Travel times & distance please

[tracie107]

9th January 2008 15:02

Hi, I am hoping you can all settle a debate I am having with my OH about places to live.

OH has a job in Kelowna - on Enterprise, son will go to school in the Mission. We are considering the following areas - Black Mountain, Lake Country.......... I want Westside, Rose Valley or Shannon Lake. I have fallen in love with a house in Lakeview Heights seen on mls. He likes a few houses in Glenrosa, this is the debate:-

How far is Glenrosa to Enterprise and how long for journey time, bearing in mind we are coming over in a month or two so the bridge will still pose a small problem. However, we both drive on M25 so 20 mins traffic congestion is a breeze !!!! My hubby seems to think it is a 15mins journey when I think it is more 45mins to 1hr?

I have £100 bet riding on this

[Bleech]

9th January 2008 16:25

Not too sure to be honest, someone on here will be able to help. The new bridge is supposed to be opening in June slightly ahead of schedule, so that'll help - hopefully!!.
Quick question about the school though, aren't you supposed to live in the catchment area? Or is it for a High School? Not quite sure how it works? Certainly for the elementary schools you have to live a certain area from the school.

[LongInt]

9th January 2008 16:45

Assuming absolutely no traffic slowdown whatsoever (and this is speculation as it's rare that I drive that way at a time of day when there isn't any), one could probably get from Glenrosa to Enterprise in about 20 minutes. At current conditions, though, it's more likely to be 30-45 minutes (more, sometimes). As Bleech said, though, the new bridge will be opening this summer and having at least two lanes open each way at all times will certainly help considerably. When there's alot of traffic coming in from across the lake, though, there will still be some congestion when it hits the downtown Kelowna portion of the highway.

[tracie107]

10th January 2008 11:57

Thanks Bleech & LongInt,

My son will be going to pre-school, so the catchment does not apply at this time. But from what I understand once he goes to mainstream school, which is around 6 years of age then the catchment area kicks in. I could be wrong as I am not quite up to scratch with it all.

[nikks2]

10th January 2008 17:58

Hi Tracie
You are right, there is catchment regulations for school, but you can apply out of area and will get a place if its not filled up by in-catchment, siblings at school etc. Most Mission school are oversubscribed at the moment, but a new elementary school is being built. Kids start kindie the year they turn 5. Theres no catchment area for preschool.

[Nigel123]

10th January 2008 20:26

Hi Tracie

Well i live on the Westside close to Rose Valley and it takes me on average 20 minutes to drive to my work which is off Gordon and that is generally a pretty easy drive unless there has been a hold up on the bridge. Usually it is quieter at say 8.45am than 7.45am for whatever reason. So i would say that Glenrosa to Enterprise would easily be twice this time. We looked at Glenrosa as it offered better value for money but decided it was just too far out of Kelowna if you are travelling into the center (Orchard Mall/Enterprise) Also my son would have to commute to college on the KLO road and we had to consider his travel costs too.
I would certainly not look forward to that commute every day particularly when it gets real busy in the summer and it seems too far to be taking children to school on a regular basis.
I too was used to driving in very busy UK traffic but to be honest once you have been here for a while you realise that sitting in traffic is not what you came here for.

Just my opinions of course, you need to come and try it out for yourselves and see what you think.

[tracie107]

11th January 2008 05:32

Hi Nigel,

Yes I completely agree with you that sitting in traffic is not what we are emigrating for!

As you are on Westside perhaps you will be able to give me a brief on the areas I have chosen. We were originally looking at the Mission area but found the properties were just tooooo overpriced! It seems that Westside gives you the bigger house for less money. Shannon Lake, Rose Valley (understand there is a really good school there) and Lakeview Heights will be my first visit port of call!

[MisplacedCanadian]

11th January 2008 16:08

Hi there!

We live on the Westside too, not too far from Nigel. I understand that Rose Valley is an excellent school. I love Lakeview Heights and West Kelowna estates. We drove through the Rose Valley housing development today and it's very nice as well. The older houses in Lakeview and West Kelowna tend to have larger gardens than the newer houses have, if that's important. The Rose Valley development has it's own small shop, child day-care centre and hairdressers, though! Luxury!

I can agree over the driving times - I would say about 40 minutes from Rose Valley to Enterprise Way, and it really does depend on the time of day that you do it. Don't believe everything that the internet map viewers tell you - they calculate driving times based upon perfect conditions and it really does depend on the weather and road conditions. In the middle of the night we can make it from our house to the airport in 40 minutes, but during the day it takes an hour.

[Nigel123]

11th January 2008 22:34

Hi Tracie

I agree with Misplaced Canadian, we loved all the areas mentioned but you have to be aware that some of the Lakeview Heights area may be native leased land so property prices will seem very reasonable for a reason.

The Rose Valley development also has it's own pool for summer use by the residents which we were quite jealous of last summer if we walked that way in the evening.

The thing to remember about driving along Hwy 97 is that there are so many damn traffic lights and if you get one set on a red then sods law says you arrive at every set on red.
I think i am right in saying that there are 12 traffic light intersections between Glenrosa and the bridge and probably as many from there to Enterprise so it can get frustrating and Enterprise itself can be bumper to bumper some days, again, too many intersections and poor traffic control at some.
(Don't get me started on lack of left hand filter signals)

Shannon Lake area is very nice and so is Smith Creek area which is a little further up but not as far as Genrosa.

Of course the most important thing is the excellent quality of the people who live here on the Westside.

[tracie107]

12th January 2008 00:21

Thanks MS & Nigel123,l

Without doubt Westside to becoming more and more appealing to us, I have seen a house on Lakeview which has been on the market for sometime so will speak to our Realtor. Sorry for being a thicko on this one but what is 'native leased land' and the problems it causes? The property tax on this house is $2,500 - is that alot of money for something that is native leased land, sorry but not really sure if that has anything to do with it !!