Relocating to Pasco County? (Tampa, Clearwater: homes, job market, schools) - Tampa - St. Petersburg - Clearwater - City-Data Forum

sunnymom3 · 01-27-2011, 07:13 AM

I have been reading lots of threads, but not all...there are so many that I'm overwhelmed!

Here's my situation...I am from New Jersey, relocated to Cincinnati, OH in 1994. From there moved to Louisville, KY when my husbands job relocated him. We then headed to North Georgia with the same job in 2006 in an attempt to get closer to family in North Carolina & Florida...sandwich ourselves in the middle. My mom lives in Florida...Hobe Sound, east cost north of West Palm Beach, the inlaws live in North Carolina.

We love Florida...tired of the cold and snow. My husband loves to fish and go boating. We have 3 children...8, 10 & 13 - so schools are very important.

Where we live in Georgia is pretty rural, but very nice. We recently headed down to the Tampa area to check it out and landed in Wesley Chapel, Land O Lakes, Odessa & Trinity. The area seems nice, but more rural than what we're used to. The low taxes and what I hear of the schools has lead us to Pasco County. We like the idea of being close to the beach, but that area is not that close? We headed to Clearwater from Trinity and took 54 to 19...it was a long drive and not a very scenic drive. It seemed a little trashy and run down. It made us kind of start to second guess our decision to move.

I'd love someone to help me sort through the area and tell me why it's a great place to live. We "think" we want to live there, but need some wise words to reinforce that decision!

Any help you could give would be much appreciated...please be brutally honest!

Thanks!

ferret111 · 01-27-2011, 08:17 AM

19 won't give you a good picture of the area, since it's one of the busiest roads in the area and portions of the Pasco section can be described as suburban blight. Those four areas you mentioned are all pretty nice and none of them are really near 19. The schools in that area are supposed to be good, as well. You say you want to be near the beach--which is fine--but with three kids and work and stuff, it's not like you're going to go over there on a Tuesday evening. Those four areas aren't near the beach, but they're not terribly far either, probably no more than an hour or so, though I can't give a real estimate since I've never driven to the beach from there before.

sunnymom3 · 01-27-2011, 08:42 AM

Thank you for your replay. An hour from the beach is not bad...alot closer than I am now!

Of course, not being from the area, I don't understand why there are so many that have such negative things to say about Tampa? Can you shed some light? Are there any areas better than those that I menitoned?

Thanks again!

ferret111 · 01-27-2011, 08:48 AM

There are a bunch of reasons why people rip on Tampa. Some come on vacation and think life will be that way, others live in remote suburbs and complain about sprawl, others don't realize that it gets hot and humid for months on end, others simply just don't like the area.

The four areas that you mentioned are (from what I understand) very family-oriented suburbs. Wesley Chapel, for one, exploded in size during the first decade of the 2000s. I would never live up there because I don't really care for the suburbs or for being so far away, but I can see why/how a family would appreciate that area.

sunnymom3 · 01-27-2011, 08:59 AM

How is the job market? Are a lot of businesses banging up?

CHASLS2 · 01-27-2011, 04:12 PM

Just stay away from west Pasco as it is very bad.

PA2FL · 01-27-2011, 06:06 PM

Not all of west pasco is bad. Trinity, parts of NPR (34655 zip) and Odessa areas are nice, clean and from what I see the homes are well maintained.

As far as beaches go Fred Howard park is around 20 to 25 minutes away from Trinity. Honeymoon island is were we usually go in Dunedin and it takes me about 30 minutes to get there. I avoid route 19 and take route 611 which parallels 19 for the most part. It has a lot less lights and less congested.

CHASLS2 · 01-27-2011, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PA2FL

Not all of west pasco is bad. Trinity, parts of NPR (34655 zip) and Odessa areas are nice, clean and from what I see the homes are well maintained.

As far as beaches go Fred Howard park is around 20 to 25 minutes away from Trinity. Honeymoon island is were we usually go in Dunedin and it takes me about 30 minutes to get there. I avoid route 19 and take route 611 which parallels 19 for the most part. It has a lot less lights and less congested.

I don't call Trinity west Pasco or Odessa. I mean west of US19 or just east of US19.

ferret111 · 01-28-2011, 01:51 AM

Yeah, I've always considered the 19 corridor to be West Pasco.

Gatornation · 01-28-2011, 06:56 AM

If you stay in the Trinity area or go East on 54 from there you are in a nice area. That being said you should take a drive up US19 and Little road from 52 to 54 to get an idea of the rest of the area. It's mostly not pretty.