where to live in Hershey with teen and tween (Harrisburg: real estate, assessor)

[gottogo]

We are moving to this area and are pretty sure we want to live in Hershey(was also considering Camp Hill or Mechanicsburg), but dont know where families with similar aged kids live? We love the area between cocoa and Chocolate avenues, but were told mostly older people live here. Any advice would be so welcome

[ki0eh]

In-town Hershey has quite a real estate premium, made up for a little bit with lower taxes courtesy of the out-of-town assessor who did the county last time. And it would generally be true that the houses on, say, Areba or Maple Aves tend not to churn over as fast despite walking proximity to the schools. One worry about in-town is sinkholes - they're not just in Palmyra, the sinkhole-prone geology extends into Hershey too.

The newer developments (in this case, meaning newer than 1950's) south of US 322 tend to have more families with kids with greater turnover. Many of these areas would be in Derry Twp/Hershey schools but have a Hummelstown mailing address. These have not as high but still some real estate premium vs. adjacent areas in Lower Dauphin and Palmyra schools. Note that it is possible to have a Hershey mailing address and be in LD schools, most notably in the Village of Union Deposit.

[gottogo]

sinkholes...Wow I had no idea!!! really makes me think...Thank you so much. Would it stretch to Camp hill and I wonder why are houses much cheaper in Camp Hill?

[ki0eh]

The sinkhole zone extends far southwesterly and northeasterly in the Great Appalachian Valley, like to Tennessee and New Jersey, see Pennsylvania Geological Survey: Sinkholes for PA, but the zone is variable in width - it's wider around Palmyra but still present across the river in parts of Harrisburg and Camp Hill. In Hershey if you are a bit north of US 422, or a bit south of US 322, up on the hills you are probably out of the sinkhole zone.

I think there is a greater supply of smaller detached houses in Camp Hill than there is in Hershey - apart from a few semi-detached units right in the central Hershey area most homes in Hershey are bigger and on bigger lots than many in Camp Hill Borough. Also the traffic in parts of Camp Hill is a big negative if some of the houses you are looking at are on the so-called "bypass". Camp Hill postal address carries over somewhat into 4 other school districts

[gottogo]

Thank you so much - this is great info and will help us a lot. we are still not sure what we will chose, but will drive over and explore soon and will check out both Hershey and Camp Hill schools.