West Clayton Vrs East Clayton (Raleigh, Knightdale: crime, house, neighborhood)

[Mom2KK]

Hi there-

I recently posted about a subdivision called Bright Leaf Park and realized it may be too specific for some to answer. Let me ask this way....We are moving to the Clayton area just as soon as our house sells. My mother is having a home built in Flowers and will be moving in Dec. All towns have good and not so good areas. I have been to Clayton several times and mostly looked at homes on the East side close to Flowers. Are there any areas I should steer away from? Is there a difference between East and West Clayton? It seems West Clayton is behind as far as developing, however, my realtor said it is on the heels of East and should be developing soon. For instance, I read an article about a street called "Camel Street" around Cooper Elem that had a lot of crime. It said the city is trying to crack down on that area. Had I not read that, I would not have known.
We are intereted in the area by Cobblestone, the school district is West Clayton. Smaller homes older subdivisions. (late 80's 90's)We are hoping to get a smaller home on a large lot and put an addition on it. What if the homes sourrounding that area do not develop, wouldnt that be a bad investment to add on? Im really confused because I love the rural area and the large lots but Im concerned about future growth in the Western area of Clayton. Any advice? Bright Leaf Park is off Country Lane, Barber Hill Rd....a few miles from Cobblestone. Older subdivisions...
Thanks!

[rick0427]

Originally Posted by Mom2KK

Hi there-

I recently posted about a subdivision called Bright Leaf Park and realized it may be too specific for some to answer. Let me ask this way....We are moving to the Clayton area just as soon as our house sells. My mother is having a home built in Flowers and will be moving in Dec. All towns have good and not so good areas. I have been to Clayton several times and mostly looked at homes on the East side close to Flowers. Are there any areas I should steer away from? Is there a difference between East and West Clayton? It seems West Clayton is behind as far as developing, however, my realtor said it is on the heels of East and should be developing soon. For instance, I read an article about a street called "Camel Street" around Cooper Elem that had a lot of crime. It said the city is trying to crack down on that area. Had I not read that, I would not have known.
We are intereted in the area by Cobblestone, the school district is West Clayton. Smaller homes older subdivisions. (late 80's 90's)We are hoping to get a smaller home on a large lot and put an addition on it. What if the homes sourrounding that area do not develop, wouldnt that be a bad investment to add on? Im really confused because I love the rural area and the large lots but Im concerned about future growth in the Western area of Clayton. Any advice? Bright Leaf Park is off Country Lane, Barber Hill Rd....a few miles from Cobblestone. Older subdivisions...
Thanks!

west Clayton is where the by pass is closest to also planning a new medical center on 42 west near Amelia Church Rd. If you build it they will come. I live in west Clayton and find it is much easier to get to raleigh and work without having to travel through town on 70!

[jamieshel88]

That area by Cobblestone is so close to Highway 70 that you are already near most of the shopping, etc. It is also not too far from the Cleveland community where they are building a new Super Walmart and there is also a Lowe's hardware. Plus as the prior post said, with the bypass opening, additional development will soon come as well. Cooper Elementary is just about in downtown Clayton and is close to some lower income housing areas. There are beautiful homes around that area as well. Just as the area in West Clayton and other parts of Clayton can be- there are beautiful homes but some parts are surrounded by trailer homes or not so nice properties. You really have to explore the area to make sure it is what you want.

[ferrickhead28]

I actually live in Cobblestone and my daughter attends Cooper. We actually LOVE the area. From what I understand, they are in the process of building some new shops at the entrance so everyone is really looking forward to that. I'm not sure where Bright Leaf is...the area itself is really nice. Its very quiet and we have not had any crime problems.

As far as the homes near downtown Clayton, keep in mind that the majority of those homes are "older folks" who have lived there for several decades. Again, nice area, dont let the older homes fool you, we have some friend who live there and they love it. Cooper is also an excellent school too! My daughter attended West Clayton last year and it too was one of our favorite schools!

Make sure you try the Italian restaurant on hwy 70..its excellent!
Welcome to the neighborhood!

[lauren4521]

Originally Posted by rick0427

I live in west Clayton and find it is much easier to get to raleigh and work without having to travel through town on 70!

Just wanted to point out that if you live in East Clayton (Archer Lodge section near Flowers) as we do, you take the "back" way to Raleigh avoiding 70 entirely.

64/264 to 440 or 540 whichever floats your boat. Plus you pass by the huge shopping district in Knightdale so if one needs something on the way home there's eveyrthing there; Home Depot, Lowes Foods, Bed, Bath, Beyond, Target, etc, etc, etc.


Lauren

[ferrickhead28]

Originally Posted by lauren4521

Just wanted to point out that if you live in East Clayton (Archer Lodge section near Flowers) as we do, you take the "back" way to Raleigh avoiding 70 entirely.

64/264 to 440 or 540 whichever floats your boat. Plus you pass by the huge shopping district in Knightdale so if one needs something on the way home there's eveyrthing there; Home Depot, Lowes Foods, Bed, Bath, Beyond, Target, etc, etc, etc.


Lauren

OH cool!
I didnt even think of that!!! Thanks Lauren!

[rick0427]

I use that way sometimes by going on Shotwell/Mial Plantation rd. my job is near 540 and Capital Blvd. But I might point out Lauren, from west Clayton that is close to 10 miles of narrow country roads as opposed to 3 miles of Guy Rd. Also want to point out that during rush hours there is a big back up at Poole road coming home and getting on 264 in the morning er.... I'll stay in west Clayton and wait a couple more months for the bypass. It's less then 1/2 mile from my neighborhood. As for shopping, walmart plaza,40-42, and White Oak are 5-15 minutes even in heavy traffic, and if we actually want to go into Clayton we don't have the bottleneck headaches of Covered Bridge Rd. or N.C. 42 east. yes come West it's going to boom soon.

[TuborgP]

Originally Posted by rick0427

I use that way sometimes by going on Shotwell/Mial Plantation rd. my job is near 540 and Capital Blvd. But I might point out Lauren, from west Clayton that is close to 10 miles of narrow country roads as opposed to 3 miles of Guy Rd. Also want to point out that during rush hours there is a big back up at Poole road coming home and getting on 264 in the morning er.... I'll stay in west Clayton and wait a couple more months for the bypass. It's less then 1/2 mile from my neighborhood. As for shopping, walmart plaza,40-42, and White Oak are 5-15 minutes even in heavy traffic, and if we actually want to go into Clayton we don't have the bottleneck headaches of Covered Bridge Rd. or N.C. 42 east. yes come West it's going to boom soon.

Right on target. You can get anywhere in minimal time and the shopping is growing nightly it seems.

[lauren4521]

Originally Posted by TuborgP

Right on target. You can get anywhere in minimal time and the shopping is growing nightly it seems.

You'll be getting a SuperWalmart over in the 40/42 area soon as well. Glad you both are as happy with your choice of where to live, as I am with mine. Someone here complained about Guy Rd being awful during rush hour....I don't travel it often so wouldn't know.

I don't run into alot of traffic on Covered Bridge actually...I don't travel often at rush hour but have without issue. Plus speed limit is 55mph so you're going fast and have multiple passing options.

There must be plans to widen 42W with all the shopping continuing to go in, as everytime we travel there we hit a decent amount of traffic. I imagine the same thing will happen eventually here in the Archer Lodge section with the one lane each way country roads (Covered Bridge, Buffalo, etc).

I saw recently that Johnston County is looking for some proposals on a county wide plan to deal with the development, traffic patterns, etc. I can find it and post it in a seperate thread in case we have some city/data engineers!
Lauren

[rick0427]

Guy rd isn't too bad at rush hour. same thing 55 2/3 of the way. Do have to spend some time at 70 sometimes. That's a long red light for guy rd. but it stays green for quite a while to i fact I think that they might have recently adjusted it for a longer green seems I get through quicker now. Anyway once the bypass opens it will be a moot point.