Orange Park, FL - Or other areas good near Jacksonville (Plantation: oceanfront, houses)

[leo_075]

Is this considered a bad area? We are moving to hopefully the St. Aug area, but would consider the outskirts of Jax. Can anyone tell me where a good place to raise a family around there would be?

[titaniummd]

OP, FL is a good area (Fleming Island has a lot of communities for the family - as well as Eagle Landing (Oakleaf)).

DISCLAIMER:
I am a bit biased since I like to golf (although my game is not good right now).

[joninclay]

Originally Posted by leo_075

Is this considered a bad area? We are moving to hopefully the St. Aug area, but would consider the outskirts of Jax. Can anyone tell me where a good place to raise a family around there would be?

The Fleming Island and Eagle Harbor areas of OP are excellent. Oakleaf Plantation is great, too, though depending on where in Jax you would work, your trek could be much farther.

[leo_075]

great, thank you

[6ofus]

I'm here right now to take the slack off the regulars....
Here's the deal....people say St. John's county and clay couty are the best school districts, but it's only until high school, apparently. Duval's grade and middle are "mostly terrific" depending the neighborhood. There are phenomenal houses that you could get in Duval. It depends on what is important and what will change?? Orange county is amazing and the neighborhoods that were suggested by another poster are beautful. There is a place for everyone. I find this website truly amazing. I want amazing schools (hopefully I will get - not sure) but I will only go to those places. I will not gamble on education. I want families. but, as many people here say. Where are you in your life. There was a time that you couldn't drag me away from downtown Chicago and then I moved to San Francisco. I was a city-girl workin' my career. Now, life if different. To answer your question, my husband's company is big on Clay county (FI and that) It looks beautiful, but to relocate? and we might feel different later .. there is a poster here who loves it. It seems really west to me....let's be closer to be beach, maybe?? I'm leaning towards northern St. John's and/or off 210. I guess in a nutshell i just don't want to be as far west as you are thinking, but then again, I want to live in Ponte Vedra and right now I can't. Who knows? I hope I helped and not confused.
- liz

[cutler7]

We live on 210 and takes s 18 minutes to get to the beach. OP takes 30-35.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by leo_075

Is this considered a bad area? We are moving to hopefully the St. Aug area, but would consider the outskirts of Jax. Can anyone tell me where a good place to raise a family around there would be?

Orange Park is not a bad area at all. Overall, it's considered to be a good area (with some bad spots as any area will have).

To clarify, Orange Park is located in Clay county, while Jacksonville is Duval county, so while the 2 counties are next to each other, there are some major differences.

For one, as pointed out about the beach access, Clay county is landlocked while Duval and St. John's are oceanfront, so your general beach access is going to be better in Duval and St. John's. This may or may not matter to you depending on how often you plan to visit the beach and some other factors (obviously, the closer in proximity to the beach, the better your investment may pay off, etc.).

Both Clay and St. John's counties are much smaller counties than Duval - this has both plusses and minuses - far too many to discuss here - but it's a factor to consider in your choice.

6ofus covered the school aspect already, so I'll try to answer your last question about 'where is a good place to raise a family': I think any of the three counties mentioned would be good, depending on your particular needs. All three of these counties - Clay, Duval and St. Johns are family-friendly areas with nice communties - they are very similar in this regard, it's really an even playing field.

I think a big consideration is where you'll be working - we're speaking so far of a vast, spread out area - you'll want to keep your commute in mind when selecting where you'll live .

[larkelle]

I'm on the same area question. We are about to be moved to the Jacksonville area and are looking at specific locations. The favorite house may be not in the best place otherwise. Does anyone know about the Clay County Ridgeview elementary area, and speciically anything about that school? And it seems Montclair and Lakeside are great, but does Ridgeview have benefits despite some of concerns? Have a 7th grader too.