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Best Des Moines Metro to move to?

BrunoMars420

BrunoMars420

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Feb 14, 2016
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So I may have to be relocating to Des Moines due to a job. I lived there about 10 years ago and have a good idea of the metro but I was in my 20s and I have a family with two five year olds now. I’ve done some research on where to move and the school districts and we are narrowing it down to the SE Polk district (Altoona and Pleasant Hill area), West Des Moines, Johnston, and Norwalk.

In HORTs opinion, which area is the best for families and what do you think is the best burb overall?
 
BrunoMars420 said:
So I may have to be relocating to Des Moines due to a job. I lived there about 10 years ago and have a good idea of the metro but I was in my 20s and I have a family with two five year olds now. I’ve done some research on where to move and the school districts and we are narrowing it down to the SE Polk district (Altoona and Pleasant Hill area), West Des Moines, Johnston, and Norwalk.

In HORTs opinion, which area is the best for families and what do you think is the best burb overall?
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You’d love Grimes…..full of Republicans. Really good school system and GROWING community. If is been 10 years since you have been in the Metro, you will see Grimes and say “WTF happened here?”
 
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BrunoMars420 said:
So I may have to be relocating to Des Moines due to a job. I lived there about 10 years ago and have a good idea of the metro but I was in my 20s and I have a family with two five year olds now. I’ve done some research on where to move and the school districts and we are narrowing it down to the SE Polk district (Altoona and Pleasant Hill area), West Des Moines, Johnston, and Norwalk.

In HORTs opinion, which area is the best for families and what do you think is the best burb overall?
Click to expand...
I’d go Bondurant area for several reasons.

- Less than 30 min to downtown
- Ankeny and Altoona areas have almost caught up with western suburbs for shopping/dining
- Cheap land
- Possibility of Ankeny schools. If not, Bondurant-Farrar is in growth mode and will reap those benefits in the near future while your kids are in school
- Puts you a full 30-45 min closer to Waterloo/CF if you need to go back there for any reason
- Kinnick Stadium is 90 min away on a good day if you don’t drive like a Sally
 
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Post #5 is pretty relevant in regards to where you might travel the most after you've relocated.

As far as your children, imo, the school districts that will be growing the fastest in the next ten years are Grimes, Norwalk, and Bondurant...in that order.
 
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BrunoMars420 said:
So I may have to be relocating to Des Moines due to a job. I lived there about 10 years ago and have a good idea of the metro but I was in my 20s and I have a family with two five year olds now. I’ve done some research on where to move and the school districts and we are narrowing it down to the SE Polk district (Altoona and Pleasant Hill area), West Des Moines, Johnston, and Norwalk.

In HORTs opinion, which area is the best for families and what do you think is the best burb overall?
Click to expand...
The good news is having lived here 20 years, having one kid go through the school system and one kid a sophomore in HS, I have lots of opinions. My first question for you would what is the physical location of your jobs? I would have a different answer if your job was in WDM, DSM, or further east.
 
I moved to ankeny when I bought my current place. Has all the shopping, restaurants, etc I need. A side benefit is also that when I head out of town for most things I’m typically heading north or east so living in ankeny saves me 20 minutes at least compared to western suburbs.
 
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Tenacious E said:
The good news is having lived here 20 years, having one kid go through the school system and one kid a sophomore in HS, I have lots of opinions. My first question for you would what is the physical location of your jobs? I would have a different answer if your job was in WDM, DSM, or further east.
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Right now the job will be located in downtown then in time moving out to WDM. I don’t mind the 30 min commute but that may change as the girls get older.
 
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BrunoMars420 said:
So I may have to be relocating to Des Moines due to a job. I lived there about 10 years ago and have a good idea of the metro but I was in my 20s and I have a family with two five year olds now. I’ve done some research on where to move and the school districts and we are narrowing it down to the SE Polk district (Altoona and Pleasant Hill area), West Des Moines, Johnston, and Norwalk.

In HORTs opinion, which area is the best for families and what do you think is the best burb overall?
Click to expand...
If my job was in western WDM, I would live in Waukee. If my job was in eastern WDM, I would live in WDM. If my job was downtown DSM, I would live in Ankeny (where I do now). Perks of Ankeny:
  • not as congested as WDM,
  • easy drive to work in the morning (takes me about 15 minutes),
  • good schools,
  • Nice new aquatic center, and there is still an old one in operation,
  • Lots and lots of nice parks and splashpads,
  • on the bike trails,
  • lots of new and newish construction,
  • you can get 90% of want you need here (Costco/Sam's/Best Buy/Walmart/Target/Petsmart/every grocery chain),
  • Ottercreek is a really nice municipal course with a great driving range, and it also has a chipping green with a sandtrap, and a couple of putting greens,
  • lots of youth sports and youth activities, including a great sports complex for soccer, baseball, and softball,
  • it is in the eastern part of the metro so it is a little quicker and easier to get to Iowa City and north to Minneapolis,
  • close to saylorville lake
The downsides are:
  • only has about 50% of stuff that are wants, as a lot of that is still only out in the WDM/Waukee area,
  • it seems to be a stronghold for a disproportionate number of Qanon people,
  • housing is pricier than that of a smaller community, but those places are more expensive than what you might be thinking
  • too many ISU fans
 
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Just moved out to Waukee and we love it. Granted we don’t have kids but the city is very well run, schools are growing like crazy, easy access to the interstate if you’re south of Hickman. If I was on the east side, I’d probably say Altoona or Bondurant. Southside Norwalk/Cumming are both excellent and growing.

I’ll never the get the love for Ankeny but I know some people swear by it. Ankeny to me is like if a city were a Karen.
 
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StormHawk42 said:
Just moved out to Waukee and we love it. Granted we don’t have kids but the city is very well run, schools are growing like crazy, easy access to the interstate if you’re south of Hickman. If I was on the east side, I’d probably say Altoona or Bondurant. Southside Norwalk/Cumming are both excellent and growing.

I’ll never the get the love for Ankeny but I know some people swear by it. Ankeny to me is like if a city were a Karen.
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It has its pros and cons. Likening it to a Karen isn't wrong, but I think that applies to most of, if not all of, the burbs, and is just a sign of the times we live in.
 
LuciousBDragon said:
I’d go Bondurant area for several reasons.

- Less than 30 min to downtown
- Ankeny and Altoona areas have almost caught up with western suburbs for shopping/dining
- Cheap land
- Possibility of Ankeny schools. If not, Bondurant-Farrar is in growth mode and will reap those benefits in the near future while your kids are in school
- Puts you a full 30-45 min closer to Waterloo/CF if you need to go back there for any reason
- Kinnick Stadium is 90 min away on a good day if you don’t drive like a Sally
Click to expand...
This is pretty good advice IMO. This is where my brother lives. I like the south side just fine but I don't have any kids.
 
Derekd3408 said:
Ankeny and Huxley. Huxley would be my #1, but I don't like large metros. Everyone is different, so your list might be perfect for your needs. Huxley is a nice town that has enough to keep me occupied with Ankeny 12 min away. Ames 12 min away and DT Des Moines 30 min away.
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Huxley only if you don't mind/are used to commuting. That's a lot more driving than any commute living in Waterloo/CF and working in Waterloo/CF. My uncle lived in Huxley for a while on part of an acreage on the edge of town and we'd drive there occasionally to watch Iowa games and grill. I personally wouldn't like the drive every day into Des Moines.
 
LuciousBDragon said:
I’d go Bondurant area for several reasons.

- Less than 30 min to downtown
- Ankeny and Altoona areas have almost caught up with western suburbs for shopping/dining
- Cheap land
- Possibility of Ankeny schools. If not, Bondurant-Farrar is in growth mode and will reap those benefits in the near future while your kids are in school
- Puts you a full 30-45 min closer to Waterloo/CF if you need to go back there for any reason
- Kinnick Stadium is 90 min away on a good day if you don’t drive like a Sally
Click to expand...
So out of curiosity I scoped out Bondy on Zillow. Does not seem any cheaper than Ankeny, tbh.
 
BrunoMars420 said:
Right now the job will be located in downtown then in time moving out to WDM. I don’t mind the 30 min commute but that may change as the girls get older.
Click to expand...

Yeah my job moved me out to near Jordan Creek last year - that commute is the only thing I don’t like about ankeny.
 
BrunoMars420 said:
So I may have to be relocating to Des Moines due to a job. I lived there about 10 years ago and have a good idea of the metro but I was in my 20s and I have a family with two five year olds now. I’ve done some research on where to move and the school districts and we are narrowing it down to the SE Polk district (Altoona and Pleasant Hill area), West Des Moines, Johnston, and Norwalk.

In HORTs opinion, which area is the best for families and what do you think is the best burb overall?
Click to expand...
When you end up moving...let us know.

And ultimately what led to your decision.
 
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Derekd3408 said:
Ankeny and Huxley. Huxley would be my #1, but I don't like large metros. Everyone is different, so your list might be perfect for your needs. Huxley is a nice town that has enough to keep me occupied with Ankeny 12 min away. Ames 12 min away and DT Des Moines 30 min away.
Click to expand...
What would a drunk know?😉
 
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jamesvanderwulf said:
Polk City. Lake, golf, high trestle trail...
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Incredibly inconvenient if he's going to work downtown. I would rather drive an extra 10 minutes a few times a year to the lake/marina than drive an extra 10 to 20 minutes each way every work day. But, if you're retired, it would be cool, if you had a boat.
 
Bondurant and Dallas Center-Grimes have really nice schools and aren't as big. Norwalk is a good option. My nieces go to SE Polk and it is just too huge. I believe next year (or maybe it already began) they are going to 6-7 in one building, 8-9 in a building, and high school will be 10-12. Ankeny and Altoona both seem like towns that got way too big for their roads/infrastructure to me, everything is congested and packed (but never lived in either place).
 
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EasyHawk said:
Bondurant and Dallas Center-Grimes have really nice schools and aren't as big. Norwalk is a good option. My nieces go to SE Polk and it is just too huge. I believe next year (or maybe it already began) they are going to 6-7 in one building, 8-9 in a building, and high school will be 10-12. Ankeny and Altoona both seem like towns that got way too big for their roads/infrastructure to me, everything is congested and packed (but never lived in either place).
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I actually think Ankeny has done a wonderful job keeping up with infrastructure. It benefitted greatly from having a billionaire in town who wanted to develop Prairie Trail. He had a civic fund where he would match every dollar the city spent on roads, police department, etc., with a $1.25 of his own, up to like $25M I think. Since we've moved here 20 years ago roads have been widened, we have built two new high schools, several new middle schools, several new elementary schools, a new library, a new police station, at least one new fire station, a new top of the line aquatic center, reworked Ottercreek Golf Course, and laid the groundwork for development to the north were Costco went in. With that being said, when I can, I avoid the area on Delaware in the SE quadrant, which is where Target and the strip malls are.
 
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Tenacious E said:
I actually think Ankeny has done a wonderful job keeping up with infrastructure. It benefitted greatly from having a billionaire in town who wanted to develop Prairie Trail. He had a civic fund where he would match every dollar the city spent on roads, police department, etc., with a $1.25 of his own, up to like $25M I think. Since we've moved here 20 years ago roads have been widened, we have built two new high schools, several new middle schools, several new elementary schools, a new library, a new police station, at least one new fire station, a new top of the line aquatic center, reworked Ottercreek Golf Course, and laid the groundwork for development to the north were Costco went in. With that being said, when I can, I avoid the area on Delaware in the SE quadrant, which where Target and the strip malls are.
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That area on Delaware is the worst traffic in all the metro that I've encountered. You get through downtown quicker when they host the NCAA tourney first weekend. Seems like it can take 15 minutes to get from one of those stores to the freeway at the wrong time of day.
 
ConvenientParking said:
That area on Delaware is the worst traffic in all the metro that I've encountered.
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That part of town sucks for traffic. Thankfully, no one really lives there. But i-235 commute eastbound in the morning, and westbound in the evening, would suck way worse on a day-to-day basis.
 
Tenacious E said:
That part of town sucks for traffic. Thankfully, no one really lives there. But i-235 commute eastbound in the morning, and westbound in the evening, would suck way worse on a day-to-day basis.
Click to expand...
For sure. I had the opposite for quite a while and it was usually fine (Drake out to WDM) but there was always heavy traffic coming the other way and an accident is going to make everyone late. I think if I was commuting west to east I would just leave earlier and get to Valley Junction and take Grand into town. Or I suppose Hickman if you're more north. I kind of wonder what the Grimes traffic is like now. I think it has improved with lanes added to that highway off 80/35 to get there but before that, that was worse than Delaware/Oralabor.
 
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ConvenientParking said:
For sure. I had the opposite for quite a while and it was usually fine (Drake out to WDM) but there was always heavy traffic coming the other way and an accident is going to make everyone late. I think if I was commuting west to east I would just leave earlier and get to Valley Junction and take Grand into town. Or I suppose Hickman if you're more north. I kind of wonder what the Grimes traffic is like now. I think it has improved with lanes added to that highway off 80/35 to get there but before that, that was worse than Delaware/Oralabor.
Click to expand...
For people who work downtown, I always wonder why people willingly moved to the WDM area, and into the only daily traffic jam in the state of iowa.
 
ConvenientParking said:
For sure. I had the opposite for quite a while and it was usually fine (Drake out to WDM) but there was always heavy traffic coming the other way and an accident is going to make everyone late. I think if I was commuting west to east I would just leave earlier and get to Valley Junction and take Grand into town. Or I suppose Hickman if you're more north. I kind of wonder what the Grimes traffic is like now. I think it has improved with lanes added to that highway off 80/35 to get there but before that, that was worse than Delaware/Oralabor.
Click to expand...
Grimes really has no alternative routes other than the main drag off 35/80.

And since the entire growth is north and west... that won't get any better.
 
Speaking of traffic...we drove to Dallas last week and going thru KC, Ok City, and Dallas made driving around the DM metro seem like a stroll.

I guess it's all relative.
 
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