Mount Laurel? (Union, Ramblewood: apartments, rental, lawyer)

[JerzBoy]

Originally Posted by annabbbanana

Thank you all! And I'm sure there isn't that much of a difference between all the elementary schools but it seems pretty apparent that Larchmont is kind of the less desirable elementary school/area of town. The rest seem to be pretty much equal.

oh and would anyone care to explain whats so bad about willow turn? i saw an ad on craigslist for a townhouse there with a really cheap pricetag, and thought it was too good to be true and after reading the posts here it is because everyone says to stay away. but would anyone care to explain why?

I really don't know why Willow Turn and Delancey Place have such a bad reputation. The condos/THs there are always much cheaper than similar ones elsewhere. I think there is probably a concentration of affordable housing in that area but am not 100% sure.

[NJGOAT]

Originally Posted by JerzBoy

I really don't know why Willow Turn and Delancey Place have such a bad reputation. The condos/THs there are always much cheaper than similar ones elsewhere. I think there is probably a concentration of affordable housing in that area but am not 100% sure.

Take a drive through and you'll see why. My wife and I had looked in that area a couple years ago. I was drawn there by the low prices and relatively low taxes for Mt. Laurel. However, after driving through there several times and talking to people, it became obvious that the best advice is to avoid anything along Larchmont between Route 38 and Union Mill Rd. That area is NOTHING like the rest of Mt. Laurel.

Someone mentioned the low income housing and my guess would be, this is where it's located. It's probably also the reason that Larchmont is the "worst" of the Mt. Laurel schools.

So, in general I would try to avoid anything that sends to Larchmont and wouldn't even consider housing along Larchmont between Route 38 and Union Mill Rd. From talking to people at work who live there, the kids in school associate living in Larchmont with being poor/ghetto.

[frankgn87]

Originally Posted by NJGOAT

Take a drive through and you'll see why. My wife and I had looked in that area a couple years ago. I was drawn there by the low prices and relatively low taxes for Mt. Laurel. However, after driving through there several times and talking to people, it became obvious that the best advice is to avoid anything along Larchmont between Route 38 and Union Mill Rd. That area is NOTHING like the rest of Mt. Laurel.

Someone mentioned the low income housing and my guess would be, this is where it's located. It's probably also the reason that Larchmont is the "worst" of the Mt. Laurel schools.

So, in general I would try to avoid anything that sends to Larchmont and wouldn't even consider housing along Larchmont between Route 38 and Union Mill Rd. From talking to people at work who live there, the kids in school associate living in Larchmont with being poor/ghetto.

And I have to be honest, most of the crime (police blotter thing)in my county paper happens in Mt. Laurel. For whatever reason it seems to have the most petty crime(car break ins, robbery, burglary etc)

[soug]

Originally Posted by NJGOAT

Take a drive through and you'll see why. My wife and I had looked in that area a couple years ago. I was drawn there by the low prices and relatively low taxes for Mt. Laurel. However, after driving through there several times and talking to people, it became obvious that the best advice is to avoid anything along Larchmont between Route 38 and Union Mill Rd. That area is NOTHING like the rest of Mt. Laurel.

Someone mentioned the low income housing and my guess would be, this is where it's located. It's probably also the reason that Larchmont is the "worst" of the Mt. Laurel schools.

So, in general I would try to avoid anything that sends to Larchmont and wouldn't even consider housing along Larchmont between Route 38 and Union Mill Rd. From talking to people at work who live there, the kids in school associate living in Larchmont with being poor/ghetto.

Weird, I never got a bad vibe from that area. I've been to Angelo's Pizza right around there plenty of times. Pretty good pizza. A family friend lives along the next stretch of Larchmont, between 38 and Marne Highway, and that seems like a nice enough neighborhood. I guess the fact that it's multi-unit housing/ small single houses could be the reason why kids think it's "ghetto," especially with those random neighborhoods of basically McMansions that are cropping up all over Mt. Laurel.

[HubCityMadMan]

Originally Posted by NJGOAT

Take a drive through and you'll see why. My wife and I had looked in that area a couple years ago. I was drawn there by the low prices and relatively low taxes for Mt. Laurel. However, after driving through there several times and talking to people, it became obvious that the best advice is to avoid anything along Larchmont between Route 38 and Union Mill Rd. That area is NOTHING like the rest of Mt. Laurel.

Someone mentioned the low income housing and my guess would be, this is where it's located. It's probably also the reason that Larchmont is the "worst" of the Mt. Laurel schools.

So, in general I would try to avoid anything that sends to Larchmont and wouldn't even consider housing along Larchmont between Route 38 and Union Mill Rd. From talking to people at work who live there, the kids in school associate living in Larchmont with being poor/ghetto.

I noticed a few shady things west of Rt 73 too a few years ago. I can't remember what street it was exactly, but it was one of those few streets between 73 and Church Rd (Fellowship, Beaver, Oregon, Federal etc) that had all these boarded up houses, 1/2 dozen or more. This was about 3 years ago so it may be different now, but I was surprised when I saw that since Mt. Laurel always struck me as a pretty decent place to live.

[frankgn87]

Originally Posted by HubCityMadMan

I noticed a few shady things west of Rt 73 too a few years ago. I can't remember what street it was exactly, but it was one of those few streets between 73 and Church Rd (Fellowship, Beaver, Oregon, Federal etc) that had all these boarded up houses, 1/2 dozen or more. This was about 3 years ago so it may be different now, but I was surprised when I saw that since Mt. Laurel always struck me as a pretty decent place to live.

Those home (I believe) were part of a buy out to put in a by pass type highway that never happened.. At least that what I was told..

[frankgn87]

Originally Posted by soug

Weird, I never got a bad vibe from that area. I've been to Angelo's Pizza right around there plenty of times. Pretty good pizza. A family friend lives along the next stretch of Larchmont, between 38 and Marne Highway, and that seems like a nice enough neighborhood. I guess the fact that it's multi-unit housing/ small single houses could be the reason why kids think it's "ghetto," especially with those random neighborhoods of basically McMansions that are cropping up all over Mt. Laurel.

yea, isn't that around the Scotto's pizza is on 38 too? We were there last weekend and its seems like a nice area..

[HubCityMadMan]

Originally Posted by frankgn87

Those home (I believe) were part of a buy out to put in a by pass type highway that never happened.. At least that what I was told..

Or possibly a ramp to get directly to 295 from the turnpike - or vice versa - without having to get on 73 at all. Would have been nice.

[NJGOAT]

Originally Posted by soug

Weird, I never got a bad vibe from that area. I've been to Angelo's Pizza right around there plenty of times. Pretty good pizza. A family friend lives along the next stretch of Larchmont, between 38 and Marne Highway, and that seems like a nice enough neighborhood. I guess the fact that it's multi-unit housing/ small single houses could be the reason why kids think it's "ghetto," especially with those random neighborhoods of basically McMansions that are cropping up all over Mt. Laurel.

Well, Angelo's is all the way at the end of Larchmont near Hainesport Rd. The area I was talking about wasn't the full length of Larchmont, but the section between 38 and Union Mill Rd.

It doesn't look bad driving down Larchmont, but turn into Willow Turn and then into Delancey Place and you definitely get a different vibe...you know, the people sitting on cars drinking out of paper bags vibe. The area's along Carleton and Burnamwood are a little nicer, but still not exactly "nice". I live in a townhouse, so don't think I'm just snubbing townhome developments.

FWIW, doing a little internet sleuthing I discovered that Larchmont is in fact the location of the first affordable housing built under the Mount Laurel decisions. There is a book called "Our Town: Race, Housing, and the Soul of Suburbia" that goes into great detail about the history of what happened.

Larchmont was the second planned "PUD" community built in the state. The first was Ramblewood. The developers envisioned a complete life-cycle community that would house people from newly-weds to emtpy nesters. It was targeted as dense luxury housing surrounded by open space, e.g. a golf course ala Ramblewood.

They also considered adding subsidized low income housing. In order to accomplish the subsidy, they would build the homes in a denser configuration to maximize profits. When Mt. Laurel rejected the plan, the township was sued and the Mount Laurel decisions were made. It is more complex than that, but that's the short version. Of note is that the developer was also the lawyer that sued the township.

As Larchmont went up, they designated 20% of the development for low and moderate income housing, as well as some HUD housing. Today the HUD housing is located in sections of Willow Turn and Delancey Pl. The remainder of those sections are low income housing. The townhomes across Larchmont from those sections was designated as moderate income housing. The townhomes on the other side of Union Mill along Calderwood are also designated moderate income housing. The remainder of Larchmont are all medium to large single family homes and are not designated as anything.

So, yes, it would appear that there is some validity to the "ghetto" reputation. The area north of 38 up to Marne Highway, is a different section and while it contains a handful of low income units, they are not clustered the way they are in Larchmont. Same thing with the townhome development on the otherside of Hainesport Rd. at the end of Larchmont.

[annabbbanana]

omg thank you all so much, i think i get the picture of the willow turn area!