saraland or satsuma? (Mobile, Talladega, Spanish Fort: hotels, house, safe area)

[bamaman]

I may be taking a job in Mobile soon and moving from Talladega with my wife and 2 children, 9 and 7. The commute from Spanish Fort to downtown Mobile sounds pretty rough and don't think I want to live in Mobile proper. Friends have told me Saraland or Satsuma might be pretty nice although I'm not sure about schools at either place. Anyone have any advice? How long to drive from Saraland or Satsuma to downtown Mobile, near Bienville Square?
Thanks in advance.

[GHolt]

Dear Bamaman,

Saraland is forming a new seperate school system independent of the Mobile County System. This could cause property values to go up. As far as the commute, Saraland is closer than Satsuma, but not enough to really make a difference. It will depend on where you live in either community.

Hope this was helpful.

[PortofBama]

The commute fro Saraland to downtown Mobile is not that bad at all, it`s about a 15 min commute driving on I 65 to I 165. now going through the city which i know that you will not be taking that route but if so that will take you about 30 + mins. I hope you enjoy living on the coast !

[murrayludt]

All four of my children have been in and are still going to Satsuma schools. The schools are excellent. Two of my children are in the PACE program. The city is in limbo right now over a middle school, but a decision will be made in Dec. We have a lot of growth for our area coming soon, with the new steel mill, race track, hotels, restaurants...etc. We love living here.

[DeltaBelle1978]

I think that your friend gave you great advice. Saraland, Satsuma, even Creola would be great with easy access to the interstate. I couldn't live in town. Too much traffic. Saraland has a little traffic, so keep this in mind. I do like the idea of the Saraland School System split. I think it will be a good thing when everything falls into place. There are nice places to live in either city. Neither have bad crime. Saraland has more but they are bigger than Satsuma. But both are safe areas.

Its hard to tell how the traffice will be affected with all that is going on. I hope things don't change too much. Hwy43 which runs from the new plant down through Saraland will see more traffic as well as the race track traffic. Plus when they finnish the road connecting Saraland to West Mobile, this will bring in more traffic, but it will also free up the interstate (a little) from Saraland/Satsuma towards Mobile.

I hope you find the right place for yall. I'm sorry I don't have any definate answers, but with all of the changes that are comming to this area. What I am telling you now might be completely different in a few months. If I were you I'd look into Creola as well. Just come and look around. You'll find the right place.

One more thing. The children in Creola will be going to the same school that the Satsuma children will be going to. So that part wouldn't change. The main difference is the traffic between the 3 towns and now the seperation of the school system will affect the children. Their decision on a middle school for Satsuma children would be my deciding factor.

[rksmith]

Saraland is a great place, Satsuma is also I lived in Satsuma for 8yrs and moved to Saraland 2 yrs ago, property values are about the same at this time but I feel in about 2yrs both will increase do to all job growth but feel Saraland will increase a little more.

[southernnaturelover]

Both cities are great places to live. If you desire more land you'd be better off in Satsuma or maybe Creola. Most homes in Saraland will be the typical half acre lot.

[ccm2000]

I have lived in both cities the last few years. I am currently building a house in Satsuma mainly because of the location. I work downtown so the commute is only about 15-20 minutes. I lived in West Mobile most of my life and just got tired of the traffic on Airport Blvd. The property values in Satsuma and Saraland are still on the rise. Mostly due to job growth.
One of the Satsuma Councilman announced last night that Satsuma would break away from Mobile County Public Schools just like Saraland did if they decide to bus the children to Mobile. I think they would be better off if they had went with Saraland in the first place.

[DeltaBelle1978]

Well, I think that Satsuma would be an asset to the new Saraland School System. It would have been better to have done that from the beginning and that would solve alot of the problems with no highschool for the Saraland students and no middle school for the Satsuma students.

All of it still seems like a mess to me. I hope that they can get it all straightened out soon. Hopefully Saraland will come out being a better school system after all is complete with the changes.

My sister lives in Saraland but her daughter(my neice) goes to Robert E. Lee. She don't want her daughter to change schools but now if they were all one school system, she could stay put. She either has to move her from a school she loves, pay tuition, or move to Satsuma (which happens to be a block away from her home now) just for here child to go to Robert E. Lee.

Did Satsuma have the option to be included? I haven't heard about that.

[bullittman]

Satsuma is more rural than Saraland. they are now starting to build the new Saraland High School.