Living across the street from a park, is it good or bad? (houses, neighborhood)

[Fighting Fungus]

To the people that lived close to park, what were the pros and cons?

Would you do it all over again?

I am talking about a park in a nice suburb, not a gang infested neighborhood were gang bangers will be hanging out.

[sfcambridge]

Loved it. Would absolutely do it again... Especially if I had kids. And this was an urban park, in a residential area.

But I'm mostly replying because I am amused by your screen name.

[4122]

I love living near a park. It's great for the kids, walking the dog, or just taking a stroll after work. I don't think there would be cons at all for living by a park and most people would agree.

[nikitakolata]

I haven't done it personally, but I think it would be pretty great if you had kids.

[chet everett]

Mostly a BIG PLUS.

Potential downsides: (and these are mostly OVER BLOWN, but you might hear them...)

If there is also a HIGH SCHOOL in / near that park sometimes that means band practice or other noisy activities.

If the park has significantly large PLAYING FIELDS that might mean PARKING can be an issue during games / events.

In some towns portions of park are designed to accommodate STORM WATER DETENTION, the degree to which this increases exposure to mosquitos can be minimized by aerators / fountains that tend to discourage mosquito reproduction.

Certain more "naturally landscaped" parks tend to attract actual woodland creatures -- ducks, geese, possums, coyotes, deer, skunks, raccoons are generally interesting but some residents have an aversion to such "wild life"...

Finally if you hate neighbors walking past your home (and it is sort of odd just how many people express this only AFTER they've been caught picking their newspaper off their drive in bed clothes...) you probably will hate living across from a park!

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by chet everett

If the park has significantly large PLAYING FIELDS that might mean PARKING can be an issue during games / events.

This is the one significant issue I thought of... Would only be a problem for certain types of parks, and could be annoying if a busy parking lot were across from your driveway. Also, if the park hosts any sort of large events like music performances...

Originally Posted by chet everett

Certain more "naturally landscaped" parks tend to attract actual woodland creatures -- ducks, geese, possums, coyotes, deer, skunks, raccoons are generally interesting but some residents have an aversion to such "wild life"...

This too... If the park is wooded or larger you may have coyotes that could be a threat to family pets. Though this can happen anywhere, as coyotes have no problem walking in backyards and between houses.


All in all, I'd call living across from a park a positive in most cases, unless you really value your privacy.

[4122]

[quote=chet everett;39611516]Mostly a BIG PLUS.

Potential downsides: (and these are mostly OVER BLOWN, but you might hear them...)

If there is also a HIGH SCHOOL in / near that park sometimes that means band practice or other noisy activities.

If the park is at a school, another downside can be increased traffic. The plus side though would be that you don't have to drive in that school traffic and your kid could just walk to school.

[ToriaT]

Its mostly a plus. Except as said above if there is a high school nearby the park such as where I live where you have Atten park backing up to WW south high school. Then there may be noise from football games and bright lights for night games and traffic. Fortunately the park acts as a buffer.

[GraceKrispy]

I would consider that a huge plus, with some of the caveats mentioned. I would have to consider a lot of factors, such as:
location (busy intersection? next to a school/near a school?)
type (small park likely to be frequented by neighborhood kids? larger park that is also a major venue for activities such as concerts or festivals?)

I have lived near a park that had quite a bit of "night" traffic of the teenage drinking kind (and this was a nice neighborhood- not "gang-infested") and near parks that are wonderful, kid-friendly, and smaller. If I were considering another house that was near a park, I would visit at random times of day/ week to see who tends to hang out there and the volume of noise. If the park were larger and the venue for major activities, I would rather not be across the street from it, but would love to be close enough to avoid the traffic if I wanted to attend, but not get the brunt of the noise/direct traffic. Another thing to consider- popular parks with not enough parking means lots of parking on your street in front of your house, maybe even blocking your driveway to some extent (had that experience before).

So my short answer to your question is "it depends"

[Beardown91737]

Parks which host soccer fields can be noisy from 8AM to 5PM on Saturdays if it is rec league and also on Sunday if it is travel league. I am a soccer referee and I could be at one field and hear crowd noise from another park a few blocks away. If it is soccer or football, you will also have to put up with whistles. At least soccer is only one whistle per field. Football can be multiple whistles to blow a play dead.