Burlington neighborhoods? (homes, price, family)

[quickdraw]

I live in Williston and can understand your concern. It was my concern too. As a matter of fact, when we started looking around, it was the one town I thought I wouldn't live in. But Williston is very well zoned. Taft corners is a very small part of Williston, and even though there are a lot of stores, most of them are off the main road. It's designed pretty well.

If much of your ride was on RT 7, RT 2, and around Taft Corners I can see why you'd come away with this opinion. However most of the area isn't like that. When you come back let me know and I'll suggest a few rides around Williston. Much of it is very rural and very beautiful. I love being near the city of Burlington, and boy did you pick a day to visit. I love my house and my lot. It's perfect for us. I've never been as happy anywhere.

But do I love the Burlington area? Not really. The towns just don't really have much of an identity, although there are places in many towns that I'd like to live in. When people ask me what the nice towns are around here, I say "none really". If you asked me this in any other town I've lived in, I would have been able to name several towns. I lived in Lenox, Massachusetts, and almost all of the towns in Berkshire county had nice downtown areas with main streets. Did you see downtown Richmond? That's really the only village I'd think about living, even though it's pretty tiny.

For what it's worth, I wrote a summary of my 4 years in the Burlington area. It dealt with my initial disappointment and then the love for it (at least our place).

My escape to Burlington area- 4 years later

[vter]

Route 7 and Route 2 were the main highways in the Burlington area prior to the mid-60s when I-89 was built. Thats why you see a lot of commercial development along these routes.

You were right near "downtown" Shelburne by the elementary school. You would have seen the Shelburne Village Store, the Shelburne Inn building, a Mobil gas station. If you went to the elementary school and then turned around and went back toward Shelburne Farms, you missed it.

Come on up again and check out some other town. Check out Hinesburg, Jericho/Underhill, and Richmond. Essex Junction would be a possibility too.

The Burlington area has become a very popular place to live hence the development pressures. Towns do the best they can to try and "control" what they can through zoning. Both Williston & South Burlington's regs make it a point that all new subdivisions have what is called "common land" that is not developed and also have certain areas of town set aside for conservation.

[Pkimball]

I personally like Hinesburg, it is a quick trip down Rt 116 to South Burlington or you can catch Rt2 A to Williston only 8 miles away. There is some new developement in Hinesburg, small community good school, local grocery and hardware store a couple of good resturants and gas stations. My son is graduating high school in June and he liked the school system.

I work on Shelburne rd which can be busy at times, but it easy to get here and home within 30 minutes and there are lots of alternative routes.

I would suggest finding a local real estate agent who can help with the types of locations you are looking for in your price range. Good Luck.

[rem31708]

Thanks Quickdraw. Because we were on a busy quick trip with kids (we saw 4 houses, then had to ride bikes for 4 miles on the waterfront, then eat dinner and go home - you are right, perfect day, and every time I've been to Burlington it's been like that - maybe luck?) ....we didnt get to explore back roads except in Colchester and Shelburne. I will try Wiliston next time. Everyone said go see richmond but we drove down Rt 2 at like 8:30 when it was almost dark and saw some really run down homes along there, and a small street that might have been downtown - apparently we must have missed the good part of town everyone mentions.

We live in the Dartmouth region now. We live on a very private lot and are 25 min from work which has mainly been at DHMC (medical center here). My son has asthma so I'd like to be closer to an ER than 25 min as we are here. Also both of us would work at the hospital (my husband every day, me working from home and going there for meetings at times). So it wouldnt make much sense to move just to be 25 or 30 min out, as we have that situation here. What I did hope for my small kids was to find a neighborhood where they could have flat paved roads to ride bikes to friends homes, etc....here its totally rural, we have to drive to playdates, and pretty far. But we are so used to privacy that I cant handle having a house on 1/3 acre with 5 houses facing it from all sides.

I guess the situation we're looking for may not exist in that area....(small town, central village with schools, stores etc -neighborhood with other homes nearby but still a private lot--less than 5 min from medical center)...I know places in Central Massachusetts where it exists. It exists in Norwich Vermont right next to us but we cannot afford to move there and I have some issues with the way that town is changing.. maybe we'll end up somewhere else in New England. We will always visit Burlington...but I will go and read your essay now and maybe become inspired!!

Thanks!!

Robyn

[rem31708]

OOPs - I meant 15 min not 5 min!!
Correction to my message above (typo, sorry): I meant less than 15 min to medical center, in the event of my son having an asthma attack requiring us to go the the ER. Not less than 5 min :-)

[rem31708]

Thanks again Vter. I did really like Shelburne, wish I could just erase that Rt 7...

Because (as I wrote above to quickdraw) we already live in a nice town 25 minutes from employment, medical center etc - it wouldn't seem to make sense just to move across (or north in) Vermont to get the same thing. I hoped to find a nice small town slightly closer to employment, which for us would need to be a larger medical center. My husband is starting a new career as an RN (he has worked 2 years as an LPN after being an engineer for 20+ years before)...and the larger medical centers are the best place for that career - that means Fletcher Allen or DHMC (where we are now).

But we need to come up and check out Williston.

OK, everyone mentions Richmond, and all we saw on RT 2 were many run down homes. It looked like an older town, like Bethel, etc. (And this was late at night, almost dark, we were tired, kids tired, so didn't give it much time!) Where was the nice center of town?? In any case, that would be too close to the situaton we have now - pretty town, rural, etc.

Robyn

[rem31708]

Pkimball,

Thanks also. I have spoken with a realtor who showed us the homes the other day, but she seemed shocked that we thought some of them had small lots. I am not used to seeing 6-10 neighbors homes from my front door (Note: we live on 2 acres - but our neighbors have 50 acres, 20 acres, 10 acres, so we have almost total privacy. I'd be willing to have an acre lot if it had some trees or backed into the woods or some buffer from neighbors. Maybe i just have to get used to it).

She said "well this is basically what you have here" meaning small lots, apparently to get land for a private lot is beyond our price range. For 300-400K homes, most had something fairly undesirable - right next to a shopping center, or something weird in a neighbor home or neighborhood, (such as next door to a trailer park, rent-by-the day motel) or right off Rt 7, next to train tracks, etc.

I have not yet given up. :-) Next trip I'll try to come alone on a weekday without kids and really poke around and see what you can see beyond the main roads. I would never have imagined what a gorgeous neighborhood, for example, lurked right off Rt 7 as in the Shelburne Farms area.

Robyn

[vter]

Get a good map of Greater Burlington. There are plenty of ways to avoid Route 7! Dorset Street & Spear Street come to mind.
It's too bad Bristol is 45 minuntes to Burlington (Middlebury is about 15 minutes where there is a small hospital). It sounds just like what you are looking for.
Also - Hinesburg. Hinesburg. Hinesburg.

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by rem31708

and saw some really run down homes along there,

Ah yes. I remember my first visit here, this was included in my longwinded message. I was surprised how many people here just don't keep up their homes. I've not seen it before. I understand a lot of people don't have much money, but I think everyone can afford a few cans of paint and an afternoon to pick up the crap in the yard.

I'm not putting down the area, because I love it here. But if you are looking for a nice village with a functioning downtown, I wouldn't bother-believe me I did plenty of legwork for you. Williston, Hinesburg, Charlotte, Shelburne etc. You can find plenty of beautiful lots with great views that provide a wonderful life. But Norwich or Hanover types. Not even close. You won't even find a Harwick out here.

I'm sure you saw downtown Richmond. It's nothing special, but it does have a downtown with stores you can use. I like it actually, but it's not the typical small New England town you can find in just about every other region but here. It looks like Essex Junction may have been like this once, but they can't retain stores and there is a lot of traffic through that area anyway. It just seems that not that long ago there was the city of Burlington and a lot of farm area. I don't think there was ever a lot of money in this area.

If my wife and I wanted to live in a small village with a functioning small town, we wouldn't be living around here. Just my humble opinion. Good luck in your search.

[rem31708]

Thanks all.

Quickdraw, I read your longer post with interest...I agree with so many of the things you said. Having moved to the dartmouth region of VT from central massachusetts, I did not experience the same culture shock- but yes, we were stunned by the expense of homes in winter, and the flies, but also by the beauty of sitting on your porch on a summer evening! And I cracked up about your comments about painting and picking up junk in the yard. I enjoy painting and have painted our home about 4 times in 10 years... it really is pretty easy if you take a few summer afternoons. Currently I am picking up all the junk in the yard that melts out of the snow each spring!

We already have a nice private home in a safe area within commuting distance of a good medical center, but because we have small kids, wanted to move closer to a town center. Norwich is not an option financially or socially. Maybe we'll come back and check out Middlebury (I thought it was very far from Burlington). Maybe we'll go back and look in Central Massachusetts. Vter, I will get a good map and make one more trip, and thanks...

If we don't move, we can always do as we always have done, drive to Burlington for the day on a wonderful sunny summer day. And have dinner - we once did a blues cruise on the harbor - I have seen wonderful concerts at the Flynn - nothing much is better than any of these with a view over the water on a summer day or night :-)

Robyn