NEPA becoming congested? (Allentown, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre: transplants, real estate, house)

[Positiveone]

Hi everybody! With all the growth going on in NEPA is all of NEPA becoming congested? Traffic issues? Schools overcrowded? Or are they keeping up with the growth?

What areas are most affected by the boom?

[Summering]

Well yes, Stroudsburg got hit hard after 9/11......with a ton of new people heading its way. Also the Easton, Allentown area.........border towns to NJ, and an easy commute to NY ( really not so easy at all)
Milford too, as a border town ,was enveloped with the rush.......
Schools.......Well, they put up a new school everytime you blink.....so.......that is a constant.
Pa is big, wide open country......we have room for growth.
I like that we are getting some of the stores I had to travel to NJ to have access to.
Of course now the roads are a bit more crowded, but the towns are aware of it and that too will change.
I really like that we have more in our area now.......someone just please give me a Home Goods and I'll be so delighted.

[SteelCityRising]

I agree with Summering. The growth has been most evident in The Stroudsburgs and further south along the Route 33 corridor to the Lehigh Valley, where a lot of new housing has been moving into suburban areas like Forks Township, Palmer Township, Saucon Valley, etc. Pike County continues to be the most rapidly growing county in the entire state, but it still doesn't feel the least bit congested. Monroe County, in general, would be a place I would avoid if you are looking for peace and quiet in the long-term because even though growth has begun to cool here over the past couple of years, it is still forecasted to pick up pace again. Areas like Blakeslee, Pocono Pines, Tobyhanna, Canadensis, etc. that still remain relatively peaceful and tranquil will more than likely be seeing much more in the way of growth in the coming years as the Stroudsburg area continues to become more overrun with transplants. The Pocono Mountain School District, for example, now has over 17,000 students, which makes it larger than the city of Scranton's school enrollment, just to put things into perspective for you.

Generally speaking the entirety of Monroe County is prime real estate for future growth. The western half of Pike County (Greentown, Blooming Grove, etc.) should remain relatively unspoiled for years to come. Further up the I-380 corridor, the North Pocono School District is probably currently the most sprawl-threatened area of the Scranton area, and as you follow Route 115 up from Blakeslee, the Bear Creek area is similarly sprawl-threatened in the coming years as more transplants seek a bit of elbow space with the convenience of being near shopping and dining in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. I think folks in Bear Creek are intelligent enough to foresee what is coming though---two massive mixed-use communities that were proposed for Bear Creek Township and its neighbor of Buck Township were rejected in 2007 in order to retain the region's rustic charm. North Pocono, on the other hand, continues to rubber-stamp every large-scale housing development that comes at them---I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see a Wal-Mart and/or Lowe's/Home Depot establishing themselves somewhere in the school district in about 5-10 years if the growth continues to pick up pace. A new high school is being built there in anticipation of the growth, but most of the local yokels think it is "unnecessary" (as if they are blind to all of the new developments popping up all around them).

The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area IS growing, but it is growing VERY modestly---by perhaps 500 new residents per year. Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties used to house many tens of thousands of more residents in their heydays, so we can easily absorb tens of thousands of new transplants today.

[weluvpa]

Originally Posted by SWB

The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area IS growing, but it is growing VERY modestly---by perhaps 500 new residents per year. Luzerne and Lackawanna Counties used to house many tens of thousands of more residents in their heydays, so we can easily absorb tens of thousands of new transplants today.

That doesn't mean that we need to or should want to absorb that many people. I also don't think that we would be able to absorb that many people without overloading our areas infastructure.

[mathjak107]

growth is a double edged sword. its kind of like the airlines where they want to fly the empty seats but not have to buy another plane for an additional 20 people who want to fly but cant fill that plane. . on one hand you reach a point where your schools, hospitals , resources reach a point where they are full to capacity but handle every thing well. the extra tax revenue is a good thing and demand for goods and services help everyones business.

but cross that line and now you need more schools, more hospitals more town programs etc, you dont have enough growth to fully utilize that extra stuff you need to build and so taxes go up like crazy until you get even more people in the area to help defray costs

in most areas over time people tend to bring more demand for goods and services to an area then they suck out providing they arent free loaders to the system and have jobs and pay taxes. but you dont want your area to be the exception.


problem with nepa is the tax issue. alot of people only use nepa as a 2nd home or they live in nepa but work in another state. many people live in nepa full time but pay their taxes to new york. since new york is alot higher in taxes than pa if you work in new york all your income tax goes to new york. pa gets nothing. thats the killer in monroe. they are tax starved and real estate taxes are going thru the roof to generate the income they are loosing.


you have thousands of people using services in nepa and paying no income tax. thats a real problem

[mathjak107]

another issue is towns in nepa are structured very unevenly.

there are towns where they are very small and dont build their own schools or maintain their own police force or even have their own hospitals. they use the services of surrounding towns and thru aggreements the town pays a mere pitance for the use while the towns that built this stuff basically pay for it. . those smaller towns are the best deals around. the real estate taxes are usually dirt cheap while the surrounding areas get pummeled tax wise.

[W-B proud]

I used to make deliveries to Manhatten and Long Island 3-5 times a week, and I'd be stuck in rush hour traffic coming home for three hours sometimes(just New Jersey!) The entire state of New Jersey (rt.80 west) back to Pa. would be like one massive parking lot until you get to Netcong or Parsippany, but then it would back up again! at the Pa/Nj. border. So after doing this commute, routinely, for a couple of years, I think it's safe to say NO! NEPA is not congested. The tiny little traffic jams we see here are nothing compared to some of the bigger metro areas' daily traffic nightmares. The closest I've seen to traffic congestion in NEPA is in Monroe County close to the border, because they don't have the infrastructer to handle to huge influx of transplants into that area ( they still have small country roads, one lane in each direction) they weren't built to handle that amount of traffic.

[ontheroad]

On my side of NEPA (near Honesdale, Damascus, Hawley et al.) I can drive for miles without another car behind me or ahead of me. I don't think I experienced one traffic jam, and judging by the other services, congestion is not the issue but rather maintenance of existing services and infrastructure: road repair could be improved, increased traffic lights might be considered; and others I'm not thinking of at the moment.

[okaydorothy]

I went down to pa on friday to close on a house.Traffic ; not one piece of traffic from rte 80 east from the GWB all the way thru rte 15, rte 84 and the local streets ; gosh, I dont think I passed one car


Now dont talk about the Deegan or the Cross Bronx.

d

[EnyaGirl]

Originally Posted by okaydorothy

I went down to pa on friday to close on a house.Traffic ; not one piece of traffic from rte 80 east from the GWB all the way thru rte 15, rte 84 and the local streets ; gosh, I dont think I passed one car


Now dont talk about the Deegan or the Cross Bronx.

d

CONGRATS on the house!!