Hatfield off south twin oaks valley San Marcos - safe area? (San Diego: condo, crime)

[Zaose]

Hi all,

I appreciate the advice on my last "area lookup". I didn't get that condo unfortunately.

I'd like some info on Hatfield in San Marcos. It's just off south twin oaks valley. Is this a decent area/safe for kids, crime, etc?

Sure is difficult trying to relocate from across the country, I really appreciate everyone here willing to give advice. Helps more than I can express.

[Zaose]

The specific place we are looking at is Corte Bella Community.

Thanks!

[sdhkshdcny09]

Originally Posted by Zaose

Hi all,

I appreciate the advice on my last "area lookup". I didn't get that condo unfortunately.

I'd like some info on Hatfield in San Marcos. It's just off south twin oaks valley. Is this a decent area/safe for kids, crime, etc?

Sure is difficult trying to relocate from across the country, I really appreciate everyone here willing to give advice. Helps more than I can express.

The complex itself is pretty cramped, but the area is probably my favorite part of San Marcos. In my opinion, the pros completely outweigh the cons for this development.

Pros-
1. Good schools. Discovery Elementary won the CA distinguished school award in 2010, Woodland Park Middle won the award in 2009, and Mission Hills High won the award in 2011. This is not an easy award to win and they all test within the top 20% of schools in the state. IMHO, these are some of the best schools in North San Diego County. These schools also have a lot of parent involvement too. Discovery just won $50,000 from a national competition (through Clorox) based on tremendous outreach efforts and support from the community to vote. I'm not sure if your kids would end up going to these schools because they are planning a k-8 school across the street due to increasing enrollment. San Marcos has a ridiculous amount of families with schoolchildren and the district is constantly having to revise each neighborhood's attrition rate (average number of school-aged kids per household). The area you are looking at has an especially high one.
2. The area has a lot of open space, parks, and trails. They are building a new 54 acre park across the street, which will feature trails and water activities (there's a lake). This part of SM has the most trails and it is enjoyable to walk all the way to the top of Double Peak, which has views of San Diego County from the top.
3. The community is definitely safe. Nearby Cal State San Marcos is actually the safest california state university! However, it's always a good idea to lock your doors, not leave valuables in the car, etc. Common sense really. There's always going to be random occurrences. The actor from 40 Year Old Virgin stabbed his girlfriend, who lived around there. pretty random... I actually looked up the crime data for the past 3-4 months, and there wasn't a single occurrence in that neighborhood. I was actually really surprised...because there's always going to be at least one person breaking the law, whether it be traffic citation or vehicle theft. It looks like you chose a safe area!

Cons-
1. college area= more noise. The city has a commission for student-resident relations, so they try to address most of the problems. There are also strict ordinances on student housing in the surrounding communities.
2. The complex itself is pretty cramped. The pool area is nice, however.

Useful Links:
San Marcos Unified School District - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

San Diego Regional Crime MAPS (http://mapping.arjis.org/CrimeMAPS/main.aspx - broken link)

http://www.ci.san-marcos.ca.us/Modul...ocumentid=1472

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sa...794b2196d.html

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sa...91834e1ae.html


If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

[Zaose]

Wow Rhanifin, that was an epic post! Thanks so much. If I come up with any questions I will ask, but you pretty much obliterated any questions I had.