Moving to Ponte Vedra Beach (Jacksonville, Palm Valley: 2013, condos, credit)

[pvbin2013]

We're in the process of looking for a house in the Ponte Vedra Beach area. While our focus has been on North Ponte Vedra Beach, we've found some houses we like in South PVB in the Turtle Shores neighborhood, which is roughly 3.5 miles north of Vilano Beach Town Center.

I had a few questions regarding the area I'm hoping someone can answer:

1) Traffic - we were on A1A mid-week and on the weekend this past August and there was little traffic. But we're wondering during different times of year, and more importantly, during rush hour, what is the traffic like getting into St. Augustine at 7am?

2) Marsh Bugs, Wildlife and Smell - as this community (and many on the north coast of FL) is sitting up against the marsh, we're wondering what kind of bugs and wildlife we'd encounter on a daily basis. I mean here in West Central Florida we have plenty of mosquitoes, love bugs, snakes, alligators, etc, etc....so we're not scared of that stuff, more so just wondering what we'd encounter in PVB. Also, is there a smell or stink that comes from the marsh? and if so, how bad does it get middle of summer?

3) We've read and have been told that the PVB schools are far better than the St. Augustine schools which are zoned for the Turtle Shores/South PVB area. However, I just read many reviews on Landrum Middle School that says it's not great. Does anyone have any input on this? Our children are 4 and 11.

Thanks so much!
PVBin2013

[hlauburn]

Originally Posted by pvbin2013

We're in the process of looking for a house in the Ponte Vedra Beach area. While our focus has been on North Ponte Vedra Beach, we've found some houses we like in South PVB in the Turtle Shores neighborhood, which is roughly 3.5 miles north of Vilano Beach Town Center.

I had a few questions regarding the area I'm hoping someone can answer:

1) Traffic - we were on A1A mid-week and on the weekend this past August and there was little traffic. But we're wondering during different times of year, and more importantly, during rush hour, what is the traffic like getting into St. Augustine at 7am?

2) Marsh Bugs, Wildlife and Smell - as this community (and many on the north coast of FL) is sitting up against the marsh, we're wondering what kind of bugs and wildlife we'd encounter on a daily basis. I mean here in West Central Florida we have plenty of mosquitoes, love bugs, snakes, alligators, etc, etc....so we're not scared of that stuff, more so just wondering what we'd encounter in PVB. Also, is there a smell or stink that comes from the marsh? and if so, how bad does it get middle of summer?

3) We've read and have been told that the PVB schools are far better than the St. Augustine schools which are zoned for the Turtle Shores/South PVB area. However, I just read many reviews on Landrum Middle School that says it's not great. Does anyone have any input on this? Our children are 4 and 11.

Thanks so much!
PVBin2013

I can really only speak to schools, but you are definitely much better off in PVB schools over St Augustine. As for Landrum, not sure what reviews you read (I don't really give much credit to "reviews" on sites like greatschools.com), but I have several friends with kids at Landrum and everyone is very happy with the school. No complaints! But definitely take a tour of the schools to get a good feel for them...I think you can tell a lot in just a few minutes!

[ssclulow]

Traffic on A1A coming from PV Beach into St. Augustine is always very light. At 7am in the morning, you might encounter a few school buses. Odor from the marshes is not a problem and wildlife have the State Park Preserve to hang out and cause no more problems there than anywhere else. That area is very quiet and the new Publix has made it a very desirable place to live for those who enjoy a more laid back lifestyle.
You really need to investigate the schools based upon the individual needs of your children. St. Johns County Public Schools' individual schools' regular academic programs should all be similar. There are many magnet programs throughout the county which are available to all students throughout the county. Where most people base their opinions on various schools is not necessarily on the academic program strengths, but rather on the socio-economic / ethnic / racial make-up of the student population of each indiviual school. The area I live in on Anastasia Island is zoned for St. Augustine High School. The parents I know are highly satisfied with how the school meets their expectations and they like that their students attend school with a more diversified socio-economic population of students than is found at the other high schools in the county. If you want your student to attend schools with a higher income majority population of students that more closely resembles your family, then St. Augustine High School would not meet this criteria. Check out the magnet programs at Nease and PV High. Your student could attend those if you choose South PVB neighborhoods.

[Peter the Brit]

Excellent post by Sscudlow

[madcapmagishion]

Originally Posted by Peter the Brit

Excellent post by Sscudlow

Seconded!

[JessicaJax]

Turtle Shores is a great neighborhood, but it's definitely part of St. Augustine, NOT Ponte Vedra (despite the fact that it's technically "South Ponte Vedra").

I can't imagine there would be any traffic heading into St. A at 7am. There isn't even traffic up here heading to JTB at that hour (it hits closer to 9am).

There IS a distinctive marsh smell in this area, but it's not really unpleasant -- I kind of like it because it smells like home :-) I don't think it's worse at different times of the year. I think it has more to do with the tidal schedule -- you can smell it more at low tide.

As for schools, what you'll be happy with is a very individual decision. I thought Turtle Shores was zoned for the PVB schools, but I just checked the zoning map, and I was wrong. (ftp://ftp.bocc.co.st-johns.fl.us/gis...cean_Palms.pdf)

I don't know much about the St. Augustine schools, but I can tell you that the Ponte Vedra Schools are some of the best in the state. People from all over this area move to Ponte Vedra specifically FOR the schools. So you've got a ton of involved parents who care very much about their children's education. If that's the kind of school you want, then you'd be very happy moving a little further north and going to the PVB schools.

[Jaymanbikes]

We moved to SPVB approx. 1 year ago and have been very happy with our decision. We looked in Turtle Shores but settled on Tides Edge.

1) Traffic - we were on A1A mid-week and on the weekend this past August and there was little traffic. But we're wondering during different times of year, and more importantly, during rush hour, what is the traffic like getting into St. Augustine at 7am?

Traffic is generally very light. Occasionally you can get a bit of backup over the Vilano causeway but very rare. The Vilano area is going through a transition and they are running off many of the small resturant businesses and rumour has it they are going to build condos there. It could in time stress that intersection at A1A. Bad news for the moment is that we have lost 1/2 the eateries on our side of the ICW.

2) Marsh Bugs, Wildlife and Smell - as this community (and many on the north coast of FL) is sitting up against the marsh, we're wondering what kind of bugs and wildlife we'd encounter on a daily basis. I mean here in West Central Florida we have plenty of mosquitoes, love bugs, snakes, alligators, etc, etc....so we're not scared of that stuff, more so just wondering what we'd encounter in PVB. Also, is there a smell or stink that comes from the marsh? and if so, how bad does it get middle of summer?

We do not get a swamp smell in Tides Edge, our home is closer to the beach but still only about 200-300 yards away from the marsh. We do have black snakes and occasional rattlesnakes. Bugs are no worse than anywhere else. Actually I think the ocean breeze helps with this. We get very few mesquitos but do get knats at horse flys, but not nearly as bad as I would have thought coming from TX.

3) We've read and have been told that the PVB schools are far better than the St. Augustine schools which are zoned for the Turtle Shores/South PVB area. However, I just read many reviews on Landrum Middle School that says it's not great. Does anyone have any input on this? Our children are 4 and 11.

No kids so can help you there.

I would be happy to help you out with any other information. Feel free to PM me.

Jay

[Coffeecake]

I've lived in PVB down Palm Valley Road and found the bugs not to be too bad. In fact they really aren't in any area of PVB. It must be the ocean breezes. The No-seeums can sometimes be a nuisance around dusk certain times of the year. But that's pretty much everywhere, so wear bug spray.

Landrum is an excellent middle school as are all the PVB schools. I found it interesting when the new development "Palencia" was being built south of Nocatee off of Philips Highway, the development was clearly situated in St. Augustine, no doubt about it. Particularly since they are at least 3 miles from CR 210E heading toward historic St. Augustine. Yet, because this was a higher-end, more affluent community, the developers and residents fought tooth and nail to get zoned for Neese High School (which at the time was PVB's only high school before they built PV High). The residents of Palencia didn't want to be zoned for St. Augustine High. Before moving to PVB, we checked into the schools and found St. John's County, particularly PVB schools rated the highest in the state. It is really a great community to live in. Whether you choose the public or private schools (we had chosen private), the parents are very much involved.

As far as the swampy odor, it's really not bad. You do get use to it and you probably will fairly quickly if you've already lived in Florida. It smells like Florida. I happen to like that smell.

I loved PVB, it was truly one of my most favorite places to live. Every place we've moved since then, I use PVB as my standard of comparison. None of them even come close.

I always found traffic around PVB in the morning to be fairly smooth, even heading down to PVB South at various times of the day. Only slow traffic I encountered was during the Player's Tournament Championships (not so much slow, but heavier).

[nomadichabit]

I can speak to the marsh smell. It depends on neighborhood and time of day.

I always found it to be worse in the early morning. In the some areas, it would extend through lunch. As daily afternoon thundershowers came through, much of the scent dissipated. By evening, I didn't notice it at all.

It's especially pungent at Sawgrass (mostly on the Valley Course rather the Stadium Course) and Marsh Landng (all over). There are multi-million dollar homes in both of those areas, so people must get used to it. I personally am super sensitive and would not choose to live in one of the super smelly spots. Working near there was bad enough. I loved the ocean smell; detested the marsh smell. There is a distinct difference!

The other smell to be concerned with comes from forest fires. It's not an all year thing, but summers can bring fires along I-95. For two summers it was just annoying, but one July involved ash falling on my car all the way over in Ponte Vedra. There were warnings for those with breathing problems, and my Dad ended up seeking medical treatment. I wouldn't list the fires as a reason to avoid moving to Jacksonville, though. Just be aware and plan outdoor activities accordingly.

[nomadichabit]

Oops! Just realized this was in response to a post dated 2012. Too many search tabs open. My apologies, but perhaps it's helpful for anyone concerned with the "scents" of Ponte Vedra!