The old victory cry "I'm moving down the Valley" must be true, based on the number of housing developments and houses for sale. According to statistics from realtor.com, while there are 166 properties for sale in Hazleton, Hazle Township and West Hazleton, there are only 75 in Drums, 11 in Sugarloaf, 14 in Freeland and 12 in McAdoo.
Note the Drums and Sugarloaf numbers.
In Butler and Sugarloaf townships, housing developments traditionally fill up fast, and more spring up - only to get filled quickly.
And the cycle goes on.
In Sugarloaf Township, there are currently two active housing developments - meaning they still have room for additional construction.
The Meadows is being developed in four phases of 23, 28, 51 and 56 lots, respectively.
Township Secretary Judy James said the developers of the Meadows are coming in with plans for the fourth and final phase - only five years after coming in originally. That means, virtually 100 of the development's 150-plus lots are sold.
College Crest, behind the Forest Hills Inn and the Airport Beltway, has only six of 48 lots committed. But that development is relatively new, said Stanley Gorski, the township sewage enforcement officer.
And Sugarloaf Heights has 25-30, five-acre lots available.
More evidence lies in developments already filled.
Three developments with one-acre lots are gone - 50 lots in LaRock Mountain Estates - which Gorski said is on the side of a mountain - as well as 25 lots in Pleasant Ridge, and 25 more in Klinger Estates. That's not to mention the undetermined amount of lots in the various phases of the Brookhill development, in Sugarloaf Township and Conyngham Borough.
"Klinger estates began in 1988, and was sold out in two years," Gorski said.
In Butler Township, there are 19 active housing developments that could accommodate 2,345 homes.
Although only 1,160 have been built, the township's population has increased from 6,020 in 1990 to 8,100 in 2000.
Beech Mountain Lakes has the most new homes, 439 of 858 built since 1990.