classes (ECFE). It's a wonderful way to meet people with kids the same age.

I've spent a lot of time in St. Louis (I have family there). The Twin Cities is MUCH easier to get around and isn't as sprawled as the St. Louis area. As for schools, we continually rank in the top 3 nationally vs Missouri which is usually in the bottom 5. We have been the top state for average ACT/SAT scores for I don't know how many years running. It's a great place for kids to go to school!

Oh, and the fair you went to was a county fair, small. The State Fair is finishing up it's last day today and is probably 20 times larger than any county fair .

[uptown_urbanist]

Depending on where you live in SLP, a commute the airport won't be too bad. You'd have a couple of commute options, and no bridges to cross. You could even take city streets if there was freeway congestion. (this is assuming that you're talking about the part of SLP that's on the Edina/SW Minneapolis/SLP border, as that's the area closest to Lake Harriet, which is only 10 or 11 miles from the airport, so not the fastest commute, but certainly not the worst, either). I don't think you'd like Woodbury, if Eagan is too car-dependent for you.

Not sure why you'd try to open enroll in District 196 if you were living in Minneapolis. If you're thinking the neighborhoods by Lake Harriet, the schools there are very good -- as good or better to what you'll find in District 196 (when looking at the big districts, you've really got to look at individual schools, and not district as a whole. SW Minneapolis has excellent schools K-12. So do some other parts of the city, but you'd want to do your homework for certain neighborhoods.). If you want District 196, then somewhere like Rosemount would make sense (and it's much cheaper than the Lake Harriet-adjacent neighborhoods, if budget is an issue. If budget's not an issue, and you can spend 500k on a house, then you really can't beat somewhere like Linden Hills for kids, but that depends on your taste and your preference for type of house. If you wanted big new house near Lake Harriet, for example you're looking at much higher numbers, while you could get a big new house somewhere like Rosemount for half the price.).

[meredithhr]

Thanks for everyone's advice. I think that the biggest surprise for me in visiting MSP was that I really enjoyed the city. I'm pretty relieved that as long as its somewhat commutable to the airport, there really do appear to be a large variety of city neighborhoods + suburbs to choose from that would be a nice fit for our family.

Budget wise, since there is a chance that we'll have 2 houses to pay for, we are going to favor something affordable over something that has everything that we are seeking in a house and neighborhood. Plus the daycare rates that I've been researching are significantly higher than STL.

My husband would love to have a 2 car garage for all his toys. We are going to rent initially, so we'll have to be somewhat flexible with our areas since single family homes tend to rent out quickly.

So the wish list for now is a 2 car garage, somewhere that's walkable to a nice park, and a solid school district. Something that is in close proximity to a running club would be great too.

I'll put Rosemount on my list. EFCE sounds great, I've started to download and review some of the resources they've provided for selecting pre-schools.

[Mdcastle]

I'd second the notion that St. Louis Park to MSP is not something you want to do. I-494 and MN 62 (old timers call it "Crosstown) are usually parking lots at rush hour. Northbound I-35W and MN 77 "Cedar" across the river can be problematic too, so if I were picking a place purely by commutes it would be either east Bloomington (which doesn't sound like what you want), or parts of Eagan or other suburbs in the area- Inver Grove Heights, Mendota Heights, etc. that you can reach by I-494.