Best fun family neighborhood near NASA/Langley (Chesapeake, Jefferson: cliquey, insurance)

[desertgirl2015]

Looking for advice regarding social neighborhoods in close proximity to NASA/Langley. We are relocating from the Midwest and hope to find a great place to raise our two elementary age kids. I know that we want to be in the Yorktown or Poquoson school districts. We promised our kids that we would try to find a neighborhood that had a lot of kids and hopefully a pool. I am looking for someplace that has a good social atmosphere in the neighborhood with events, book club, etc. We are looking to stay under $600K if possible.

Thanks!

[The Dissenter]

I would check into any of the subdivisions off Rt. 134 just over the York Co. line. The schools are great and plenty of kids around. I particularly lived in Yorkshire Downs for years and it has a lot to it.

[Poquoson7]

Check out Running Man, it's on the border of York County and Poquoson, lot of NASA /Jefferson Lab/Langley people.
There are quite a few upscale subdivisions off RT. 17 in York County but the road is being widened over the next few years to handle the increased traffic so that will be a pain for awhile.
There are several very nice subdivisions in Poquoson and a great many of them have waterfront properties on the Chesapeake Bay and it's tributaries and marshes.
The school districts of York County/Poquoson are some of the best in the state if not the country.
The Peninsula area also has one of the highest per capita number of engineers and scientists in the country.
It's really a very nice place to raise your children and call home.

[UHgrad]

Kiln Creek (York County Side) and Coventry are both good neighborhoods for raising families, seem to meet your criteria, and reasonably close to LaRC.

Poquoson would certainly be the shortest commute to LaRC and is good on paper but I've found it to be hit or miss with people... they either love it or hate it due to the small town feel (can be cliquey), isolation (15min to anything), constant flooding issues, and tremendous lack of racial/ethnic diversity. Not sure if those things matter to you but something to consider. I would also be very hesitant to buy a house in Poquoson on a 30 year mortgage given uncertainties in flood insurance these days. You need to be aware of your flood zone anywhere around here.

If it were me I'd live in Kiln Creek. It is serviced by good schools and is close to Oyster Point City Center, the interstate, and other major shopping. It has a nice community center and pool, parks, jogging path, and sits on a golf course. Plus I heard they are building a new safeway marketplace across the street which will be really convenient. I know multiple people that work at LaRC and have kids who live over there and like it a lot.

[desertgirl2015]

Thank you so much. I was concerned about Poquoson due to flooding issues, but also due to there only really being one elementary, middle and HS, especially when they are so small. I hadn't thought of Grafton area as I heard Tabb and Poquoson were the HS's that we should be looking at. I will definitely add that area to our list when we visit. Thank you so much for replying!

We definitely have Running Man on our radar. Unfortunately there aren't many houses on the market. And it definitely will take some getting used to not being able to have a basement!

Thank you again, everyone!