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OK... so we've been looking online for the past few months and are starting to narrow down our list of suburbs.
We like Highland Park, Lake Forest, Glencoe and Northbrook... and Long Grove (although i really wanted more of a "down town," but the type of house you can get for the $$ in LG is really attractive).
Would love to hear honest opinions on what it is like to live in the above-mentioned towns. Please let me know about the kinds of people in each, what you like/don't like, are some easier to integrate into than others, community ammenities (libraries, park districts, beaches, family-friendly events, etc.).
Also, do any of the towns tend to flood more than others?
Thanks to all in advance for your thoughts and time
Quote:
Originally Posted by JenGD Hi, my family is looking to move to northern suburbs... We need to know more about them... I'd like to find a community w/ the following (in order of importance):
- good schools - a real community feel (cute downtown, lots of trees, walkability, HS football on friday nights, maybe even a 4th of july parade) - family friendly (preK kids) - easy commute to Lake Forest - well educated, down-to-earth people
Any info would be most welcome -- thanks in advance for your time
If you are serious about a "Friday Night Football" type experience there is not much of that in the Chicago region, as least not as compared to Texas , or even neighboring Indiana. That said there are all sorts of other worthy community activities.
If you have used the search tools here you probably already know there is a lot of variability in the size, age, scope of the various "down town" areas in the Chicago suburbs.
I have posted on this before.
Generally the towns that have had a Metra lines for a long time have the most "classic" traditionally developed "town center" that have a look and feel of "main stream USA". Of the towns you listed Highland Park is the most developed. It is not cheap, but then again none of the other towns you have listed are either. If you want to be close to Lake Forest you are looking at pricey real estate...
Glencoe probably the best beach ...
Northbrook has no beach, but some pretty unique Park District offerings...
Long Grove has a tourist oriented "old timey towne" that some residents love, other loathe...
I have no idea how to assess you request for "well educated, down-to-earth people". There are plenty of people that live in even expensive towns that are not what would fit into any ones definition of "well educated" -- in a similar vein there are people with not a dime to their name that have their heads in the clouds...
More concrete descriptions of what you are looking for are generally more easily answered...
I have to warn you, there are threads from not too long ago that scrolled through the trials and tribulations of relocation types looking for homes in their price range, with other features they wanted, and not much in the way of the "perfect match" -- relocation ALWAYS involves COMPROMISE (as does any normal purchase...). The particularly poster that I have in mind even did go so far to attend a few towns 4th of July Parades, only to be turned off by them...
All of your choices are pretty pricey, I'm not sure if that's part of your selection.
I'm close to Long Grove, the majority of it has a rural feel. There is the small historic artsy-type old downtown (not much in the way of nearby residential), which has several major festivals a year, but it's all shoulder-to-shoulder jostling crowds type of festivals. Kids on the east side go to Stevenson school (typically ranked in top 5 high schools of the state) in Buffalo Grove, kids on the far west go to Lake Zurich (not bad either). You can go to high-school football games if you want, the L.Zurich team went to state last year, and there is community spirit.
Other nearby towns: Buffalo Grove has extensive bike paths and a train station on the NE side. Barrington has a nice 4th of July parade every year and is on the Metra line, with a real downtown (although not extensive, just a few blocks by a few blocks) (not to be confused with South Barrington, North Barrington, etc.). Assimilation is easy if you want it to be. (I've lived in 5 states before coming here and didn't have a problem).
Flooding generally occurs within a couple blocks of the Des Plaines river or other larger river (Fox, Chicago) and occasionally local streams if you're within sight of them. Any realtor will tell you if the house is within the 100-year floodplain.
Of the suburbs you have listed, Lake Forest would definitely be my first choice. I love the beach!
Long Grove's business district is often crowded with visitors/tourists (they arrive by the bus).
All of your choices are pretty pricey, I'm not sure if that's part of your selection.
I'm close to Long Grove, the majority of it has a rural feel. There is the small historic artsy-type old downtown (not much in the way of nearby residential), which has several major festivals a year, but it's all shoulder-to-shoulder jostling crowds type of festivals. Kids on the east side go to Stevenson school (typically ranked in top 5 high schools of the state) in Buffalo Grove, kids on the far west go to Lake Zurich (not bad either). You can go to high-school football games if you want, the L.Zurich team went to state last year, and there is community spirit.
Other nearby towns: Buffalo Grove has extensive bike paths and a train station on the NE side. Barrington has a nice 4th of July parade every year and is on the Metra line, with a real downtown (although not extensive, just a few blocks by a few blocks) (not to be confused with South Barrington, North Barrington, etc.). Assimilation is easy if you want it to be. (I've lived in 5 states before coming here and didn't have a problem).
Flooding generally occurs within a couple blocks of the Des Plaines river or other larger river (Fox, Chicago) and occasionally local streams if you're within sight of them. Any realtor will tell you if the house is within the 100-year floodplain.
When did Stevenson HS move from Lincolnshire to Buffalo Grove?
Highland Park- Acess to Lake Michigan. Metra train line. Decent downtown that is walkable. May be able to walk to Ravinia Festival. From what I've seen, very walkable town with good sidewak infrastructure.
Lake Forest-Same as Highland Park except Ravinia. Not sure how walkable west part of town is.
Glencoe-Not as vibrant of a downtown as HP or LF. Smaller more compact town. Walkable with good infrastructure.
Northbrook-Good Park District(Not familiar with other 3), good public library. Very walkable if you're not too far from downtown. No public beach.
Long Grove-Poor infrastructure for walking around. Park District and Library may require more drivng & farther distances than other towns. Most rural feel from above. Make sure you compare property taxes between the towns on your list. Lake County can have higher taxes than Cook Co.
Schools: Most would argue Stevenson HS is the best, but I do not feel there is a bad district in the towns you listed. Most would categorize as above average to excellent.
Question: what prerequisites led you to your original list?
I've discussed HP in great detail over the past year or two. If you use the search feature and my screen name, you should be able to pull up many of those posts. Hopefully, that will help you.
I don't know a whole lot about Long Grove, except that you will get more for your money there, as opposed to HP, Glencoe or Lake Forest. My preference would be Glencoe, Highland Park or Lake Forest, primarily because of lake access and the natural beauty of the area, especially the ravines.
When you mention Friday night football are you talking more about community support for a team or year in year out great athletic teams? If you are more concerned about the caliber of athletics across the board, consistency in this category would be New Trier, which would put you in Glencoe. Highland Park has hit and miss years, though the last couple of years the football team has made it to the state playoffs.
I did not grow up in HP but have found many friends. At times it does seem like half the people I know grew up here though and have friends from way back. I think my main concern about HP is that there can be a feeling of entitlement among some of the residents. Though I'm not sure that is exclusive to Highland Park but is probably prevalent in most affluent areas. Generally, Highland Park is fairly progressive, there is fairly significant community involvement in government and volunteer causes. The library is fine. They have programs geared toward children of all ages. The park district offers varied programming for youth and adults, with more emphasis on youth activities. The park district has an indoor ice rink, gymnastics facility, recreation center (fitness classes, basketball courts, swimming pool, track, fitness equipment), wonderful summer camp programs, various toddler programs (with and without parents).
WRT flooding, there is a portion of Ravinia that experiences flooding (basement flooding) caused in part by inadequate storm and/or sanitary sewer capacity during heavy, heavy rains. Not all homes experience the problem (I believe 99% are in the area bounded by Clavey Road/Blackstone to the south (or a few blocks south of there, Green Bay Road to the west, and Burton Avenue to the East). Again, not all homes experience this flooding, but some do. I believe the city has plans to rip out old storm pipes and replace with much larger storm sewers in 2009. There is also an area in the north part of HP, known as "The Highlands", that also experiences some flooding. I would go to the city's website (specifically Public Works) if you want more information about it. Highland Park has a decent 4th of July parade. Pres. elect Obama marched in the parade back when he was running for the senate in 2003.
What I like about Glencoe is the fact that it's a little smaller than Highland Park and Lake Forest (and Northbrook too). They have a great beach there and good fireworks! The downtown is small but has the essentials, and it's walkable from most areas of Glencoe.
In addition to Highland Park, we looked in Wilmette, Winnetka, Kenilworth, Glencoe, Lake Forest and Lake Bluff. I would still consider any one of those towns if my children weren't already in the HP school system and we hadn't grown roots in HP.
Good luck to you. I hope you find the right place.
To all: thanks for the great info... Paige65, your input was very helpful!
I'm going to attempt to clarify for those of you who had questions regarding my previous post.
As far as high school football on friday nights... i'm looking for community support, not high caliber athletics.
Right now we live in Naperville... which is a great town w/ great ammenities, but not exactly a close-knit community.
My oldest son will be entering kindergarten and ideally i'd like to settle in a town that we can really sink roots into. It is likely that it will be the town that my children will grow up in, and i will grow old in... so of course we'd like it to be perfect and fulfill all of our hopes and dreams
All of the areas we are interested in have great schools, housing in our price range, good appreciation value, etc. So now i'm really interested in finding out about the personality of each town.
I know that all of the towns are affluent, and there will always be annoying superficial people who LIVE for the material things in life... but of the towns I listed, which are the least pretentious? least superficial? Would you say that more down-to-earth/grounded people live in one town vs. another?
Really hard to make generalizations about the highly subjective things you mention in the last part of your post -- there are no universals when it comes to "groundedness" "pretension" et cetera.
Frankly if you are looking for a more close knit community you might want to expand your search southward into Wilmette and Winnetka. There is some evidence that the communities where people live on smaller lots that are more regularly spaced tend to have more interaction with their neighbors as compared to the towns with subdivsions of big lots. {this is the basis for the "new urbanism movement in architecture / planning} You may have even experienced some that in Naperville -- homes in the older sections can command quite a premium compared to the more typically suburban sections.
Similarly if you have a somewhat flexible schedule (like say a staff physician might) you tend to be around the neighborhood much more than someone who travels 200+ days a year. The occupational profiles are helpful.
Sorry to hear you did not find Naperville cohesive, I hope that your husband is not now commuting from Naperville to Lake Forest -- that must be a killer, especially with the snow and construction.
To all: thanks for the great info... Paige65, your input was very helpful!
I'm going to attempt to clarify for those of you who had questions regarding my previous post.
As far as high school football on friday nights... i'm looking for community support, not high caliber athletics.
Right now we live in Naperville... which is a great town w/ great ammenities, but not exactly a close-knit community.
My oldest son will be entering kindergarten and ideally i'd like to settle in a town that we can really sink roots into. It is likely that it will be the town that my children will grow up in, and i will grow old in... so of course we'd like it to be perfect and fulfill all of our hopes and dreams
All of the areas we are interested in have great schools, housing in our price range, good appreciation value, etc. So now i'm really interested in finding out about the personality of each town.
I know that all of the towns are affluent, and there will always be annoying superficial people who LIVE for the material things in life... but of the towns I listed, which are the least pretentious? least superficial? Would you say that more down-to-earth/grounded people live in one town vs. another?
It's a tough decision. HP has more amenities, simply because it's a bigger town, but with that you lose a little bit of the community feel. I think in HP there's also a different community feel based on where you live, moreso than Lake Forest or Glencoe. I can't say enough good things about the Ravinia area and Ravinia school (because that's what I know best). If you care at all about walkability, it can't be beat. You can walk to the lake, Green Bay trail, Ravinia Festival, shopping, train, school, etc. People are out walking with their dogs and kids in strollers, or on their bikes going to the beach, down the trail, to the Ravinia business district, etc.
As far as community support of athletics, I think that would be found in any of the communities that you are considering.
From my experiences in the towns you mentioned, I would pick Lake Forest as the "most down-to-earth/grounded" but that's from my limited experience shopping and dining there. The one thing that is unsettling to me about HP is the bar/bat mitzvah scene, which appears to be one party more lavish than the next.
My neighbors across the street moved from Naperville about ten years ago, when their oldest child was entering Kindergarten. Although they liked Naperville, it wasn't quite what they were looking for. They are happy they made the move and have made friends in the community through their neighbors and involvement in church and school.
If you or your husband commute to downtown via train, I would choose Glencoe or the south end of Highland Park.
This is how I rank them for you based on what I think you want:
1. Lake Forest (possible con - length of commute)
2. Glencoe (con (for you, I think) New Trier High School, which you indicated in a previous post wasn't your ideal)
3. Highland Park (con - little bigger than other towns - about 30,000)
4. Long Grove (con - beyond the downtown, doesn't have the same feel as the other towns you are attracted to).
Hope this helps a little bit.
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OK... so we've been looking online for the past few months and are starting to narrow down our list of suburbs. 
