Chappaqua - random questions (Bedford, Ridge: houses, neighborhoods, middle schools)

[bunny75]

So after a year of researching Westchester towns I think I've finally settled on Chappaqua.

Is anyone familiar with the Stornowaye area? What are your thoughts?

Is there any meaningful difference between living West of the train/Saw Mill vs. East?

I am looking to spend $1.2mm on a house that requires little to no work so any recs for specific neighborhoods that would meet this criteria?

What is the general experience with radon? Do most houses have an issue?
Regarding wetlands, aside from not being able to use the land, are there any other care/maintenance issues?

Thanks in advance to all...

[Walter Greenspan]

bunny75, Chappaqua is not a town; Chappaqua is a hamlet in the Town of New Castle, Westchester County.

//www.city-data.com/forum/new-y...-glossary.html may be of some help to you in understanding the geography of Westchester County.

[kletter1mann]

Originally Posted by bunny75

What is the general experience with radon? Do most houses have an issue?
Regarding wetlands, aside from not being able to use the land, are there any other care/maintenance issues?

Thanks in advance to all...

If you have a crawlspace exposed to rock/ledge you may well have a radon issue. In a reinforced concrete basement it's far less likely. IMHO, however, radon isn't a big deal unless you smoke or practice a carcinogenic lifestyle (washing your hands in gasoline after working on your car, dental xrays every couple months, stuff like that). A test will tell you.

"Wetland" is generally just a fancy word for swamp, but also includes areas adjacent to streams. Seek them out. If you property abuts wetlands you're pretty much guaranteed that there will never be any more development of any kind. Wetlands are inherently cheap to maintain. You basically can't do anything to them at all, so maintenance costs are zero. People get into all kinds of grief when they decide to cut down trees, clear brush, etc. If you have a property with wetland be sure you like the look, cause if you get caught changing stuff you'll likely have to restore it all.

Example: If you have a 3 acre lot and 2 acres is wetland, you have no chance of building a legal pool or tennis court on the wetland part. But people do anyway, of course, and eventually get nailed. The Bedford/Pound Ridge Record Review (local paper) is full of stories like this, often spiced up because the melafactor is a celebrity. I recall that Richard Gere has had wetland problems.

This stuff applies pretty much to anywhere in northern westchester. It's driven by the NYC Dept of Environmental Protection. Pretty much everything up here feeds into the NYC resevoir system and is therefore highly regulated. The NYC DEP is always looking over the shoulders of all the towns to protect the NYC water supply.

[havoc315]

Honestly, I don't find significant differences in the various parts of Chappaqua. Different neighborhoods do feed into different elementary and middle schools, so there are some subtle differences. But the differences really are pretty minimal. If you decided you want to be in Chappaqua, I wouldn't focus on any one particular neighborhood -- Look at all the houses in your budget, and find a nice place, on a nice street, that makes you happy.