Is Clermont a good neighborhood for young family? (Orlando, Winter Springs: rent, crime)

[becca2181]

We will probably be moving in the next 3-4 months. We will be working in Orlando, but I have heard living in the city is not a good idea. I heard that Lake County was nice. Does anyone have suggestions? Thinking about Clermont.

[pianogal]

If you're working in Orlando, I would not recommend living in Clermont unless you really want a long commute. There are some nice areas much closer into town. Not necessarily on the west side of town. Look into the communities on the east and north of town. Seminole County communities of Lake Mary and Oviedo have some of the best schools. East of town Waterford Lakes, Avalon Park, Lake Nona has good schools. Also some areas of Winter Park have great schools and your commute into town would be 15 minutes.

[AJ67]

Clermont is nice , but just as most of central florida its becoming overbuilt!...and its deffently a drive from there to down town...I4 =nightmare

[Prichard]

Commuting from Clermont to Orlando, like others have said, is one of the more difficult commutes. You would need to take the trunpike to the 408, and the 408, as bad as it normally is, is much worse due to construction.

Clermont is a good area (still a bit of a commute) if you work down by the attractions.

There are lots of nice small towns around Central Florida - the smaller and nicer they are, the further away from Orlando they tend to be. Exceptions - Winter Park, Windermer, Heathrow, parts of Oviedo and Winter Springs.

[spunky1]

Originally Posted by becca2181

We will probably be moving in the next 3-4 months. We will be working in Orlando, but I have heard living in the city is not a good idea. I heard that Lake County was nice. Does anyone have suggestions? Thinking about Clermont.

It depends on what you consider good, as with every place it has pros and cons. If you are commuting to O'ville it can be rough, say 30-35 minutes. But if you are moving from a city like Washington D.C where you are use to a commute it might be OK. Clermont has a lot to offer-pretty lakes so if you are into boating or skiing you would enjoy it. Also unique to most Fl places there are some rolling hills (yes, really). There is the South Lake Trail and Minneola Scenic Trail for biking/walking or blading. It does maintain a small town atmosphere in some regards but as others have stated it is growing. The growth is not exactly pretty either. Since Clermont use to be a citrus town now that the groves have all been mowed down there are not a lot of mature trees, that can take some getting use to. . . Furthermore, the developers have not been kind to Clermont and have really done a job on what use to be a very scenic town. A lot of people commute either to jobs at Disney or Orlando because there isn't much industry in the area. Hope this helps.

[mom2hn]

I would like to say to commute from Clermont to Orlando is much longer than 30 min with traffic. I HATE going to Clermont when everyone is returning home from work ... highway 50 gets ssooooooo slow. (and we live just east of Clermont! ) It's not so bad when everyone is at work.

We looked at Clermont 6 years ago (before the traffic was so bad and when the prices were a bunch cheaper out there) and we are thankful we moved to Winter Garden. We go to church in downtown Orlando and travel the 408 there. It takes us 25 min ... on the 408(toll road) It takes us 20 min to the back of Disney ... thanks to the 429 (yet another toll road)!

I would suggest Winter Garden if you are looking on the west side. We love it ... it is a family friendly community with lots of great activities for the kids (we have 2 under 5) and the cutest downtown around.

oh ... and more great shopping is coming ... Moderator cut: cut
hope this helps!

[spunky1]

But again, there is a drug element in Winter Garden. Just today in the Orlando Sentinel there was an article on a murder there this past week and it was drug related. I would check if out carefully. . .

[Nada_III]

i live in clermont for the past 3 years. i work at downdown disney and it takes me 40 minutes during rush hour taking the back roads to 535. it takes me about 25-30 minutes to get to downtown orlando during off hours taking 408. i live off hartwood marsh and have seen the orange groves disappearing each year. i never had the pleasure to commute to downtown orlando during rush hour, but i've seen the morning backup from clermont to the turnpike entrance on 50 (that alone will take as long as 30 minutes).

there is an unwritten law that states: during rush hour, if there is a short heavy rain fall, an accident must occur at the turnpike.

i moved here for the hills and scenery. it's also nice to watch the hot air ballooners fly by at times. it seems like crime has increased when the walmart opened up not too long ago. clermont public schools may have good scores, but they are way overcrowded and there are some really mean and violent kids that go there. the charter schools aren't that great either.

as others have posted, clermont is not a good commute to downtown orlando.

-a|ex

[FL_TN_Nana]

Most of the construction on 408 from the t'pike to Otown is complete and it's faster because of the express epass lanes. The big troublespot is on hwy 50 from Clermont to the t'pike. Plans are in the works for expansion of hwy 50, but that won't help anytime soon. Obviously a lot of people think it's worth the drive from Clermont to Orlando because most of them do exactly that. I won't say it's a rosy picture at all, but I've also seen miles of backups in Orlando at rush hour going east or coming from the east in the a.m. And I-4 into Seminole county is pretty much a parking lot for a while during rush hours.

There are lots of young families in the Clermont area. And yes, it has grown by leaps and bounds. Clermont is now the largest city in Lake County -- but that still means small. Much of the growth is outside the city limits too, but we have "smarter growth" commissioners since the last election. The reason the orange groves gave way to development is because of the freezes several years ago. After losing all the fruit and most of the trees a couple of times, the growers gave it up. It wasn't just greed by the property owners -- in many cases, they lost so much fiancially that selling was their only reasonable option. (I live on a 1/2 acre lot that used to be an orange grove -and we have trees. Just have to get them in the ground and not expect them to miraculously appear full grown in one day!)

There is never a perfect place, but if I were moving to unfamiliar territory, I think I'd rent first. That way it would allow more time to investigate the areas recommended -- and some you'll find on your own. Best Wishes!

[christa17]

clermont is nice but urbansprawl is coming