Would you relocate to Frederick ?

Hi,

I'm considering relocating to Frederick. Could anyone comment about their town ? Likes, dislikes, schools, communities, would you relocate their if you lived elsewhere ?

Thanks in advance,
Pete

I moved to Frederick County from Dunellen, NJ. Like any move, it's a mixed bag. I like the cost of living, I dislike the local politics. While the quality of educational instruction is good, the quality of educational facilities is mixed. The local community has been growing a lot, and that fuels a debate over whether growth is good or bad. In general, county staff feels growth is bad and appear to suppress projectss that might encourage growth. Projects like school renovations. My two kids are in high school, but most of their day (50-75%) is spent in 'portables', i.e. trailers. The conditions are so bad that last year faulty electrical wiring caused a fire that destroyed on e of the portables.

I might relocate to Maryland, but probably not Frederick County.

I relocated from Long Island, NY to Middletown in Frederick county. Larry is definetly correct about the county staff and older residents not wanting growth. There is a lot of growth in the number of residents but the roads, schools and businesses are not growing as fast. The schools in Middletown are over crowded, but suprisingly enough the education is not lacking. I must say it's great!

Another thing to take into account is how far you will work from home. In my opinion the commute is worse than NY city. Most people drive and that's probably because the public transportation is not efficient.

Regarding the commute, for example. When I lived in Jersey, I had a long commute, but it involved walking four blocks to the train. I'd changed change trains in Newark, and then either walk or ride the subway to within a block of the office. Sure it was an hour and a quarter, but it was time when I could read, work or nap.

Although there is mass transit in Maryland, you have to drive to the train or bus and unless you work in a major government office, chances are that your commute will require lots of transfer to buses, if they stop near your place of work at all. I work in several locations around the area, making carpooling impossible, and there is literally no way to commute to any of my work locations via mass transit.

Frederick County is a mixture of urban and rural life...it has all the inconveniences of both!

I was born and raised in Frederick, and in 30 years I’ve been alive I’ve watched it to crap. The areas around it have expand taking up the farm and wood lands that made this area a stunning view from atop one of the many high hills such as south mountain and sugar loaf, I'd have to say Frederick County is no longer a great place to stay. With over crowding and piss pour planning on the topic of growth and how to allow it without issue have been thrown to the way side due to the amount of cash that is waving in front of the people in charge.
What use to be a 10 min 8 mile trip into town from Middletown can now take up an hour sometimes longer.
Crime has gone up with the influx of more people coming in from the Baltimore and Washington areas.
Not to mention the OUTRAGIOUS housing costs. This also being tied directly to the influx of people moving up from the Washington and Rockville areas, where there are better paying jobs to be had. Frederick was seen as a nice, cheaper, more spread out place to be, and its closeness to larger cities for work. Yet now that EVERYONE is doing it, the powers that be are increasing the cost of everything because of the increase in the wealth of the people moving up. Yet, people who have been in Frederick awhile and have jobs here are being pushed north into areas like Hagerstown and further north west, because that is the only area that you can still get an 1 bedroom apartment for under $1000.
While standing in line the other day at the Safeway in Middletown, I over heard to ladies talking about how they moved up here 2 years ago from Montgomery county and how "the closest Star Bucks in 8 miles away" and "oh my god traffic is a nightmare." THAT’S BECAUSE OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU WHO WANT EVERYTHING CLOSE, YET MOVED TO A COUNTRY SETTING AND COMPLAINED THAT NOTHING WAS CLOSE SO PEOPLE BUILT IT AND NOW EVERYTHING IS CROWDED.

Not to mention they were complaining about the smell from the local farms. COUNTRY! Where do you think that meat, eggs, vegetables and milk that you have in your cart come from? A lab somewhere in the city? One of those 500 home sub communities that pop up over night where once there were quiet forests and clean streams. No...They come from the "stinky" farm down the road.

To answer your question...Frederick has the potential to be a nice place to live. But in 3 years, the issues at hand now will only become worse, due to poor management for growth and the greed of others (I'm looking at you Mr.Fry)
The new By-Pass that they are working on over I-70 near Buckeystown will not open until 2010
5 year....can you imagine the amount of traffic that this area will have in the amount of time it takes them to finish one project to try to alleviate the issues seen now?
If you plan on having a job in Washington or Rockville you can afford to live in Frederick, if not look to the crime ridden areas of Hagerstown, cause chances are, your neighbors used to live in Frederick but has been forced to find lower housing.

Here is a list of the expenses I pay every month on my apartment

Phone 50 bucks
Basic cable with internet 135 (because you can’t watch tv with rabbit ears no more)
Electricity 119 (that’s for a two bedroom apartment)
Apartment 900.00 (A good place in a good neighborhood)
----------
Total 1204

Amount I make? Working in Frederick? 12.50 an hour
Take home after takes per month? 1300.00
Do the math from there. If I were to get a job in one of the large cities down the road, the cost of gas offsets the advantage, so basically I would be working to fill the tank to drive to work.

Enough is Enough, Take a stand, Wake up, Be Heard!
Change the world around you, don't let the world change you!

Oddly enough, when I first looked at moving to Frederick, I was living in West Virginia, and thought of Frederick as the big city (that was 20 years ago). Since then, I've moved around the country and seen communities handle growth well and others poorly, and still others wish they had growth. But by far, Frederick County is the worst example of incompetent planning I have ever seen. Somehow the county government hasn't figured out that when you're less than an hour (except at rush hour) from two major cities, you either accept that you're going to be a bedroom community, or do what it takes to grow large enough to provide well paying jobs closer to home. Frederick's planning folks seem to think if they ignore the growth problems, they can go back to being a farm town. The best thing that could happen would be to clean sweep county staff and start over, since most of those running the county have been in their jobs for more than a couple decades and still think the is the Frederick of the 1980's (or earlier).

Personally I think they should revoke all future building plans for town homes, and subdivisions for the next 5 years. Then like you said, Sweep EVERYONE out.
Then build up the roads, fire departments, water towers, police force and the other things that support large scale growth on a estimate for the next 10 years. Then, after the 5 year ban on building, They SLOWLY add the homes and what not. That way the systems are in place to handle the increase in traffic and utilities. Unlike what they did around the area where WalMart and Best Buy are, where they built those shops and the roads around them weren’t made to support the traffic. They finally got around to fixing that after a few years of painful traffic back ups.

But this isn't a perfect world, and the people with the most money have the most say. So, for now people like us have to put up with the hour long wait to get 7 miles, and the mushroom like pop ups of StarBucks and Subdivisions.

I would recommend to anyone planning to move to Frederick Md that you first get a temporary residence here so you can check out the lay of the land. Here are some thoughts:
(1) If you plan to work in DC or Baltimore, plan on a long commute. We are only about 35-40 miles from each city, but traffic is terrible. If you leave for Washington after 6:30AM in the morning, plan on a two hour or more road trip - if there are no accidents. If there is rain, forget about it. Oh, we also have lots of SUVs here with four wheel drive whose owners think that in the winter ice is not a problem for them - guess what happens to the commute then!
(2) I am not against growth, however, I think it is irresponsible on the part of the Frederick County commissioners to continually approve new housing projects and store-upon-store without significant improvement to the county infrastructure. I would estimate (from various sources) that there will be an additoinal 4-5 thousand homes in the area in the next two to four years - all are along major routes to and from Baltimore and DC.
(3) Housing prices are through the roof - you get your basic "stick mc'mansion" for anywhere from $400,000 (low end) and up.
(4) County government, to say the least, is lacking in representing the desires of their constituency - they even have some 'secret' closed meetings. As an example of irrespnsible leadership and representation of the peole, recently it was announced that about 1400 homes will be built in New Market (along the I-70 east-west corridor that feeds into I-270 south). Eventhough the great majority of citizens opposed the development plan, the good ole Frederick County Commissioners ignored them - New Market will be in grid lock in the next couple years. Take a look at the former small town of Urbana (six miles south of Frederick and see what that turned out to be over the past couple years).
(5) There are two main north-south roads to and from DC - I-270 (two lanes until you get to Germantown) and MD 355 - two lanes all the way to DC - and once you get past Clarksburg, there is a traffic light on just about every cross street and road.
(6) A lot more crime than there was ten to twelve years ago.
(7) Our county leadership (by the way, they seem to be in the pockets of the developers if you haven't already guessed that)have always flaunted the quality of life that growth has brought to this county. I guess it depends on what scale you use to measure quality of life - if you like long lines, expensive homes, expensive utilities, grossly over crowded schools, exceptionally inadequate roads, and a lot of self centered and rude people - this is the place for you. By the way, I make that last point because road rage seems to be a way of life around here.
(8) I would recommend that you check out the state, county and city taxes before deciding to move here. Maryland taxes are not the highest in the country, but you may be in for a big surprise come tax time.
(9) Some people refer to this as a rural setting - guess what, they do not know what rural is - I guess it depends on where you come from as to how you define rural. I think most newcomers from the city think that a smattering of farms and some green open areas here and there is rural - but most of those farms, and the open spaces, will go to the developers in the next 5-10 years.

So, I guess if you like this sort of setting you're welcome to it. It might be a good idea to take a look at Germantown, Gaithersburg, Clarksburg, Urbana and see what they are like - it's a preview of what Frederick and the surronding area will be like in the future. I happen to have lived here all my life - but come retirement day, I'm outta here.

Wow, there are some angry folks up Fredick way! I can't say as I blame them but unfortunately if you want to live in good ole' MD Fredick and north are about the only reasonably priced homes (unless you're willing to deal with the Bay Bridge daily). Yes, I know it's expensive in Fredick but compared to Montgomery, Howard, PG, Carroll, & Anne Arundel it's cheap. At the moment I live in a townhouse in Columbia. My husband and I could not afford to purchase our own home in today's market! Now that's crazy!

I don't see why everyone is bad-mouthing Frederick. I live downtown and I love it. The historic district is fantastic, lots of nice shops and restaurants, and the housing is incredibly affordable now. I stay clear of 40 (too much traffic and crime). Yes, the commute and traffic is bad if you head to DC. I commute to Gaithersburg and it's about 45 minutes to an hour, but I can deal with that. Oother than that, Frederick is a great place to live, in my opinion.

What's not to love about Frederick!

I Love Frederick!!!!

I'd relocate there in a heartbeat!

For the love of god stay where you are.

My car has been torn to shreds since moving out here only 2 years ago. The roads are never smooth,there's construction everywhere making it very hard to drive in tiny lanes, crime is horrible (I approached 4 "thugs" last night for trying to attack my boyfriend because he caught them breaking into a car). Section 8 people were dispersed into the "nicer" townhome areas and are creating crime not changing their ways at all.

The affordable places are property of the hispanic community (most likely illegals) and bring in their fair share of crime and brazen behavior.(Let's just say being a female, I fear rape would be a real concern if i were to live in those neighborhoods)

My lease is up in May..I'm going to try to find a nice apartment in downtown (thereby cutting off 80% of the city,how pathetic is that?) And see if living and working in downtown frederick can work. If not I'm going to have to leave and sadly break up with my boyfriend who wont leave here for the sake of his parents...

Crime is hardly out of control. It's much lower then 95% of Maryland.

Cant go wrong in Frederick!

Hallie Bury wrote:

I'd relocate there in a heartbeat!

Have you ever been to Maryland????

Have you ever been to New Jersey? The landfill state correct?

Tom wrote:

Have you ever been to New Jersey? The landfill state correct?

Can you let other people have their opinions without forcing yours on them? We get it, you like Frederick.

Who's forcing anything on anyone? Not me. I could care less what people think, so f*** off.