Pelham/Pelham Manor or Croton? (Ossining, Yorktown: houses, neighborhoods, buy)

[mclairch]

After relocating from IL this past fall to So. Westchester, my family is trying to figure out where to settle down and buy. We're currently in Dobbs Ferry (Ardsley schools) and although we like it enough we don't think we can find a house that would fit out needs here. We've narrowed down our search to Croton (opting for bigger house/land but longer commute) or Pelham (smaller house/lot but better schools/shorter commute). I'd love to hear some seasoned Westchester folks weigh in on life in either of these communities. A major factor in our decision is schools as both our oldest boys have some special needs and require extra services from the school districts.

Thanks!

[dma1250]

Those are two really different places that offer very different lifestyles and I find it hard to imagine being really interested in both. We looked at both, but were quickly able to rule one out. I wouldn't move to Croton just for a bigger house or lot. You should consider Croton if you're interested in what it offers--a pleasant town surrounded by lovely natural beauty, great parks on the Hudson, nice hiking trails through the woods, easy access to a great number of nature reserves and parks with tremendous opportunites for outdoor activities, an easy commute (trains are very frequent and express trains are 43 to 48 minutes to GC), and good schools. Within the Croton school district, you can get a house in the village center within walking distance to schools, parks, and amenities--or you can get a house outside of the center in a "country" setting with land and privacy. Croton has a nice range of houses and you get anything from an antique farmhouse to a 20's Tudor to new construction. Croton residents have a lovely beach on the Croton River (Silver Lake), and in the summer there are regular concerts and movies at Senasqua park on the Hudson (the park is residents only, but the events are open to all). Croton Point Park is great, and the Croton Landing Park is really amazing. The nearby towns offer a huge numbr of parks and preserves, notably Teatown Lake Reservation which also has excelelnt nature classes and camps for kids.

We have friends in Croton whose kids get special services and they've been happy so far, although it is evidently getting much harder to get the needed sevices as budgets get tighter. How "good" a school system is depends on how you meansure that--but I think that Croton schools are certainly very good by any measurement.

Croton is low on commercial offerings, but there is a good coffee house, excellent gourmet food store, a handful of good restaurants, and enough big box stores. You can get more big box stores about 10 minutes north in Cortlandt on Route 6 or in Ossining or Mt Kisco, and there are a lot more interesting restaurants, stores, galleries, etc in Mt Kisco, Peekskill, and other nearby towns. A lot of our Croton friends go to downtown Yorktown Heights (about 15 minutes) for food shopping.

Croton is pretty diverse socio-economically. The town has a history of having a large working-class community and a large community of artists, academics, and creative professionals. The local elections have gotten really nasty lately. The mayor won by 51% and there is still a lot of animosity and bad feelings.

[mclairch]

I know it sounds strange to choose between such different option but we really are on the fence about which way we should go. I think that Pelham is a lot like the community we left (close to the city, more urbanish with sidewalks and kids riding bikes outside, close neighbors etc. more of a walking community, walking to school etc.). However, after 6 months living in Westchester we've been enjoying going on hikes and enjoying the abundant nature preserves etc. We'd love to have more land on which the kids could roam etc. So that lifestyle also appeals to us. It's really a matter of deciding which way we want to go. I think we'd be happy in either. I just wanted to hear some more about each and what other people think of living there etc. Can I ask why you crossed Pelham off the list?
Thanks,

[dma1250]

Originally Posted by mclairch

I know it sounds strange to choose between such different option but we really are on the fence about which way we should go. I think that Pelham is a lot like the community we left (close to the city, more urbanish with sidewalks and kids riding bikes outside, close neighbors etc. more of a walking community, walking to school etc.). However, after 6 months living in Westchester we've been enjoying going on hikes and enjoying the abundant nature preserves etc. We'd love to have more land on which the kids could roam etc. So that lifestyle also appeals to us. It's really a matter of deciding which way we want to go. I think we'd be happy in either. I just wanted to hear some more about each and what other people think of living there etc...
Thanks,

That makes sense. For what it's worth, if you buy a house in the the center of Croton (the Sunset, Harmon, or Upper Village neighborhoods) you can get that houses close together, kids on the sidewalk, walk to school neighborhood--and still be very close to hiking and nature preserves.

Originally Posted by mclairch

...Can I ask why you crossed Pelham off the list?
Thanks,

We were moving from the city, where we had both been born and raised and had always lived. After exploring towns throughout the tri-state region, we decided that if we were going to leave the city we wanted to get things that the city can't provide. So we crossed off the denser, more suburban towns closer to the city (including Pelham) and focused on northern Westchester. In the end we found an old farmhouse on 4 acres with a barn in a "rural" and very beautiful part of Yorktown Heights, about 10 minutes from the Croton train station. We've been here for almost 9 years and love it.