Can you tell us about: Maple Falls? Gray's Harbor? Westport? Hoequim? Granite City? Arlington Hghts? (Seattle: power lines)

[BeautifulSong]

Looking at some of these areas to move. Would like some city life but quieter; some elevation but not flood plain. Community college or university ok. How is housing costs? Do you use mainly electric or ??? so spoiled using gas; or LPG???? cost of living? public transportation like dialaride? not too many housing developments but more rural? or some property available? any suggestions? thanks.

[scirocco22]

I had to look twice at those towns you mentioned because some have names that are similar to other more prominent Washington towns.

Maple Falls is a small town east of Bellingham versus Maple Valley which is southeast of Seattle.

Arlington Heights is a small area northeast of Arlington versus the more prominant town of Arlington.

Granite City? ...do you mean Granite Falls?

And I'm sure you mean Hoquiam, correct?

[BeautifulSong]

Maple Falls near Bellingham, yes. Arlington or smaller town? Yes meant Granite Falls. Ooopss, yes, meant Hoquiam. Any smaller towns around 2,000 to 6,000 or ????? would be interesting. Granite Falls looks kind of inland but interesting and Arlington or Arlington Hgts. I'm looking through Google Earth so that's what we're using as well as Zillow. Mount Vernon looks too big???? and too much in a flood plain? or, what do you think? I have cousins in Everett, Mt. Vernon, Monroe, Chehalis (sp), Aunts in Twisp and Wenatchee. My mom grew up in Okanogan. Eastern WA too hot and inland; we're looking to be by WATER! Anyway, thanks for your comments. You are the moderator of this site, correct? Well, gotta go for the night, as 5am comes too early. More later. Again, thanks.

[scirocco22]

Personally, I'd stay away from Granite Falls. It seems to have an unusually high crime rate for such a small town and I hear it has quite a meth problem ...yeah, I know every small town has a meth problem but Granite Falls just sounds like it is more prevalent than other towns of comparable size.

The Arlington area might be what you're looking for. Parts of it are rural but yet, since it's located on the I-5 corridor, is quite busy in other areas. Any of the areas east of Bellingham might be worth looking into. Some of the smaller towns near Aberdeen/Hoquiam you might also want to take a look at.

I'm sure others will give you more specific recommendations.

[bmsea]

Originally Posted by BeautifulSong

Looking at some of these areas to move. Would like some city life but quieter; some elevation but not flood plain. Community college or university ok. How is housing costs? Do you use mainly electric or ??? so spoiled using gas; or LPG???? cost of living? public transportation like dialaride? not too many housing developments but more rural? or some property available? any suggestions? thanks.

Hi! I live in Westport, which is a beach community about 20 minutes from Aberdeen/Hoquiam, and I thought I would share what I know about Grays Harbor County. To answer your questions quickly - Grays Harbor Transit provides county wide bus service. I am not sure about dial a ride. We use electric, although I think a lot of people use propane gas and there are two major propane delivery services.

For context, I grew up in Hawaii, lived in LA, then downtown Seattle, and then moved to Westport with my husband when I learned I was pregnant (we didn't want to raise our baby in the City).

Westport is a small beach town. It's a small community, and if you like your peace and quiet, and you like the ocean, this is the place for you. Westport is home to a world class marina, a small grocery store (the Red Apple), an active Senior Center, a decent small school district for k-12, a post office, and a small library. The town comes to life during fishing season, starting in April with the Crab Festival/Crab Races, and going all summer long with various seasons for fishing and various festivals. Even on the busiest, hottest summer day, you can walk out on the beach and be only one of handful of people out there. There are some really great restaurants in town and some fun shopping down on the Marina.

Aberdeen/Hoquiam are the two cities that comprise the Grays Harbor Metro area. This area used to be home to booming fishing and timber industries, and then kind of deteriorated along the 80's and 90's.

Before I came here, I had a pretty negative view of the place, so be prepared for that, especially from the Seattle forum. But its actually a great place to live.

Housing prices are very affordable. You can rent a small home for around $500. For a little more you can actually live in Westport and live walking distance to the beach. If you are looking to buy, there are lots of large lots available - the closer to the beach, the more expensive. I have also seen some great acreage-properties along the many local rivers that are very reasonable.

Weather is slightly milder than Seattle, (with the exception of the 2 - 3 large winter storms a year - like the big wind storm that just blew 80 MPH winds ). It doesn't get quite as hot as Seattle in July and August, and it doesn't get quite as cold as Seattle in January and February. It might snow once or twice a year, but more often than not, it will not snow at all.

Shopping is a little bit of a chore. There is a Safeway and Top Foods in town, but the local mall is kind of depressing. (Except for the new theaters, which are nice). If you want anything other than groceries, walmart or building supplies, you are about 45 minutes away from the nearest Costco, Target or Macy's.

However, the pluses is that you are in a nice small community, no commute, relatively low crime (compared to the city), and you are within 30 minutes to some of the most pristine rain forests, and just a hop skip and a jump from Westport, which has 18 miles of sandy beaches. It is the most popular surf beach north of California, great for fishing, clamming and crabbing, and just a great place to spend your off days.

Other communities you might consider near here are Grayland and Tokeland (south of Westport), Ocosta (on the Bay), and Cosmopolis (outside of South Aberdeen). Elma and Montesano are the inland communities of Grays Harbor

If you want more info on Grays Harbor, let me know, I'm happy to share. Check out the local newspaper (google The Daily World Aberdeen) to look at classifieds for rentals, and local news.

I have a flickr page with photos of the area at discoveringwestport's photosets on Flickr
and a blog about life in Westport at
Discovering Westport


Good luck!

[mayfair]

One thing about Arlington Heights is a lot of power lines run across the area- big ones- just in case that concerns you. It's a beautiful area and parts are semi-rural. Many homes have mountain views.

[cindyloohoo5]

Granite Falls has gotten a bad rap. A few years ago it had a very troubled meth problem, and got lots of media attention for it. The press has failed to follow up and let people know what has been done to change this. The school district just won 2007 Science to Service Award for commited reduction of drug use and drug education. We also have to 2007 NATIONAL Teacher of the year, 2008 State MS Principal of the Year, and in 2006 the State Baseball champs. They are oening a new high school in one month. 4 teachers just recieved national certification.

Granite Falls is a small town and the residents here are very friendly and welcoming. It is expanding with lots of new housing, but nothing compared to Marysville, or Lake Stevens etc. I have lived here for less than a year, and I have never felt like an outsider. I am not scared to let my children run through our neighborhood. I know there is public transportation but I don't know the details. We used electic and LP. Our house was new when be bought it for under 300,000. Hope this helps!

[aussiegal]

Originally Posted by BeautifulSong

Looking at some of these areas to move. Would like some city life but quieter; some elevation but not flood plain. Community college or university ok. How is housing costs? Do you use mainly electric or ??? so spoiled using gas; or LPG???? cost of living? public transportation like dialaride? not too many housing developments but more rural? or some property available? any suggestions? thanks.

I actually work in a radius out of Arlington so I'm more than familiar with the surrounding towns. Actually, Arlington Heights is just an area of Arlington. It doesn't have shops, it's just residential. And yes, there are high power lines going through a small part of it, but it's really quite a large area and if you didn't know where they were, you might never see them.

Granite Falls I feel gets a bad deal with a label that the locals are so zealously trying to cure. It used to have a meth problem but the authorities I believe are working hard to locate any meth houses that might still exist. (I don't personally know of any even though I've done quite a bit of business in Granite and travelled around the area a lot.) If they still exist, they're probably off the beaten path. My clients seem to love it there.

And the school district works hard to provide quality education for the kids. As another member posted, the teacher of the year comes from Granite Falls. That says something about the town and the schools. They are hiring quality teachers.

You asked about electricity vs gas. If you want a rural setting, then you would not have natural gas available, but you could get propane.

Cost of living? Depends on where you're coming from as to whether you would find it expensive or not. We moved from Wisconsin originally and found it to be very expensive in comparison.

Commuter vans are available in Arlington but I'm not sure about Granite Falls or more rural areas like that.

I'm not sure that your desire for a community college and/or university and rural town 2,000 to 6,000 and near water will come together for you. What might work is Camano Island. It is near water, although vacant land in the north tends to be pricey and you'd have to go to the south of the island to find land with a view that would be more affordable. That makes it way off the freeway but maybe that's OK?

As for Mount Vernon, yep, west of the freeway is in the flood plain (and perhaps a bit east as well) but a lot of it is high and well out of any prospect of flooding. It is a community college town and it does have lots of name brand shops, and there are more rural parts and affordable housing.

It all depends on what you want and can afford wherever you eventually put down roots. Hope this helps.

[matizaaa]

There is lots of rednecks and hicks. high amount of drug usage and they are well known with their easy girls.
I attended school there for a semester, it is a different world. Drugs, mostly meth is everywhere. The education level is very low. If you would like to raise a family that is not really aware of the world it is a good place to move. I know many people from Granite falls who are scared to travel to seattle even going to everett is a big thing for them.
I don't know about your family values and ethics but if you want to raise your daughters with certain values you might consider not moving there. I have never had to take anybody on a date.
there is lots of trails to hike but sometimes you do find things that you might have to give a long report to police.
Anyways thats granite falls (wa) life, I hope this helps. I still am in contact with some people from granite falls and if i were to want a calm nice family life I'd never. move there.
People are very nice yet seeing a father using drugs infront of his whole family even the little kids is not my preference of a life.