How do you feel about St. Charles??? (St. Louis, Chesterfield: transplants, for sale)

[Moacyr]

Greetings and happy new year!

I am looking at relocating to STL from Durango, CO in the next few months and am trying to decide where to relocate to. I am a flight attendant and only have to go to work once or twice a week so a commute isn't an issue. I am divorced, forty-ish without kids - but I do have two dogs that need a yard. I like the idea of being in the city and don't necessarily want to strand myself in a suburb. BUT, I'm also a cyclist and have gotten used to riding my bike (road) from my front door. I heard St. Charles might be a happy medium.

Any ideas, suggestions would be immensley helpful.
Thank you

[aragx6]

I wouldn't really consider St. Charles a happy medium. I grew up there and unless you live right in downtown St. Charles which is quirky and cute, it's a pretty run of the mill suburb. I like it, but if you're not sure you want to give up the urban amenities it's probably not the right place for you (though it's still extremely well-priced for the metro area).

[ucfjtm]

Originally Posted by Moacyr

BUT, I'm also a cyclist and have gotten used to riding my bike (road) from my front door. I heard St. Charles might be a happy medium.

Any ideas, suggestions would be immensley helpful.
Thank you

Have you heard about the Katy Trail?
Katy Trail Maps, Towns, Events, Mileage, and more
I know quite a few people who love it.. perhaps someone who lives in St. Charles can tell you how much they love the area.

[TGS]

Most of St. Charles County is a sea of vinyl subdivisions. It is not made for biking, because there are subdivisions with short little roads that go nowhere, and busy main roads without room for bike riders. There are limited areas near the Missouri river that have nice biking areas. Downtown St. Charles has a good biking area with access to the Katy Trail (which isn't all that great for a road bike, however, since it is unpaved). The Page extension bridge also has a biking path across the bridge into a huge park area in St. Louis County (Creve Coeur Park).

You will probably be happier in an older suburb like Kirkwood or Webster Groves that have many good quiet streets for biking and cute downtowns to go to on your bike. There is a great biking trail near Grant's Farm (Grant's Trail) in South County that you might enjoy, with very nice subdivisions right off the trail, especially in Grantwood Village. Most of it is paved. Grant's Trail: Maps, Parking, Directions, and Mileage
There are plans to extend the trail through Kirkwood, which will be great. Biking on the back roads in the upscale areas of Town and County, Manchester, and Ballwin near Queeny Park is also popular. I see bikers on a regular basis in West and South St. Louis County, even on the regular roads, but I never see them in St. Charles County except on the Katy or Page extension trails.

Many of the neighborhoods in the city will also work, especially the ones centered near a large park, such as Forest Park, Tower Grove Park, Francis Park, Wilmore Park, Tilles Park, or Carondelet Park.

If you are looking for a true biking paradise of paved trails for miles and miles, then look at the Metro East around Edwardsville. They have an unbelievable amount of trails in excess of ten miles. They are a lot of fun because they intersect often and you can take new paths on a whim. Edwardsville is a little suburban for my taste, but it does have a nice downtown, historic areas, and a college.

Here is a map of trails in the metro area to get you started:
Trails & Bikeways - Trailnet.org

[STLCardsBlues1989]

I have heard that St. Charles has some commuting issues during rush hour. Other than that I'm not sure. You could go to STLtoday - Homes and type info about the house you want (price, bedrooms, things like that) without restricting yourself to one suburb. craigslist: st louis, MO classifieds for jobs, apartments, personals, for sale, services, community, and events should have some listings, too. I wouldn't restrict yourself to one suburb just yet, since there more than one that could probably meet your needs.

How much are you looking to spend. Do you only need 1 bedroom?

It might be hard to find a decent-sized yard with a house that has less than 2 bedrooms, though. Are your dogs small or large?

[ShadowCaver]

Hey there to you, and happy new year also. Few thoughts... TGS has some excellent points, yet IMHO keep in mind that while StL has some interesting areas, the city/area itself is not very bike friendly [compared to other cities of similar/larger sizes]. The areas on the east side [IL] are better, and if you are interested in going west, also might take a look at the Wildwood area [close to a few parks, scenic areas, and close to shopping/StL]. Best to ya!

[Moacyr]

Wow - Thanks to all of you for the great information!

"Most of St. Charles County is a sea of vinyl subdivisions." Thanks - that is exactly what I want to avoid. Though, historic, "quirky and cute" sound good.

This may be a long-shot, but does any area of the city offer cycling? I lived in Dallas for a while (near University and Greenville, in case anyone is familiar) and rode to White Rock Lake from my house.

I started to look outside of the city for a yard for the dogs, and I think I would just prefer a house (or something like a house).

Thank you again!

[stlsteved]

Originally Posted by TGS

Most of St. Charles County is a sea of vinyl subdivisions.

Great quote, I could not have said it better.

St. Charles is full of a bunch of boring, middle class families who have nothing better to do all day except feud with each other and smell their own farts. Hypocritical Sunday morning Christians abound there...by Sunday night they are sleeping with the neighbors wife and by Wednesday they are at the local chain pub puttin down Budweisers talking about the next big purchase they are going to make.

There is nothing unique about St. Charles County; nothing exciting; chain restaurants and overpopulation comes to mind when I picture it. Sprinkled among the transplanted St. Louisans who moved there because they could afford a bigger house there on their mediocre salaries than they could in Chesterfield and now think they are upper class, are the pick-up truck driving, beer swilling, gun toting quasi-rednecks who vote republican because they "ain't votin fer no pu$$y demokrat"...Not suprisingly, this type of cretin was the only face of St. Charles 20 years ago before the St. Louisians started to run over there for cheap real estate, lack of minorities and an Applebees on every corner. (On edit: Come to think of it, a lot of the transplants have taken this persona on as well)

If hell has a suburb, it is exactly like St. Charles.

[ucfjtm]

Originally Posted by stlsteved

If hell has a suburb, it is exactly like St. Charles.

I don't know St. Charles, so I'm not defending it. You must love articles like this:
Best Affordable Suburbs 2006
Top 25 metro areas in the nation - the best 'affordable' suburb.
For St. Louis, take a guess which one they picked..

[aragx6]

As I said before St. Charles has its issues if you don't like suburbs, but it's just dead wrong when looking at downtown St. Charles. Locally owned businesses in beautiful old buildings- don't take its history away from it.

And as far as complaining about people moving out there to try and eke out a nice existence for themselves on "mediocre" salaries - What in the hell is wrong with that?
My mother and father grew up in Creve Couer, went to High School at parkway Central, went to college and got married. My mother became a special ed teacher and went to grad school at SLU.

My dad majored in criminal justice and became a supervisor at St. Louis County jail in Clayton.

In 1984 they were pulling in less than $40k a year combined and living in an itty bitty old apartment in West County. My mom didn't want to leave, but also wanted to start a family - she was almost 30 and thought it was time.

So they started looking for houses. Do you think they could afford any near where they had grown up? I think not. They found a cute little house, less than 8 years old on a culdesac with a pond and wooded back yard and fell in love with it- and guess what?

For the first time in their life they could afford to own their own home.

What are people and their "mediocre" salaries supposed to do? Live in ****ty apartments for the rest of their life instead of being homeowners? That's just crazy.

...OK I'm done now.