Area around Vandenberg AFB

[JB316]

Originally Posted by wac_432

Another vote for SLO here. As a university town, it beats Ventura for culture, plus you are a short drive away from Morro Bay and other beautiful coastal spots. I'd move there for sure. But, as others have said, if you need to be near a big city, you're not going to get that at VAFB. It is hard central coast CA, and pretty remote from anything resembling a city. SB is nice, but really far. Unless you are working straight through and sleeping at work, I wouldn't commute from anywhere further than Gaviota to VAFB on a daily basis. For sure not from Ventura. Weekly would be okay, I guess.

Yea, it's just the schedule we have that allows me to seriously consider a two hour commute as reasonable. This is why i'm looking at everything from Paso up north to Thousand Oaks down south. I would seriously consider a condo/townhome in Santa Clarita, but that's probably outside the cutoff for me.

[stephiejns]

Hi,

I'm not a gent, but hope you will be able to use some of my knowledge.

I lived in the Oak Knolls area of Orcutt, which is at the south end of Santa Maria, for more than 35 years. I went to high school there and raised my kids there. I also worked all over the Santa Maria area from 1974-2006, afterwhich I moved south to Ventura county (Moorpark, next to Thousand Oaks) for nearly 10 years. I then retired to Washington state in 2017. Trust me, you would NOT want to commute from anywhere in Ventura county to VAFB. I commuted to Santa Clarita from Moorpark for three years for school, which for me was a 35 mt drive; there's no way you'd want to commute from Santa Clarita to VAFB...you're talking about a 2.5 hour drive, one way! Also, not sure if you are aware that Santa Clarita is in Los Angeles county with higher taxes.

Like any cities, Lompoc and Santa Maria have great areas and not-so-great areas. All you have to do is drive around and you will quickly ascertain where to stay away from after dark (bars on windows, ratty to no lawn care, cars up on jacks, etc.) Multiple cars everywhere may just mean that there are many people sharing one house or could mean that it's a desperate neighborhood. It's really pretty obvious if you pay attention to the details and knock on doors and talk to people before you move into a neighborhood. I did this and got so much great information before I settled here in Olympia.

Agree with nightlysparrow, you would not want to commute from anywhere further south than Goleta, and even that might be a push, but at least you'd be close to a large city (Santa Barbara). Most people who work on the base live in either Orcutt or Lompoc. The only other towns I'd consider if I were working on the base would be Buellton, which is nice, but it's not a big city. Out of all of those mentioned above Santa Maria is the largest with the best shopping. It was it's incessant wind that eventually drove me away, not any type of crime issue.

I had a friend who commuted to the base from Paso Robles for awhile, but you're talking about a 90 +/- minute drive so he ended up moving back to Orcutt, which is a 20 minute drive to the base. There are some nice neighborhoods in Orcutt and Lompoc. You'll just have to get your feet on the ground so you can see for yourself. You may want to rent for awhile so that you can have the opportunity to take your time and really check out the areas. The cheapest housing is either a condo or a mobile home. There are some mobile home developments where you own the lot in Orcutt next to the 101 freeway and in Nipomo, which is just north of Santa Maria. With them at least you wouldn't have to pay space rent or an HOA fee. Not sure if there are any age restrictions.

Best of luck to you whatever you decide.

[JB316]

Hey thanks for the reply. We are pretty close to the area already, so i'd probably just commute from here for a year or so while we get more knowledgeable about the area, no need to rent. I'll look into SM and Lompoc, maybe nicer areas in those communities will fit the bill. The commute really wouldn't be an issue for me though, coming down from Paso or up from Ventura, its a drive but again, i have an odd work schedule, i wouldn't do the drive but maybe twice a week.

[DKM]

The closer you get to LA it gets more expensive. Starting on the 101 from Oxnard.... So keep that in mind. Thousand Oaks is very nice but you can only afford to be in the one part of town you don't want to be in. If you are really serious about commuting from Ventura County, absolutely check out the area called Riverpark. Its close to the freeway, newer, decent looking and affordable. This is just north of the Oxnard Blvd exit off the 101.