[Mediamedusa]

We are looking to move our family to a community within 20-30 minutes from Burlington. We've been up there exploring many times and have some of our own ideas about the communities. However, I was wondering if you all had some feedback on the differences in the character of each of the communities below so we can see if our perceptions are on track or not?

What are the main characteristics of the people/sensibilities/priorities of the communities of Williston, Shelburne, Hinesburg, Charlotte, Jericho, and/or Richmond?

We are very down-to-earth professionals who work online, and we are trying to avoid the suburban-type lifestyle and find a place that meshes with our sensibilities about gardening, land conservation, alternative energy etc. It seems like most of the area meshes with what we are looking for out of a place to raise our family (except for the lack of different ethnicities and races, but we can visit friends in NYC for that). nevertheless, I'm sure there's some differences in character between, say, Williston and Charlotte.

We are, of course, interested in knowing more about the schools as well since we have kids in grade school.

I've been reading some of the comments on here, but more are always fun to have, so any feedback is greatly appreciated!

[Vermonr]

I think that you'll find your sensibilities jive very well with what other Vermonters and transplants here feel. A large emphasis on homesteading, self reliability, gardening, etc. Pretty much any of those towns would work for you. Here are my personal thoughts on each of them. Other people may disagree, or be able to weigh in with more detail:

Williston- Big box stores, becoming more suburban every day, there is a cute downtown with village-style houses but very few small shops. Almost entirely transplants, close to walking paths but not a lot of "Vermonty" nature until you get out of town.
Shelburne- Again very village-like, with some small shops in the center of town. Mostly affluent, some hiking, close to Shelburne Farms. Most town-feeling of the bunch.
Hinesburg- much more rural and spread out. Seems to have a newish suburban downtown forming on route 116. Lower-middle class, more space for land/gardening but long commute to anything "fun". More outdoorsy.
Charlotte- mostly farmland, flat and open with access to Lake Champlain. Very affluent and expensive to live here, good place for buying land and starting a hobby farm. Downtown consists of beautiful houses and one single store.
Jericho- cute small downtown with a handful of shops (including a great ice cream/summer food place). Forested and ability to have multi-use land with fields/trails. Commute to Burlington is a pain in the neck. Mostly middle class, mix of Vermonters and transplants.
Richmond- my personal favorite of the lot, small but active downtown with walking/hiking trails. Great sense of community and mix of young families, transplants, and old time locals. Mostly lower-middle class. Ability to have some land if you go out of town a bit.

[Sierrajeff]

If you need to get in & out of Burlington proper, traffic's horrible in Williston, Shelburne, South Burlington. It was not uncommon for it to take 25 minutes for me to go from Church Street in BTV to Patchen Road in South Burlington. The all-time worst was 45 minutes. (Yes, in a car.)

In an ideal world, there would be another E/W access route across 89, and another N/S access route from the south. The proposed interchange at Hinesburg road would also be a huge help. (But don't get me wrong, I don't expect that any of those will happen any time in the next couple of decades.)

[Mediamedusa]

Thanks Vermonr. We're looking at some places in Richmond this weekend. How long is the commute to Burlington from Richmond if we needed to do that? Also, where do folks in Richmond go for groceries? Essex?

[Mediamedusa]

SierraJeff--is Spear street a viable alternative to the 7 getting to say, UVM from Shelburne or Charlotte?

[Oriz]

Originally Posted by Mediamedusa

SierraJeff--is Spear street a viable alternative to the 7 getting to say, UVM from Shelburne or Charlotte?

I'm not SierraJeff but I actually do that quite often.

[Sierrajeff]

Originally Posted by Mediamedusa

SierraJeff--is Spear street a viable alternative to the 7 getting to say, UVM from Shelburne or Charlotte?

I think the answer is a helpful "it depends". Spear has a lower speed limit and intermittent stop signs, which could slow you down as compared to traffic on 7 *if* traffic on 7 is flowing. But it might nevertheless be less stressful than 7, and wheter a local trip or a cross-country journey, I've often found that slower but less stressful is preferable to fast and anxiety-inducing.

As to specifics - at the north end you still wind up at Main Street, which is a real bottleneck, unless you wend your way through residential streets (with slower speeds and stop signs and such). Also, there's no Spear interchange with I-189, so it's not necessarily helpful if coming from the east and wanting to go south.

I think for much of BTV-area traffic, part of the stress for me was just the unknown aspects to it - from day to day you never know if Main Street is going to flow smootly, or if it's going to be a parking lot. So as I note above, you might take Spear Street to avoid traffic on 7, only to find that you're behind a school bus on Spear but 7 happens to actually be flowing. Maybe "nowadays" with Google Maps' traffic feature you can at least know in advance, and that can help you decide whether to take an alternative but slower route, or stay in the office an extra hour, etc.

[Oriz]

Normally I only take spear st instead of rt 7 between 4 to 6 pm when 7 is horrid, there's no doubt that even in lower speeds you would make it there faster. Other times I don't mind 7. Same with main st...most of the day not too bad, during rush hour I take maple st.

[Sierrajeff]

Originally Posted by Oriz

Normally I only take spear st instead of rt 7 between 4 to 6 pm when 7 is horrid, there's no doubt that even in lower speeds you would make it there faster. Other times I don't mind 7. Same with main st...most of the day not too bad, during rush hour I take maple st.

Ha, your comment recallled to me the specific machinations I figured out to get around some of the 4-way stops and other bottlenecks, coming from the north side of Church - go east on Pearl, then R on Hungerford, then L on College, then R on Prospect to Main... but then regardless, you're stuck on Main to get across 89...

[Oriz]

From the point on Main by Prospect on to 89 northbound I find that it doesn't take too awful long - I can normally do it in under 2 minutes. Probably cause I take the left lane right up until I'm by the freeway and then I always find my way in. Gotta cheat when ya gotta cheat.

southbound is even easier being you have an empty lane that starts before the turn onto spear.