Which is more family friendly (Vienna) (McLean, Fairfax: fingerprints, house, neighborhoods)

[momtotwoboys]

Vienna Woods or Dunn Lorring Woods?

[JD984]

Originally Posted by momtotwoboys

Vienna Woods or Dunn Lorring Woods?

You would really be splitting hairs to conclude one was more family-friendly than another. Both have lots of families, neighborhood pools, etc. I'd focus on the best house for you, and not be too concerned as to the "family-friendliness" of either area.

[momtotwoboys]

thanks jeb...that is sort of what my perception was but thought I would check. Our househunt has shifted back to ffx county and I don't know that section of Vienna that well.

[michgc]

To give you a second opinion, I agree with JEB - both are family friendly. My kids go to preschool near Vienna Woods and there are tons of families from both areas. I think the big difference between the two would be that in Vienna Woods, you will be in the Town of Vienna and pay Town taxes and get Town benefits. In Dunn Loring Woods you are outside the Town limits, so no extra taxes. You'd be fine either place.

As far as schools, I believe Dunn Loring Woods mostly (or all?) feeds into Marshall High School and Vienna Woods into Madison High School, if that makes a difference. They'd go to different elementary schools, too - Vienna Elementary or Marshall Road (or Cunningham Park?) for Vienna Woods families versus Stenwood (or Cunningham Park?) for Dunn Loring families. Not sure exactly where the boundaries are. The schools are all pretty decent, so I wouldn't pick your house based on those.

Another thing to consider is if you are taking Metro to work, one end of Dunn Loring Woods is very close to the Dunn Loring Metro, so that is very convenient. On the opposite end, some Vienna Woods homes are close to Maple Avenue and would make it convenient to walk around town.

Vienna is a great family-friendly place to live. I live in town near the Vienna Woods development and love living here. Feel free to ask any Vienna questions, and I will try to help.

Originally Posted by momtotwoboys

thanks jeb...that is sort of what my perception was but thought I would check. Our househunt has shifted back to ffx county and I don't know that section of Vienna that well.

[JD984]

Vienna Woods is Vienna ES, Cunningham Park ES or Marshall Road ES, Thoreau MS and Madison HS. Dunn Loring Woods is Stenwood ES or Cunningham Park ES, Thoreau MS, and Marshall HS.

Dunn Loring Woods and nearby Stockwell Manor are the only neighborhoods zoned for both Thoreau MS and Marshall HS. Most of Thoreau MS goes on to Madison HS, and most Marshall HS students come from Kilmer MS.

[momtotwoboys]

Thanks michgc and jeb! So what exactly are the benefits living "in town"? The areas we are looking at seem to feed into Cunningham Park. I know they didn't meet AYP recently, but it seems like they have made great gains in the past year or so. I like that it is a small school.

[JD984]

When we were looking in Vienna in the early 90s, there wasn't anything in the town in our price range that appealed to us, so we ended up in the county north of town. But here's an earlier thread where Denton56 (a former town resident) explained what she liked about the town.

Town of Vienna - Advantages/Disadvantages

Some of the things she describes are services that are only available to town residents who pay the extra tax; others are available to anyone in the area who wants to take advantage of them.

[michgc]

I live in the Town - my whole reason was walkability. I wanted to be able to walk to amenities. That is very important to me. This is not possible in all areas of the Town so many of the properties that were far from Maple Avenue were not a consideration for me. I would have lived outside the Town if it meant I could walk to places. Having said that, being in Town brings these amenities:

Only for Town of Vienna residents
--very fast and superior snow removal than Fairfax County
--leaf removal via a big-vacuum suction.
--two bulk pickups per year
--trash and recycling (once per week each)
--priority consideration for community center classes (one week lead time) plus slightly cheaper prices
--our own police and fire department (although they do respond to residents outside the town). There are certain tasks they will only do for town residents like car-seat checks, fingerprints, bicycle ID

Other activities provided by the Town of Vienna can be attended by anyone living in the area - Halloween Parade, July 4th fireworks, ViVa Vienna, Holiday Stroll, etc. But if you live in the Town, it is much more convenient to attend these events than if you live farther away. Most people I know who live in the Town walk to the Halloween Parade, Viva Vienna, the Holiday Stroll, the fireworks, etc. But if you live way down Cottage Street toward Cedar Lane, that might not be a benefit - except for the fireworks at Southside Park.

Other benefits of living in the Town are not measureable but word on the street is that residents in town are unlikely to get redistricted out of Madison High School. This can be a big benefit for housing values. In the past couple of years one neighborhood outside of town which used to feed into Madison now attends South Lakes. I'm sure this has had an effect on their housing values. Also, not measureable, but there is a big sense of community within the Town of Vienna. When you attend the Town events, you feel like you belong rather than you are visiting as an outsider.

Overall, I love living in Town, but again for me, most of it is the walkability part of it. If I had to quanitify the amount we pay extra in taxes each year, would it be worth it dollar for dollar? Not sure, but it is a great place to live. I have never been sorry I have bought the house I did. We love the small-town feeling that comes with living in the town.

As an aside, I have many friends whose children go to Cunningham Park, and they are universally happy with the school.

[JD984]

I realized when I re-read my post that I probably should have been clearer that, when we were looking in Vienna, there wasn't anything available in the town of Vienna that fit our bill at the time. There's a wider range of properties available in the town of Vienna now than was the case in the early 90s, as there's been a lot of remodeling and new construction since then. We had been living in an older house in DC and wanted something comparatively new and larger; at the time, what was available in the town of Vienna was both older and smaller.

Michgc makes a good point about parts of the town of Vienna being comparative walkable. Parts of Vienna Woods are walkable to things in the town of Vienna. I don't think of either the southern part of Vienna Woods or Dunn Loring Woods as particularly walkable to businesses or shops on Maple Avenue. There are some areas, however, that are near the W&OD trail that are very bikable. A lot of the south side of Vienna is relatively flat, which makes both walking and biking easier, but is a negative to folks who like neighborhoods with hills.

As to the impact of school assignments on housing values, that's a bit more of a crap shoot, I think. Local residents speak highly of Madison HS, but that's presumably already reflected in the housing values. If, as appears likely, test scores at South Lakes HS improve following a redistricting in 2008 that has increased the enrollment at South Lakes and reduced the percentage of economically disadvantaged students, home prices in that area may actually appreciate more (or decline less) in future years than in the Madison HS district. Test scores at Marshall HS are much closer to those at Madison HS than to those at South Lakes HS, but the upcoming $90-100 M renovation of Marshall HS may also have a positive impact on neighborhoods like Dunn Loring Woods. In addition, future events at Cunningham Park ES - which is the only Vienna-area school designated by FCPS as a "priority school" as a result of its past performance - may turn out to have more of an impact on housing values than the local MS or HS assignments. I don't point this out to discourage you from looking in the Cunningham Park ES district, but only to underscore that there are a lot of variables to consider. At some point, you go with the particular house, neighborhood and schools that feel right to you.

I do disagree with the suggestion that people who live outside the town "feel like outsiders" when attending events sponsored by the town. Perhaps this is how some people who live in the town view others, but it's not like we're talking about the border between Kosovo and Serbia. Events like Viva Vienna, the fireworks, and the Halloween parade are open to everyone, and well-attended by both county and town residents. They even let people from McLean sneak in occasionally. There's just too much daily interaction - in the schools, sports leagues, community center, etc - between town and county residents for this type of division to exist in real life, regardless of whether one has to pay a few extra dollars to take a pottery class.

[michgc]

I agree that the school that a house is districted for is already reflected in the housing values. My point with saying that in-town residents are unlikely to get redistricted out of Madison is that the housing values are unlikely to decline based on being redistricted to a newer less well-perceived school as that neighborhood near the Dulles Toll Road was. Yes, over time South Lakes' reputation could improve or Madison's reputation could decrease, but either one is unlikely to happen overnight and would not have as dramatic of an effect on home values as being redistricted to a new school would. Just sayin'.