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YouTubeA couple of weeks ago I met with a friend, David, who coincidentally has decided to move to Ottawa the same summer we are. He had already planned on moving, but hadn’t date until recently. In fact he’s even a little bit ahead of us in the planning since last summer he bought a house about 10 minutes west of Stitsville that he is currently renting out. Dave sat down with me over coffee and gave several solid pieces of advice for me. He went over various neighborhoods that he visited and gave recommendations to me including Stitsville, Kanata, Nepean and Rideau.
The other day, in my post A classic case of procrastination Angeli gave me some recommendations and then also followed up in an email. Thank you so much for your time. She recommended The Glebe, Sandy Hill, Centretown and then some areas across the river. I’m not sure that is good for me as I’ve remember reading some regulations that Quebec has about requiring children to attend French school – though I don’t have links at the moment. I don’t mind French, but one of the main reasons I’m returning to Canada is to improve my children’s English skills – they speak Korean and only a little English at this point.
Angeli also gave me a couple of links to look at – the Centretown Community Health Center for doctors and the Western Quebec School Board – which I will definitely be checking out shortly.
For the record, I’m looking for something suburban. I want a house with a yard where my kids can play and I can bar-be-que – close to a park would be great. I don’t need to be really close to downtown, but don’t want to be more than 40 minutes away if possible.
I’ve also created a Google Map which is publicly editable. If you have recommendations on places to live or useful resources please share them in a comment and/or on the map. I’ll be making extensive use of this when I come to Ottawa this summer and then again when I move the following summer. Please feel free to add pins to the map – I’ve set it to be editable by anyone.
View Recommendations for Sean in a larger map
Update
Danny Tam via email and twitter DM has given me some advice as well regarding Havenlea and Barrhaven. Specifically about Havenlea he says:
Havenlea area is a very respectable neighborhood, that if I recall, has previously won accolades for being a good community. It’s a relatively new area, having been built just a few years ago. There’s an elementary school inside the neighborhood, a MASSIVE park, a tiny park, a jogging walkway, basketball court, soccer field, and I think another upcoming school.
That sounds pretty much like what I’m interested. Just hope the housing is in my price range – will look at some online realtors in the next few days.
Comments(3)
XUP: Thursday Mar 4, 2010 at 10:13 PM
If you want suburban, then you don’t want Angeli’s recommendations. I would live in the Glebe or Centretown, but then I like living downtown and not in the suburbs. Ottawa is basically a downtown with a whole mess of suburbs. Personally, I would stay away from the Quebec side for a whole bunch of reasons. The only benefit there is that housing is cheaper. And having your kids in a French school is probably a good idea if you’re planning on staying in this area since both languages are required for pretty much every job. There are plenty of French immersion schools in Ottawa, too though. Barrhaven, Stittsville, Embrun, Kanata, etc. (I’ve never heard of Havenlea) are almost separate towns. It’s quite a commute if you’re working downtown and there is no transit system to speak of servicing some of those areas. I’m pretty fond of my neighbourhood - Alta Vista. There are some nice older homes (1960s) with yards and quiet streets, plenty of schools, lots of trees and quite a few immigrants. Because the homes are not the McMansions you find in many of the outlying suburbs, the prices are reasonable. And the best part is that the neighbourhood is just a 15 minute drive to downtown and has plenty of transit service and all the other benefits of downtownish living (streets and sidewalks are plowed promptly in the winter, for instance)