My son will be taking a job in Wichita and is looking at houses...
He has narrowed his choices down to a place in Bel-Air and one in Andover.
Young family first grand child wouldn't be starting school for at least 3-4 years, has another on the way.
He wants to stay on the East side of town where his job will be.

Good areas?
Suggestions?

Thanks

Either of those are fine places to live.

Andover is actually in Butler County, and there's a couple of miles of separation between Andover and Wichita. There's still plenty of roads to choose from when driving into Wichita, he won't have to worry too much about traffic during his commute. Andover has great schools. Andover has it's own Police and Fire departments, a Butler County EMS station in town, a hospital, a nice Dillon's Marketplace, and a great YMCA with a water park. Anything else is far enough away to not be a bother, but close enough to make a quick trip to.

Bel Aire is directly connected to Wichita in Sedgwick County...so it's like living in Wichita. The biggest problem with Bel Aire is being in the Wichita School District. Your grandkids would really be better off in Andover Schools. In Bel Aire, you MIGHT be able to go out of district to Circle Schools, but it's becoming more and more difficult. Bel Aire is served by it's own police department, SG county fire and SG county EMS. There's pretty much everything nearby in Wichita from Bel Aire, including another YMCA which I think also has a water park. Honestly, I'm not exactly sure where the city limit is, and what's Wichita vs. what's Bel Aire. Perhaps that's part of what I don't like about it.

If it were me, between the two, I'd choose Andover for the schools, the public safety agencies, the commute, and to NOT live in Sedgwick County.

ETA: There's not really a "bad" or "good" part of town in either of those towns. The worst places in those towns are miles ahead of most areas in Wichita itself.

Lived in Andover for 8 years.  I say Andover.

ETA - while Andover schools are "all that" we weren't entirely impressed with them.   YMMV, and probably will, as I doubt your son will have the same situation we did. But Andover schools beat the pants off of Wichita.  Personally I'd look at private/Catholic schools which we did here where we are now.

Thanks for the reply's, he is now considering Derby as well.
Any insight on that area and it's schools?

Thanks all!!

Not overly familiar with Derby schools as I live out near Goddard so I could avoid the Wichita school districts, but everyone jokes about it being an extension of base housing for McConnell as there is a lot of military down there. It has grown a lot since I lived in that side of town and they have some nice (looking) new schools and the area always seemed pretty nice and well kept. Living anywhere on that side of town, especially parts of Derby in line with the base runway approaches, be prepared for a lot of low aircraft traffic with the proximity to the base and several other airfields on the East side of Wichita.

town is kinda sketchy.... good pockets hard to find  what part he working in.....avoid 13th and oliver area... a quik trip had to close there at 12am when all others in town were 24hrs because of all the hood rat activity... ie murders in the parking lot.  i think

ill post a pic of a map with annotations  by an ex - drug slangin asian and cross examined by the daughter of a cop...

We just moved to Bel Aire a few months ago (from ghettoish South Wichita).  We're up around 45th St between Rock and Woodlawn.  It's a very quiet feeling area with nice neighborhoods and great neighbors.  It doesn't feel like Wichita at all to us, but we're only a couple of miles from all of the things we need- we love it.  

The water is pretty expensive here...I guess they buy it from the city of Wichita or something.  Also, the trash is bundled into your water bill AS IS recycling- you HAVE to pay for recycling whether you use the service or not.    

One thing to note as far as Andover goes, right now there's a bit of construction on Kellogg.  Obviously, it will be completed sometime in the future, but I think it's a multi-year project and can be a PITA to get around depending on exactly where he needs to go for work.  I'm not too familiar with Andover, but there are some really nice neighborhoods from what I've seen, and that YMCA and waterpark is definitely nice.  We have a YMCA about a mile or two from the house, which also has a nice waterpark.

I moved to Andover one year ago.  The schools are fantastic.  The comute in to Wichita is easy, my wife drives it everyday.  It's close enough to anything you want to do but has a nice small town feel.  The emergency services are modern and professional.  The YMCA is just a few years old and top notch, great programs for the kids.  I'm very happy here.

No to Derby.
maybe to Bel Air

Yes to Andover, very nice.  Great Schools.