Concerned about moving to Longmont/Lafayette

[Julia Garbus]

It's Weld County. That means the schools are worse than any other suburb.
Not many trees, lots of cookie-cutter new houses.

[eon-krate32]

never commute to Longmont from Lafeyette. Highway 287 sucks majorly and is now one of the deadliest roads in Colorado. As a long-time resident of Longmont (since 1996) I have watched the city go from being relatively small to booming proportions. Longmont has added a good number of shopping districts on all sides and is now focusing on new housing development (which in my area are $500k and up in price). The roads are getting much better and traffic doesn't get backed up as much as it used to. Longmont has repeatedly be named one of the top 50 places to live in America and has even earned the title of an All American City in 2006. Being a crossroads town (with 4 or 5 major highways and Interstate 25 not far away) Longmont has great and often direct access to just about any city in northern Colorado, although 3 of those highways are currently undergoing repavement. The taxes are fair and the water rights are among the best in the nation. But don't ignore places like Firestone, Erie, and Hygiene which are also relatively cheap but not as congested (however Erie recently underwent a residential explosion and may finally be feeling the pains from the rapid 10K resident addition)

[V1VrV2]

Originally Posted by Lupulin

It's a great place to live, and a great place to raise a family. Way better than Iowa, IMO.

You won't see me disagreeing with you on that, Lupulin!

Originally Posted by eon-krate32

never commute to Longmont from Lafeyette. Highway 287 sucks majorly and is now one of the deadliest roads in Colorado.

Thanks, eon-krate32. My wife would be the one doing the commuting and I worry about her driving the way it is now! Seriously though, it's good to hear a positive view of living in Longmont and I appreciate the detail.


Thanks again all for the feedback. Once we looked at everything positive and negative about the area -- and even considering the lackluster IT job market -- we still decided to go with Longmont. Hopefully the economy will improve between now and when we're able to relocate. While it's not a sure-deal yet (since we have to wait for my wife's medical license and other associated paperwork to be transferred to Colorado) we're excited about the possibility of living along the front range once again -- And, after all, I think one should be happy about the area in which they live.

[randomy]

From Lafayette, You can take CR1 or Hwy 95 into Longmont instead of 287.