Cottage Grove or Santa Clara??? (Eugene, Junction City: crime, houses, neighborhood)

[deem]

Hi we are speculating moving to Eugene Oregon Area - can anyone give us their opinion and thoughts on Cottage Grove and Santa Clara..
home pricing? commute to Eugene? gangs and crime? are these quaint hometowns with their own small downtowns with good schools - jr and high?universities or colleges?
outdoor activities - greenery and bike paths? weather? canoeing, hiking, fishing?
I have been exploring city data and sperlings and am very curious...some really nice pictures - aggressive or am I stepping back in time...
we are planning a move from Phoenix (too big, too expensive, lots of crime related to the population, etc) taxes are crazy..
thanks for your input and help

[Waterlily]

Santa Clara seems to be an extenion of Eugene. Cottage Grove is a separate town. Yes Cottage Grove has it's own downtown although it is a small town.
You'll need to look up the areas on Realtor.com or some such place to get an idea of prices. Prices may be similar to Phoenix.

Colleges & Universitiy are in Eugene. It's a good sized city without being too big. There's Plenty of shoping centers. Plenty of biking going on there.

[keg620]

I grew up in the Santa Clara area and love it! It is technically still Eugene, but is a distintive neighborhood in itself. Cottage Grove is much further away if you're planning on a commute from Eugene. You're looking at a 30 -40 minute drive from Cottage Grove or 10 minutes from SC.

[frenzied]

My vote goes for Santa Clara, it is just a neighborhood/ section of Eugene - the North part of town. The newer and more affordable homes are out in that area. Taxes might be a bit cheaper in Cottage Grove. But Eugene has everything you are looking for. Good schools, lots of outdoor activities. If you want quaint downtown, just 10 minutes away. If it is a restaurant chain, that is close as well. It has a good mix of liberal as well as conservative people here. I haven't heard of much crime out in the Santa Clara area. University is very close. I graduate from there 9 years ago. The Bethel/Danebo area also has more affordable housing. Everything else besides the Santa Clara/River Road area and the Bethel/Danebo area tend to be more.

Other small towns with about a 20 minute commute nearby - Junction City or Veneta... Just some thoughts. If you have anymore questions, shoot away. I live in downtown Eugene.

[LVGAZ]

Frenzied
What is the weather like there? is it rainy or does the sun "come out tomorrow" and the winters?
thanks

[UncaChazzy]

I realize your post is old by now, all I can say is I hope that you made the choice to move to Cottage Grove.

I live in Santa Clara, and have been stuck here for about 10+ years now.

It is a hateful place where the only people who seem to have rights or a right to a private life are those who celebrate all things U of O Ducks. I've been "gay-bashed" by more than a handful of people who don't know anything about me or my life (having been married once and divorced, and am a single man living alone--as if it's anyone's business) and have had my garage broken into and had about 1200.00 worth of stuff stolen out of it.

I've had neighbors who have had their cars broken into, I've been gawked at by rude locals, and lately I had another "neighborly" neighbor call LRAPA and complain about a backyard fire which I had built in a fire pit (built to standards), over which I was cooking dinner over.

To me, moving to Santa Clara is a mistake--especially the Lynnbrook area, where the houses are all built by a shoddy company (they're "brothers"--you can figure it out) that cuts corners at every opportunity--my house doesn't even have insulation in parts where there should be...

If someone is a busybody who wants to make it their business to pass judgement on and inflict their lifestyle and values on other people, then Santa Clara is the place to be. Otherwise, I'd stay as far away as possible.

It's a dump.

[LisaLooLoo]

I live in Cottage Grove, so I may be a bit biased here.

If you work an 8-5 job, like many people do, commuting from downtown to Santa Clara can be rather ugly. There tends to be a bottleneck around the Delta Highway, Beltline interchange. I live on the southern end of Cottage Grove and it typically takes me LESS time to get home to Cottage Grove than it takes me to get to River Road/Santa Clara on the rare occassions that I have to head that direction. The fact that Cottage Grove is directly on I-5 makes commuting to and from Eugene very easy. Traffic has not yet been a problem on this commute, although there have been times that I've had to slow down to the speed limit

Cottage Grove has a brand new high school that is very nice. We also have our brand new community hospital that, while I don't believe it is a full-service hospital, has an emergency room that is top-notch. I know this because I have been there on a couple of occassions for family's broken arms, kidney stones, and post-tonsillectomy issues (I won't bore you with details). I can't say much about the waiting room, since I've never had to use it - we've always gone straight back to the nurses.

Crime is about average, mainly the drug related issues that seem to be everywhere these days. I've not seen any evidence of gangs, graffiti seems to be minimal, and we've had excellent luck with the school system.

There are two lakes just a few miles out of town, one is popular with small sail boats while both are popular spots for water skiing.

I'd be happy to answer any questions. And, for the record, I am not a realtor, member of the chamber of commerce, or on any kind of welcome committee. Frankly, I just like to brag about my home town