[quote=carli] . . . Many people on this site have strong personal feelings about which areas are “best” and like to defend them but some, including bearishgirl, do not have firsthand knowledge living in the area you’re leaving so do not speak from experience on that angle. I wholeheartedly agree with SD Realtor that you should come out to the area and rent first, get a feel for each town/area of SD and decide for yourself which is best for you and your family . . . [/quote]
I already suggested to NYMom that she consider giving up lot size in SoCal due to water cost earlier in this thread, Carli. No, I haven’t been to NY but I’ve been in and around Baltimore and the nicer MD suburbs/exurbs in Frederick and Montgomery Counties several times visiting relatives. In addition, I’ve been to several small cities/towns in the well-heeled Fairfax County, VA, including McLean and the very exclusive Great Falls along the Potomac. I’ve seen the long driveways, the longer setbacks, the min 1 AC treed lots with split-rail fencing, the brick tudors and narrow streets where all the neighbors know each other and the kids ride their bikes freely day and night …. I’ve seen it all.
For upper-middle class and up families, the east coast has a different type of “bucolic” existence that the CA coastal counties do not quite offer at the same price point. But based upon her posts and my experience, I think I know what NYMom is looking for, enough to make suggestions to her within SD County.
I read that the OP stated she wanted a kind of “self-contained” neighborhood where she and the kids could walk or ride bikes to small businesses. In SD County, that is mostly in a select few urban areas or those areas with a “village” of small businesses. I didn’t include LJ because of her price point and she never indicated that she was willing to reduce her square footage requirement significantly. Del Mar seems to meet her price point and almost or possibly her square footage req but not lot size. I’m not sure about the homes close enough to walk/bike to DM Village, however. You’re the “expert” on that.
I know metro SD, south and east counties pretty well and have spotty knowledge of North County cities. I know quite a few SD metro and south county communities intimately.
Coronado meets all NYMom’s criteria if she can come down on sq footage and lot size for her price point. It has excellent public schools but they are rigorous. It is not uncommon for kids to transfer out of Cor HS to another HS off the island if they can’t hack the rigor. In addition, Cor HS is an “open campus” meaning the kids are free to leave it during the school day … there are no barriers holding them on campus. Resident kids can and do ride their bikes everywhere on Coronado (yes, even 8 yr olds) and it is designed for that. The civilian part of the island has only a couple of “chain” stores that I know of: a small Vons (grocery chain) and a Rite Aid pharmacy. The rest of the retail and service businesses there are independently owned and can be reached by resident by bike in just a few minutes (or on foot, if they live close enough). Coronado has bike racks installed convenient to shopping.
NYMom, my kids are now all out of HS. However, due to their competitions throughout six counties in SoCal, I know where some of the best public HS’s are in LA and Orange County but can’t comment on the “village feel,” walkability or their feeder schools in these areas but am assuming the feeder schools are good. Here are a few off the top of my head:
Brea Olinda
Cypress
Arcadia
John Burroughs (Burbank)
Los Alamitos (also serving Seal Beach)
Hart (serving Santa Clarita incl Newhall and Saugus)
And as UCGal mentioned, San Diego High School (SDHS), which also serves east Mission Hills, offers the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma. This program is only offered by a few dozen CA HS’s, is very rigorous and requires a lot of extra work for the student.
If I read right, NYMom wants to endeavor to keep her kids away from the rampant materialism so prevalent among public secondary school students today. IMHO, that might be difficult, if not impossible, if her kids attended public schools … even the public secondary schools where she currently lives.
