Is Colorado Springs a better place to live today than it was 10 years ago? (Fountain: for sale, apartment)

[Colorado Rambler]

For those of you who are native to the Springs or long term residents, do you feel that Colorado Springs has become a more interesting place with all the new building and lots of people from outside the state moving in? Has Colorado Springs become more cosmopolitan? Are there more cool things to do than back in the day when the day when the Broadmoor Hotel still had its ski area and skating rink? Are folks still shooting up the trees on Gold Camp Road?

Two big fires have hit the Springs since last I lived there. What have the city and county governments done to deal with increased fire hazards thanks to more warming and more frequent droughts? How much snow have you guys gotten so far this year?

From checking pad-mapper, etc., it appears that a retiree like me on a fixed income is going to have the devil of a time finding decent affordable housing in a safe neighborhood. I can only pay about $1500/mo, and I need a 2 bedroom, and I would prefer a small house or a cottage over an apartment. Could I find a home in the Ivywild area for that amount? How about the West Side or OCC?

It seems like every few years I find myself revisiting the idea of moving back to my old hometown. An old friend who moved back to Colorado Springs last year has been telling me I should come back and check the city out to see what it's like now-a-days. He has a place in the Briargate area and seems to like it, but I think Briargate would be too expensive for me. I'm tentatively planning a visit to the Springs probably this coming May. I imagine I won't recognize the place. Will I be pleasantly or unpleasantly surprised?

Convince me that it would be better for me to move back to the Front Range rather than tell my friend that he needs to get his rear end over here to the Western Slope if he's actually serious about us spending our "golden years" together. As you can probably tell, I'm highly skeptical of me being the one who makes the move.

[mtngigi]

You might want to take a look at this thread to learn more about what's happening with housing prices:

Realtor.com economists predict Colorado Springs housing market as #8 hottest in nation next year

As far as your question - I guess it depends on what you liked about living here before. Personally, I preferred the Springs when it was a smaller city. I live in Manitou Springs and am thankful I don't have to deal with the sprawl and traffic next door if I don't want to.

Finding decent rents with reasonable prices is apparently getting pretty hard to do.

[Colorado Rambler]

Originally Posted by mtngigi

You might want to take a look at this thread to learn more about what's happening with housing prices:

Realtor.com economists predict Colorado Springs housing market as #8 hottest in nation next year

As far as your question - I guess it depends on what you liked about living here before. Personally, I preferred the Springs when it was a smaller city. I live in Manitou Springs and am thankful I don't have to deal with the sprawl and traffic next door if I don't want to.

Finding decent rents with reasonable prices is apparently getting pretty hard to do.

Thanks! I lived in Manitou for years. It's my fav place in the Pikes Peak Region. But going by pad mapper there's not a single rental currently on the market in Manitou. I doubt that I could ever afford to live there again unless the housing market goes bust. Were you impacted by the Waldo Canyon fire?

[mtngigi]

Originally Posted by Colorado Rambler

Thanks! I lived in Manitou for years. It's my fav place in the Pikes Peak Region. But going by pad mapper there's not a single rental currently on the market in Manitou. I doubt that I could ever afford to live there again unless the housing market goes bust. Were you impacted by the Waldo Canyon fire?

Oh yeah ... the entire town was impacted - we all had to evacuate - it was scary walking away from my home, not knowing if it was going to be there when I came back. Then the floods the following summer ... crazy.

Rents (when any are available) are insane; I'm so thankful I'm not a renter any more. If I had to find a rent now, I would not be able to do so. I'm not saying you couldn't luck out ... but you'd be hard-pressed to find anything decent and affordable, not only here on the west side and Manitou, but the entire Pikes Peak region. From what I read in that link I gave you, it's not easy.

By the way, you might want to look at https://ppar.com/ (mostly homes for sale, but there are rentals there as well.

[mtngigi]

Plug in this zip code on ppar: 80904 (OCC area).

I just looked out of curiousity, and a few rentals in your price range pop up.

[TCHP]

More cosmopolitan, no, not really. There are some different things to do now than there were then. Yes, some jackwagons still shoot up the forest. There are more shooting ranges available, but that doesn't seem to stop it. Public skating is still available at multiple venues. There are some newer parks open and some that are dog specific, but they also tend to be more crowded over all. We are seeing more local restaurants opening with some specialization in vegan, sustainable, or more varied choices in established cuisines. Many new brew pubs and distilleries, some with their own cafes. UCCS is expanding and bringing more medicine, services, and medical students with it. They bought Memorial and its affiliated services. We have a new performing arts center, co-financed by Ent and UCCS. Local theater groups are doing well. Fine Arts Center was purchased by Colorado College. Sky Sox are leaving town. Sanders wants to build a soccer stadium downtown. City for Champions keeps getting kicked around. People are seriously talking about Drake decommission, possibly even at an accellerated pace. Renewal groups are working on improvements to north and south Nevada corridors. Anschutz and the Broadmoor are still mega players and pissing a percentage of people off with their land swap.

Fire mitigation... the city is offering private property reviews to create plans for defensible space. There are numerous volunteer groups doing clean up and assisting with new mitigation efforts. Additional storm management systems have been added through out the westside. Local tv stations are getting better about hyping up red flag days and drought monitoring is spoken about regularly.

Rents are all over the place but trending up. Some values can be found in smaller places in west side and near downtown. Gotta look for them. New construction continues north and east, limited only by the labor supply. Some polarizing among populace is occurring. There are a percentage of people who never go south of Woodman and there enough services and activities up there for them to do that without being left out. Mega churches are much quieter than usual.

Traffic at peak hours in some places is getting bad. We are expanding and updating numerous roads and intersections to manage it. 2C dollars are going to paving existing roads and progress is being made. city has finally quit giving away services to developers and is pushing more cooperative and developer responsibility for some items, but we could use some more rules around devleopment.

A lot of good things are happening. There are also some bad. In some circles it hasn't changed much at all and it is still a good old boys network. In other areas, there are so many new faces and things its seems like another place. Crime is no where as high as in the 90s, yet we just had a pretty high number of murders. Reports of domestic abuse and rape are fairly high, is it really worse or has reporting improved? Military has several specialized units here so overall shenanigans are down, but they still sometimes get overzealous downtown on weekend nights.

[otowi]

I have been here since the 70s when I was born. I do miss some things that are no longer here - for example, I think something like the Broadmoor ski thing and alpine slide if it were still there today would probably do well due to the increased population. I am not thrilled with all the open spaces becoming sprawl and glad at least some of it has been preserved, but want to see more that way. The growth has brought more choice in things like restaurants but also more traffic, etc. Yeah if you go way up Gold Camp people are still idiots, and there's more people.

As for fire, there were some mitigation efforts, but make no mistake, it can easily happen again and probably the most 'ripe' area for a disaster imho is Broadmoor Bluffs/Cheyenne Mountain. We've had only a couple dustings of snow this year - I've never in my 43 years seen Pikes Peak as barren of snow as it is this year. I'm concerned about what that might mean for the summer, but we'll see.

I think Ivywild and OCC are considered kind of hot property areas, but you may still find some locations on the West Side with options for you, but I think inventory is low. The past year or two rent and property values have been rising at just about the hottest rate in the nation.

I think if you haven't been here in ten years the northeast side of town and Fountain/Security/Widefield areas may look different. I would suggest you consider Security/Widefield/Fountain for housing rather than NE - better traffic, a tad more affordable, lots of newer construction or older, etc.

Health care options I believe are much better here than the Western slope in general - I think that is a factor for 'golden years'. At the least I should say come and spend a good week or two and see what you think.

[Colorado Rambler]

Originally Posted by TCHP

More cosmopolitan, no, not really. There are some different things to do now than there were then. Yes, some jackwagons still shoot up the forest. There are more shooting ranges available, but that doesn't seem to stop it. Public skating is still available at multiple venues. There are some newer parks open and some that are dog specific, but they also tend to be more crowded over all. We are seeing more local restaurants opening with some specialization in vegan, sustainable, or more varied choices in established cuisines. Many new brew pubs and distilleries, some with their own cafes. UCCS is expanding and bringing more medicine, services, and medical students with it. They bought Memorial and its affiliated services. We have a new performing arts center, co-financed by Ent and UCCS. Local theater groups are doing well. Fine Arts Center was purchased by Colorado College. Sky Sox are leaving town. Sanders wants to build a soccer stadium downtown. City for Champions keeps getting kicked around. People are seriously talking about Drake decommission, possibly even at an accellerated pace. Renewal groups are working on improvements to north and south Nevada corridors. Anschutz and the Broadmoor are still mega players and pissing a percentage of people off with their land swap.

Fire mitigation... the city is offering private property reviews to create plans for defensible space. There are numerous volunteer groups doing clean up and assisting with new mitigation efforts. Additional storm management systems have been added through out the westside. Local tv stations are getting better about hyping up red flag days and drought monitoring is spoken about regularly.

Rents are all over the place but trending up. Some values can be found in smaller places in west side and near downtown. Gotta look for them. New construction continues north and east, limited only by the labor supply. Some polarizing among populace is occurring. There are a percentage of people who never go south of Woodman and there enough services and activities up there for them to do that without being left out. Mega churches are much quieter than usual.

Traffic at peak hours in some places is getting bad. We are expanding and updating numerous roads and intersections to manage it. 2C dollars are going to paving existing roads and progress is being made. city has finally quit giving away services to developers and is pushing more cooperative and developer responsibility for some items, but we could use some more rules around devleopment.

A lot of good things are happening. There are also some bad. In some circles it hasn't changed much at all and it is still a good old boys network. In other areas, there are so many new faces and things its seems like another place. Crime is no where as high as in the 90s, yet we just had a pretty high number of murders. Reports of domestic abuse and rape are fairly high, is it really worse or has reporting improved? Military has several specialized units here so overall shenanigans are down, but they still sometimes get overzealous downtown on weekend nights.

Thanks for your comprehensive update! A few members of the military always tended to get "overzealous" on weekends, so I'm used to that. Doubt if I would be hitting the bar scene much anyhow. Good to know that someone has taken Memorial Hospital in hand. It didn't have a very good rep back in the day, but maybe I'm prejudiced since that was where my Dad passed away.

The Springs was already getting lots of interesting eateries when I still lived there. Good to know that this trend has continued. Also good to know the city is FINALLY doing something about its roads. That's probably one of the pluses of an increased population. I simply can't imagine the higher number of residents now trying to navigate the roads of yesteryear. The city would be one giant parking lot!

Originally Posted by otowi

I have been here since the 70s when I was born. I do miss some things that are no longer here - for example, I think something like the Broadmoor ski thing and alpine slide if it were still there today would probably do well due to the increased population. I am not thrilled with all the open spaces becoming sprawl and glad at least some of it has been preserved, but want to see more that way. The growth has brought more choice in things like restaurants but also more traffic, etc. Yeah if you go way up Gold Camp people are still idiots, and there's more people.

As for fire, there were some mitigation efforts, but make no mistake, it can easily happen again and probably the most 'ripe' area for a disaster imho is Broadmoor Bluffs/Cheyenne Mountain. We've had only a couple dustings of snow this year - I've never in my 43 years seen Pikes Peak as barren of snow as it is this year. I'm concerned about what that might mean for the summer, but we'll see.

I think Ivywild and OCC are considered kind of hot property areas, but you may still find some locations on the West Side with options for you, but I think inventory is low. The past year or two rent and property values have been rising at just about the hottest rate in the nation.

I think if you haven't been here in ten years the northeast side of town and Fountain/Security/Widefield areas may look different. I would suggest you consider Security/Widefield/Fountain for housing rather than NE - better traffic, a tad more affordable, lots of newer construction or older, etc.

Health care options I believe are much better here than the Western slope in general - I think that is a factor for 'golden years'. At the least I should say come and spend a good week or two and see what you think.

Great info from you, as well. Thanks! I agree with you about the fire danger in Broadmoor Bluffs. In fact, I'm concerned for much of the foothills areas in the Springs. People are still waay too complacent if you ask me. I too am concerned for next summer and not just in the Springs. It has been abnormally dry so far this winter in the Four Corners, too. The mountains here hardly have any snow pack - so far. Keeping my fingers crossed that this will improve, but apparently its a La Ninja year, so all bets are off.

Parts of S.E. Colorado Springs weren't all that desirable when I lived in the Springs before. But areas do change, so I'll give Security, etc. the once over when I come out for a look see in May. Inventory appears to be low all over the Springs right now. Maybe I should wait until the coming Great Drought of 2018 and resulting fires have thinned the population somewhat. Just kidding!

Health care is a major factor in my decision as to whether to move back. Beyond a doubt, it would be easier to access the kind of medical care I need on the Front Range rather than way out here. On the other hand, all the people, increased traffic, fights with chihuahua owners at the dog park would probably send my blood pressure through the roof, so health wise I might actually be just as well off remaining here. I'm planning on spending up to a month when I come for a visit and that should be enough time for me to get my bearings and see how I feel about all the changes in the old home town.

I appreciate everyone's feedback!

[Mike from back east]

I added a poll to this thread to keep score; please vote.

[Colorado Rambler]

^^^

Thanks for the poll, Mike! I see that YOU think the city has improved, anyway. I hope other residents of the Springs will also vote. It would be quite interesting to see the results!