A Welcoming Place to Raise a Family

July 31, 2005 New York Times

By ELSA BRENNER

EACH weekday evening, as Madeline Urena, a detective with the New York City Police Department, drives north to her home in New City, N.Y., she unwinds from the day's pressures by watching the cityscapes of Manhattan yield to the lush landscapes along the Palisades Interstate Parkway. It is a commute that functions like a decompression chamber, she said.
"By the time I pull up to my front door in Rockland County," Detective Urena said, "a sense of peace has finally returned."
After renting an apartment in the Bronx for a year, Detective Urena and her husband, John, also a detective with the city's Police Department, decided to move to the town of Clarkstown, where many of their colleagues on the force also live.
The Urenas bought a four-bedroom, two-bath, vinyl-clad Cape Cod on one-third of an acre in New City, a hamlet in Clarkstown, for about $400,000 - "much less than it would have cost for that size house in Westchester or Bergen County," she said. "And the first day we moved in, neighbors stopped by to welcome us, which made us feel right at home."
Although New City, the seat of government for both the town of Clarkstown and for Rockland County, has little of the scenic charm of Nyack or Piermont, two Hudson River waterfront communities, it is known for its schools. And because of the relatively high test scores of its public school students, New City has earned a reputation as a good place to raise a family.
Jody and Howard Bauer, who have three sons - Matt, 19, Mitch, 16, and Scott, 12 - first bought a small colonial in the hamlet about 15 years ago. Mrs. Bauer, a stay-at-home mother, is active in district PTA groups. She said that the public schools at all grade levels in Clarkstown "not only accept but actually welcome parents' input."
What You'll Find
Once the opulent vistas along the Palisades highway are left behind, the scenes along New City's local roadways become more prosaic. The hamlet is a community of 34,000 residents, with mostly strip malls and housing developments, a few condominium town house complexes, and an occasional historic home with a rambling stone fence gracing a back road.
The composer Kurt Weill and his wife, the singer Lotte Lenya, bought one of those rustic stone houses in 1941 and spent time there until their deaths (he in 1950 and she in 1981). The playwright Maxwell Anderson also lived in the hamlet.
For the most part, though, New City is an unprepossessing suburb that attracts middle-class residents who are priced out of more expensive housing markets elsewhere, said Richard Landman, an associate real estate agent for Century 21 Grand in New City.
Even though most neighborhoods in New City are modest, they are generally well-maintained, with tidy front yards, close-cropped front lawns and houses with freshly painted shutters.
In all, Clarkstown encompasses 41 square miles and includes the hamlets of Bardonia, Central Nyack, Congers, Nanuet, New City, Rockland Lake, Valley Cottage, West Nyack, all of the Village of Upper Nyack, and portions of the Villages of Nyack and Spring Valley.
After the construction of the Tappan Zee Bridge in 1955, and the Palisades Interstate Parkway and the Garden State Parkway extension in the years following, the population of Clarkstown grew rapidly, reaching 83,000 in 2000, according to the most recent census data.
What You'll Pay
Currently, there are 127 single-family homes for sale in the hamlet, ranging in price from $299,900 for a two-bedroom, one-bath cottage on a quarter of an acre to $3.8 million for a six-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bath brick colonial on 1.8 acres. The median price for a single-family home in New City is $539,500, up from $453,000 last year and $344,000 in 2001.
Housing prices are more reasonable than in other suburbs close to New York City. In Westchester, for example, the median sales price was $700,000 at the end of the second quarter of this year. In Rockland, it was $489,000, according to the Greater Hudson Valley Multiple Listing Service.
Last year, the Bauers moved up to a larger house, a four-bedroom colonial on an acre. Mrs. Bauer would not say what she and her husband paid for their new home, but comparable houses in the neighborhood have recently sold for $700,000 to $750,000, real estate agents said.
One of the most desirable neighborhoods in New City is a former summer cottage community of about 50 houses surrounding Lake Lucille. The neighborhood has its own beach and private gravel roads.
A renovated cottage near Lake Lucille, livable year round, goes for $500,000 to $800,000, according to Mr. Landman and his wife, Gloria, who own a small Cape Cod across from the lake.
The most expensive homes in New City are along Sky Drive, running upward of $1 million and affording expansive views of the Hudson Valley.
Although there are four town house condominium complexes in the hamlet, with a total of 500 units, none are on the market. When they do come on, though, a two-bedroom unit would sell for about $400,000, Mr. Landman said.
"Over all, with all types of houses in New City," Mr. Landman said, "you not only get more for your buck, but you can also find more land to go with the house and lower taxes."
As an example, taxes on a mid-range house - a four-bedroom, two-bath split level on about one-third of an acre, on the market for $439,000 - are estimated at $7,500 a year.
The typical two-bedroom rental apartment costs about $1,500; a one-bedroom rents for about $1,300. There are 14 rentals available, according to figures provided by Century 21 Grand.
The Schools
Most children in New City attend the Clarkstown Central School District, which covers 31 square miles and encompasses New City, West Nyack, Bardonia, Congers and parts of Nanuet and Nyack. About 9,600 pupils are enrolled in the district's 10 elementary schools, a middle school (Grades 6 to 8) and two senior high schools.
Close to 70 percent of the graduating seniors at Clarkstown South and Clarkstown North High Schools attend four-year colleges, with another 27 percent going on to two-year community colleges. At Clarkstown South High School, students taking the SAT's scored 563 on the math section and 531 on the verbal section. At Clarkstown North, the scores were 573 and 549, respectively. Statewide, the average SAT score was 510 for math and 496 for verbal.
The Commute
Commuters using public transportation to New York City have a choice of bus, train or ferry service. The latter is a 20-minute ride from Haverstraw across the Hudson to Ossining, where the Metro-North Railroad runs regularly to and from Grand Central Terminal.
Another option includes traveling by bus or by train from Nanuet to Hoboken or Secaucus, N.J., for a link into Manhattan, which takes about an hour and 15 minutes.
But many commuters, like Detective Urena, prefer to drive down the Palisades Parkway, over the George Washington Bridge and into Manhattan. Depending on the time of day and the amount of traffic, the commute by car can take as much as an hour or more, or as little as 30 minutes.
What To Do
The 30-acre public Zukor Park is the epicenter of New City residents' recreational life, boasting a community center, two lighted ball fields for nighttime Little League games, basketball courts and a playground, among other things. "Zukor Park is what New City is all about," said Mrs. Landman, who is also a real estate agent for Century 21 Grand. "It's about family."
In Clarkstown, there are 700 acres of parkland, four community centers, three outdoor pools, three picnic areas, 12 ball fields, a soccer field and five playgrounds. Germond Park in nearby West Nyack has two swimming pools, a water slide, a miniature golf course and ball fields, among other things, on 78 acres.
As for dining, even though New City offers only the basics - not much more than a local pizza parlor - fine restaurants and theater abound in Nyack, less than 10 minutes away by car.
"It's easy to go to Nyack for dinner and to attend a production at the Helen Hayes Theater," Mrs. Bauer said. "There are great dancing spots, too."
As for shopping, New City offers just the basics in that department as well, but nearby West Nyack is home to the Palisades Center, the largest mall in the tristate area. Shopping along Route 17 in northern New Jersey is also an option.
The History
Clarkstown was created by an act of the State Legislature in 1791, during George Washington's first term as president. Since Rockland did not become a county until seven years later, the municipality was at first part of Orange County.
What We Liked
Middle-income wage-earners are not priced out of New City's housing market, as they would be in most sections of Westchester County.
What We'd Change
New City needs a stronger commercial focal point, and it looks as if it will get one. The town and county are drawing up a revitalization proposal that is to include additional municipal parking, new facades for storefronts and new sidewalks and street lighting. They say the goal is to strike a balance in the suburb: to enhance commerce and attract new ventures but not to create sprawl.