Dockside Lane in Owen Brown, Columbia (Oakland: cul-de-sac, crime, how much)

[phokat]

Hi,
We are thinking of making an offer on a townhouse on Dockside Lane in Owen Brown Village in Columbia. Is this a safe area? It is close to Lake Elkhorn. I read the thread on this website on Owen brown, in general, and it seems that some pockets of Owen Brown are not that good - I want to know specifically about Dockside and immediate surroundings of Dockside.

Also, any comments on CradleRock Elementary and Middle school? It appears to have consistently performed poorly in the last few years. Would appreciate recommendations based on personal experience. Especially w.r.t. property value on Dockside.

[beilart]

Here is something to ponder: If one area is not so safe or not so good or you get a bad feeling about something in the nieghborhood, why move there? Anything that seems not quite right to you should be a red flag.

[phokat]

Well, the Dockside homes and immediately neighboring cul-de-sac communities look really good. That is why I am confused and wondering how much of Owen brown should I consider when making a judgement.

[beilart]

Is there a way to check the crime data in that community? Also, you might try driving around the area at night just to see who is hanging out, and what goes on.

[SmokeyLisa]

You can look up crime on a certain street by spotcrime.com. You can also look up crime totals for your street and general neighborhood, using your exact street, on the Howard County Police website Howard County Police Department . It will tell you the numbers of crimes in your police beat, you should then compare it to other areas/villages to see how they compare.

Below is the crime stats for 2008 for the beat containing Dockside Lane. I believe this beat contains the village center so as a comparison I have include River Hill Village & Dorsey Hall Centers because people would tell you that it is very safe. Safety and/or perception of safety can differ by person so below are the stats and you can judge for yourself. Unfortunately, I do not have total number of residents in the beat so it is difficult to calculate an index. I have not found a good source for crime index by street or beat but there could be one out there.

Crime Statistics (Dockside Lane area)
SRA: 608
Beat: C3
Aggravated_Assault: 4
Burglary: 20
Disorderly_Conduct: 8
Drug_Violation: 9
Rape: 0
Theft: 125
Vandalism: 65
Vehicle_Theft: 18
Weapons_Violation: 5

River Hill/Clarksville Village Center
Crime Statistics
SRA: 505
Beat: D6
Aggravated_Assault: 3
Burglary: 25
Disorderly_Conduct: 4
Drug_Violation: 14
Rape: 0
Theft: 112
Vandalism: 49
Vehicle_Theft: 2
Weapons_Violation: 1
Note:

Crime Statistics (Dorsey Hall Village Center)
SRA: 212
Beat: A4
Aggravated_Assault: 2
Burglary: 15
Disorderly_Conduct: 1
Drug_Violation: 3
Rape: 1
Theft: 41
Vandalism: 16
Vehicle_Theft: 0
Weapons_Violation: 1
Note:

I'm not sure if you have kids or a just concerned about property values. If you have kids definitely go to the mdreportcard.org site because you can see performance broken down by race and free reduced lunch, special ed. etc. Although you definitely find some performance differences in schools, in a lot of case the difference is not as big as you would think and like for like students tend to perform similiarly amongst the different schools in the county. If you look only at advanced then there could be a bigger difference between the top and bottom but the average school in Howard County will be similiar.

For instance, white regularly educated 8th grade students:

Adv+Prof. Reading
Best Performance - Dunloggin & Oakland Mills 100%
Worst Performance - Murray Hill 92%
Cradelrock - 96%
State Average - 92%

Adv+Prof. Math
Best Performance - Clarksville 100%
Worst Performance - Patuxent Valley 79%
Cradelrock - 71%
State Average - 84%

Adv+Prof. Science
Best Performance - Clarksville 99%
Worst Performance - Patuxent Valley 82%
Cradelrock - 92%
State Average - 86%

So, based off of the stats, if your child was white (and I'm not implying that you are or are not, just a hypothetical) then at this school with bad reviews, they are outperforming the average white student in the state in reading and science but not math. Theses stats may not hold true across race, economics, etc.

Good Luck.

Hang out at the village center and find cars with school stickers on them and ask the parents. The ones sending their kids to private school and those sending their kids to the local schools. You can also hang out at Lake Elkhorn and then ask mom's at the tot lot about safety.

[phokat]

Thanks a ton, SmokeyLisa for the very useful, pointed information. We didn't go with this house, but at least now I know how to research different areas. Thanks again.