Glen Mills - school district and crime rate? (Philadelphia, Chester: houses, safe area)

[NJ_Vine]

Hi,
We live in central NJ now, but are considering moving to the 'burbs of Philly over summer. I have to commute to the Cherry Hill area in NJ and my spouse has to commute to Wilmington, DE. What are good areas to consider? Our primary criteria is a good school district, so we narrowed our search down to Glen Mills,PA.. school district (Garnet Valley) seemed good and houses and prop. taxes seemed more reasonable compared to NJ. But I noticed that the crime index was a bit high (6) compared to state average of 3. Is the Glen Mills area a nice place to live? Also, how ethnically diverse is that area?
Thanks

[rainrock]

Someone else mentioned that Garnet Valley/Glen Mills crime index was high. Thats somewhat misleading. Those areas share their Post Office with some older grittier industrial riverfront towns, but Glen Mills and Garnet Valley are newer upper middle class bedroom communities built on former farms and woodlands. The commercial and retail businesses are relegated to Rt 1 and Rt 202, the rest of the area is all housing. Lots and lots of developments with names like Preserve at Thornbury,or The Estates at Indian Springs.

Garnet Valley is the name of the school district. Towns that make up the GV school district are Concord, Bethel, Glen Mills, parts of Thornbury, parts of Boothwyn. All very nice areas. Very easy commute to Wilmington. Cherry Hill commute isn't bad either, 322 over the Commodore Barry Bridge to 295 N to Cherry Hill. Huge advantage to being able to avoid the Philadelphia traffic.

Media( Nice small mainstreet type town is right around the corner and has a couple malls (Granite Run + Springfield). West Chester( great small town) is 10 minutes. Right over the Del. border theres everything you will ever need as far as the big box stores are concerned. You name it they have it.(Tax free shopping in De)

Between Glen Mills and Media is Ridley Creek State Park( hiking,biking trails, horseback riding,picnics etc) and Springton Lake(fishing) -about 5 miles away from GV schools. This is a vey nice laid back area, good schools, crime is low.

[jenne03]

I think i mentioned that at some point..looking at the crime relocation lab on the homefair site ..the numbers for personal crime risk were above the National Average<??> .I was confused with this also...since I was starting to look in that area..I didn't know if that meant the actual Glen mills area is nice but because it shares the zip with more rundown areas...does that mean it is somewhat surrounded by undesirable areas.?

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by jenne03

I think i mentioned that at some point..looking at the crime relocation lab on the homefair site ..the numbers for personal crime risk were above the National Average<??> .I was confused with this also...since I was starting to look in that area..I didn't know if that meant the actual Glen mills area is nice but because it shares the zip with more rundown areas...does that mean it is somewhat surrounded by undesirable areas.?

Not really. The Garnet Valley area is buffered pretty good by 95 + 322 and a good 5 miles of land from the grittier towns to the south . The west/east/north boundaries are all high end areas.

Last year Bethel Township had the lowest crime rate in the entire Philadelphia region which is 6 million people.

www.locallive.com gives you a birds eye view of the area. Punch in Glen Mills Thornbury Concord Township Bethel township and you'll see the neighborhoods via sattlelite





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethel_...,_Pennsylvania

[NJ_Vine]

Thanks for the responses. Since I have to get on Commdr. Barry Bridge to NJ to get to work, how bad is the traffic in the mornings and evenings (~ 8am and ~ 5pm)? Will I be avoiding the Philly bound traffic for the most part?

[toobusytoday]

Traffic will be very bad at those hours. You will be joining the rest of the commuters.

[rainrock]

Yes there is no comparison between Philly traffic and Commodore Barry/ 295 traffic, especially once you get to know the back-roads and can avoid 322 and 95.

In regards to diversity The Glen Mills,Garnet Valley,Bethel, Concord Township area is not diverse at all.

[3littlerascals]

I used to live in the Garnet Valley area a few years ago. We were right off of Smithbridge Road. I enjoyed it there. Felt it was a safe community, nice people, great schools and close to tons of shopping in North Wilmington (Concord Mall, Brandywine Towne Center where there is a Target, Regal Movies, Bed Bath and Beyond, Michaels etc.) Tons of restaurants in the area too. There are a few routes you could take to avoid 322 (a nightmare) but you'll still have some traffic on 95/commodore Barry and 295 getting to Cherry Hill.
Good luck with your search

[pizzajulie]

i will be relocating to the Philly area from California and have considered the Glen Mills area. I saw the bad crime statistics as well, which are worrisome. In particular, I am curious how safe the SEPTA R3 train stations are in Elwyn and Media. Are these safe places to leave your car and walk to and from parking areas at night? I'm considering using the R5 station in Paoli instead. Is that a waste of time? Thank you for the info!

[3littlerascals]

I'm not sure about the crime stats of Glen Mills but I lived there and am still in that area often and feel it is a very safe area. I would not see a problem with the Elwyn train station either. That is still a nice safe area. The tip to Paoli for the train would be a waste.
I'm really confused about the crime stats though.