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PLEASE take my advice: DO NOT under any circumstances buy ANY home in Charlotte or Mecklenburg County. You will thank me later. Concord, Union County, Fort Mill, but NOT Charlotte. Fort Mill is a great area, and if you have children, the schools are top notch (some schools do have an enrollment freeze, but it doesn't apply if your kids are starting in kindergarten). Stay out of Winget Pond and the SW Charlotte area. TOO MUCH crime and the property taxes keep going up (they are already high). Check www.crimeincharlotte.com for more info. Charlotte schools are a mess all the way around. Do you really want to pay exorbitant taxes for a sub-par school system where kids bring guns to school even in elementary school? There isn't too much recreation to do at any of the lakes around here unless you have a boat and live on them.
If you look in Fort Mill, double check that advice about the enrollment freezes not applying to new kindergartners. We just moved to Fort Mill from Charlotte and have jumped through quite a few hoops to beat the enrollment freeze. I was told that it applied to everyone - that only children already registered at Orchard Park or Gold Hill will be allowed to attend those schools next year. After today (last day of school in Fort Mill), all new registrants must register at Riverview. Riverview is an outstanding elementary school, so there's nothing to fear in sending your kids there (we went to so much trouble because I really wanted my kids to go to school with the other kids in the area, not because we didn't like Riverview).
BTW, there is a range of opinions about Charlotte in general. Be open to many different viewpoints because one person's experience is quite different from another's. We loved everything except the traffic. Including the public school my DD went to.
You're doing the right thing - reach out, research, and make your own decisions. Best of luck!
I wasn't sure what the specifics were on the enrollment. Thanks for the clarification. My main issue with SW Charlotte was the crime and the lack of enough police to do anything about it. I lived in a decent area, but the crime and gang activity just got to be too much. I do like alot about Charlotte like the Checkers, the theatre, even the new arena, a lot of the restauarants, museums, etc but I am close enough that I can still enjoy them.
Thanks for the advice. Do you like your decision to move a bit away from the city? We are going to be in the area next week. Have you heard anything about the developments, Dominion Bridge, or Glen Laurel?? We are also looking at Lake Wylie Autumn Cove but there are so many different opionions, I dont want to make a mistake.
Quote:
Originally Posted by megassel
If you look in Fort Mill, double check that advice about the enrollment freezes not applying to new kindergartners. We just moved to Fort Mill from Charlotte and have jumped through quite a few hoops to beat the enrollment freeze. I was told that it applied to everyone - that only children already registered at Orchard Park or Gold Hill will be allowed to attend those schools next year. After today (last day of school in Fort Mill), all new registrants must register at Riverview. Riverview is an outstanding elementary school, so there's nothing to fear in sending your kids there (we went to so much trouble because I really wanted my kids to go to school with the other kids in the area, not because we didn't like Riverview).
BTW, there is a range of opinions about Charlotte in general. Be open to many different viewpoints because one person's experience is quite different from another's. We loved everything except the traffic. Including the public school my DD went to.
You're doing the right thing - reach out, research, and make your own decisions. Best of luck!
Glen Laurel is in Indian Land, Lancaster Co. and only about a mile from Ballantyne. No enrollment freeze there. Dominion Bridge is in York Co.--I believe the school is Fort Mill Elementary/Middle and Nations Ford High. No enrollment freezes at any of those schools. Both are Ryan Communities and have the same models and basically the same prices. Glen Laurel would be more convenient to Charlotte.
Glen Laurel is in Indian Land, Lancaster Co. and only about a mile from Ballantyne. No enrollment freeze there. Dominion Bridge is in York Co.--I believe the school is Fort Mill Elementary/Middle and Nations Ford High. No enrollment freezes at any of those schools. Both are Ryan Communities and have the same models and basically the same prices. Glen Laurel would be more convenient to Charlotte.
Depends on what part of Charlotte. The home we are buying in Ft. Mill not far from Dominion Bridge is more convenient to where I work than the Indian Land area. The traffic on I-485 also has to be taken into consideration.
If you look in Fort Mill, double check that advice about the enrollment freezes not applying to new kindergartners. We just moved to Fort Mill from Charlotte and have jumped through quite a few hoops to beat the enrollment freeze. I was told that it applied to everyone - that only children already registered at Orchard Park or Gold Hill will be allowed to attend those schools next year. After today (last day of school in Fort Mill), all new registrants must register at Riverview. Riverview is an outstanding elementary school, so there's nothing to fear in sending your kids there (we went to so much trouble because I really wanted my kids to go to school with the other kids in the area, not because we didn't like Riverview).
BTW, there is a range of opinions about Charlotte in general. Be open to many different viewpoints because one person's experience is quite different from another's. We loved everything except the traffic. Including the public school my DD went to.
You're doing the right thing - reach out, research, and make your own decisions. Best of luck!
Megassel,
I am curious how you were able to go around the enrollment freeze at Orchard. We will be moving to Fort Mill this fall and would love my son to attend Orchard for the same reasons as you. Please advise.
I am curious how you were able to go around the enrollment freeze at Orchard. We will be moving to Fort Mill this fall and would love my son to attend Orchard for the same reasons as you. Please advise.
I hope you don't mind that I responded Megassel ....Ducky55, in fact it was Gold Hill Elementary (enrollment was frozen as of May 25th, 2007)
Don't mind at all, loves! Yes, it was Gold Hill and we didn't get around the freeze at all. We moved down to an apartment in the school district and had DD finish first grade here. We're building a house in Tega Cay, and when we learned about the freeze we were very freaked out (three years of plans looked to be veering off track). I talked to the Gold Hill office at length about options and despite owning the land and being more than 1/2 complete, they said there was absolutely no way they could let me register unless I had a certificate of occupancy, a deed to a house, or a lease on an apartment. So, we moved down at the beginning of April. We readied our old house, put a sign up on 5/8 and sold it 5/13 - it's a hot market up there! We are closing on May 31.
I will tell you that there was an interesting note in the school district's last newsletter re: the OPES freeze. They have about 50 free seats for next year, and they're identifying kids who live in the zone but are registered at Riverview along with the order in which they moved into the OPES attendance area. They will be given the option of transferring to OPES. Aside from that, for either OPES or GHES if you don't already live in the attendence area, you're out of luck for next year.
Lcashman21,
We are pleased with our decision. My commute is faster from here, although with all the development I think in 5 years it'll be just as bad from here as it is from South Charlotte. and I'm finding it very amusing that I can reach many parts of Charlotte faster from here than I could from the old house. It's just tough to get around S. Charlotte these days with all the traffic. I do miss some things about Charlotte - it's a great city. But so are Fort Mill and Tega Cay, and I think we'll take advantage of more down there. It's just a more relaxed lifestyle.
Sorry that I don't know anything about those developments. DH is a builder so he's building our house himself. lukepoke on these boards lives in a Lake Wylie community that looks like loads of fun - mysunsetpoint.com. I've never been there but from the site he links to, it looks like a great place.
Good luck! Do you have to make a decision and start building before you actually move here or would you consider a spec home in a new development? I ask because if you'd consider a spec and you'd just need a few weeks to decide, there is a corporate apartment-type rental above the Six Pence Pub in Baxter Village, in Fort Mill. I think that would be a really fun place to have a short stay.
We will be renting for part of the summer since our house will not be ready until the end of Sept. I did not know about the 50 open slots, but maybe we could rent some space within Baxter until our house is ready. But then again I have heard that Riverveiw is an exceptional school, and there will be other children in our area attending there also. I guess there really isn't a down side to this, but more or less convenience.
All of the schools in Fort Mill are the best in the Charlotte area. While there are a few individual schools in Charlotte-Meck that are great, it can't be doing them any favors that the rest of the school district is falling apart. so even if you move into an area of fort mill that does have an enrollment freeze, the school will still be great. Also as someone else has mentioned, seats did open up. My neighbor who has a second grader that had to go to Riverview this year, will be going to Orchard park next year.
It takes less time for me to get to Ballentyne, Uptown Charlotte, Ayersley area, etc. than it does for many people that actually live in charlotte.
Taxes are lower, gas is cheaper (on average by about $.20) and at least in York County, the roads are better and the public services are much better than in Mecklenburg county.
And yes, you can swim in Lake Wylie. It is not crystal clear Caribbean type waters but my son went swimming in the lake just yesterday!
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....Ducky55, in fact it was Gold Hill Elementary (enrollment was frozen as of May 25th, 2007)
