Relocation Advice (Denver, Colorado Springs, Golden: best city, house, neighborhood)

[mikedee]

My wife and I are starting to plan a relocation for our family of four. We're planning to move within 1-2 years, and are just beginning to collect information on various different areas.

My wife works for Kaiser (currently in CA) so we are first looking at areas where Kaiser has a presence, which has led us to Colorado, and Colorado Springs specifically.

We would like very much to live in a mountain community, and won't mind a moderate commute (45 minutes would be okay).

Our kids are both school age (7 and 14 years), so the quality of local education is important.

Also, I will still be completing a BA degree, so having a four year university nearby will be necessary.

Any advice we can get in terms of which towns to look at would be appreciated.

[Mike from back east]

At this time, Kaiser is "here" but services are delivered via Colorado Springs Health Partners (CSHP). There are no offices or clinics here with Kaiser's name on them, like we had back in the DC area, maybe in Denver, but not here in COS.

Not sure if they plan to have a physical presence here or not, they haven't announced anything in their publications.

Use the Search tool to find our existing info on schools or districts or whatever issue you're interested in.

s/Mike

[bashep]

Hey there-

My step-mom works for Kaiser here in the Colorado Springs. She is a nurse that handles phone calls from patients, etc. She does not work in a medical office or clinic. Their office in up off of Research Pkwy and HWY 83. (same building as Re/Max All Stars). What does your wife do for Kaiser right now?
bashep

[COflower]

It's not a mountain community per se but Monument, Black Forest and such north of C Springs is a great place to live.

My brother's company owns a major development up Monument (can't say it here but I also do their web site) and my brother is actually moving to a remodeled house next year up in Black Forest.

District 38 up there is pretty good but my brother and his wife will probably keep their kids in the District 20 school they are currently enrolled in. It's more of a gifted and talented kids school than anything even though they live in District 11 currently.

But, Monument and Black Forest are close enough in to C Springs that going to UCCS (which is a school within the University of Colorado system) is doable. Colorado College is primarily a liberal arts school and since it's private, pretty expensive. But UCCS is a great school, probably one of the best within the system that are older than typical college age people.

I wouldn't recommend Woodland Park if college and working in the city of CS is important. It's a beautiful area but the commute, unless you don't mind it, can be a pain. Especially if you only have a couple of classes in a day. Monument and Black Forest are a good second outside of Woodland Park for those reasons. Plus, C Springs offers so much for kids to do, especially on the north side of town (Briargate and surrounding). Which is why my brother decided to buy in Black Forest rather than in Woodland Park.

Good luck!

[mikedee]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

At this time, Kaiser is "here" but services are delivered via Colorado Springs Health Partners (CSHP). There are no offices or clinics here with Kaiser's name on them, like we had back in the DC area, maybe in Denver, but not here in COS.

Ah, I didn't realize that. I saw COS listed on the web site, but didn't look closely enough to see that they are partner locations.

Originally Posted by bashep

My step-mom works for Kaiser here in the Colorado Springs. She is a nurse that handles phone calls from patients, etc. She does not work in a medical office or clinic. Their office in up off of Research Pkwy and HWY 83. (same building as Re/Max All Stars). What does your wife do for Kaiser right now?

My wife has worked for Kaiser for nearly 20 years, almost always in an administrative capacity in a business office.

Does your step-mom work directly for Kaiser, or through one of the partners that Mike mentioned above? If she is actually a Kaiser employee, do you have any idea how large Kaiser's presence actually is there?

Originally Posted by COflower

I wouldn't recommend Woodland Park if college and working in the city of CS is important. It's a beautiful area but the commute, unless you don't mind it, can be a pain. Especially if you only have a couple of classes in a day. Monument and Black Forest are a good second outside of Woodland Park for those reasons. Plus, C Springs offers so much for kids to do, especially on the north side of town (Briargate and surrounding). Which is why my brother decided to buy in Black Forest rather than in Woodland Park.

Thanks, we both very much like mountain communities, but I will look into Monument and Black Forest nonetheless.

We have a fairly high tolerance for commutes (we're originally from SoCal, and have been in Sacramento for a few years). But from what I've read elsewhere here, the highway from Woodland Park to COS is steep and twisty, is that fair to say?

--------------------------

One other huge factor I forgot to mention is why we're considering doing this in the first place. We're looking for the obligatory "slower pace" lifestyle, but not completely dependent from the needs of the city, such as jobs and shopping. So we're probably not looking for something like Montana yet, but Colorado seemed like a happy medium. For those that are familiar with California (both North and South), do COS and the surrounding areas really offer a slower-paced lifestyle? Or do they have all the normal trappings of a large metro area.

Many thanks!

[2bindenver]

yes. It is also the military/misionary headquarters of the west.

There are KP offices in and around Denver, along with good schools, 4 year universities.

A 15 minute commute with normal weather can turn in to 45+ minutes in bad weather. You also may be snowed in or out of your house. Is that okay?

Mountain communities such as Golden, Conifer, Pine would offer mountain lifestyle in the Denver metro area. They are all in the Jefferson County school district.

[Mike from back east]

Been a while since we've been to CA for vacations (Rose Parade/Bowl in 1995) or the Bay Area ... but will go back to see a few things in the future. Honeymooned in the Bay Area in '74 and visited the Bay Area many times on business. Busy place. We lived in Northern VA, the 'notorious' Fairfax County gridlock that is about as bad as anything in CA and officially considered in second place to LA traffic woes ... so yes, we know what you're living with.

Colorado Springs provides a very relaxed, slow-paced lifestyle. They roll up the sidewalks about 9PM.

Denver is much more active...less hectic than SoCal but you will recognize it.

Outlying areas (OA) of both cities are quite peaceful.

OAs for COS (400k people) are close by. OA east of COS is Black Forest on the NE side (treed) or open prairie due east of town. OAs west of COS are in the mountains, i.e., Woodland Park, Divide, etc.

OAs for Denver (2.5M people) are further out. OA east of Denver is mostly open prairie (out towards the airport). OA west of Denver is in the foothills and mountains, i.e., Golden being my favorite.

Commuting in COS can be done from OAs in 20-40 minutes. But in COS you may not need to get out to an OA to find quiet and easy-going.

IMO, you need to be very selective about the Denver area to find locations that are BOTH close-in and peaceful, but there are people on this site that can tell if such a thing exists up there, as I'm much more knowledgeable on COS than Denver.

I can honestly say that driving west from Denver towards Golden reminded me of driving around SoCal, where one "city" blends right into the other, like how Pasadena becomes Arcadia becomes Duarte becomes Azusa becomes Glendora becomes San Dimas becomes La Verne becomes Pomona... unless they put up a sign every so often, it all looks like one big sprawl.

Historically, Denver was a big RR town on main E-W routes and grew up as a major manufacturing center, a la the old style of city building (think LA, Chicago, St Louis). COS was more a resort/spa/military base, a second-tier town, that did not grow up on a main E-W RR line (think of old San Diego).

The difference between the 2 towns is pronounced. I like COS as it's more affordable for housing and I can be in Downtown Denver in 60-75 minutes for a show or something...then drive home and sleep in my own bed zzzzz.

Either way - YOU'RE GONNA LOVE COLORADO.

s/Mike from back east

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by bashep

Hey there-

My step-mom works for Kaiser here in the Colorado Springs. She is a nurse that handles phone calls from patients, etc. She does not work in a medical office or clinic. Their office in up off of Research Pkwy and HWY 83. (same building as Re/Max All Stars). What does your wife do for Kaiser right now?
bashep

Ooops....that's right! I recall the address in the K-P directory... strictly an admin office, no medical offices, and I've been by it a hundred times, and its only 3 blocks below the CSHP office where our doctors are.

s/Mike

[vfrpilot]

One other huge factor I forgot to mention is why we're considering doing this in the first place. We're looking for the obligatory "slower pace" lifestyle, but not completely dependent from the needs of the city, such as jobs and shopping. So we're probably not looking for something like Montana yet, but Colorado seemed like a happy medium. For those that are familiar with California (both North and South), do COS and the surrounding areas really offer a slower-paced lifestyle? Or do they have all the normal trappings of a large metro area.

mikedee-
We moved 3 years ago from San Marcos,CA to Monument,CO . It sounds like Monument is an area that fits this discription. We are close enough to CO Springs to take advantage of the shopping and services. Like Mike from back East said, Denver in not far, even closer for us. The weather is not as nice as SoCal , but is not as bad as most Californians think. Most of the developments in Monument have half acre or larger lots with lots of pine trees and hills. We looked at Black Forest, but wanted more of a neighborhood type enviroment for our 6 year old.
BTW- CO Springs was named 'Best City' in large city category by Money Magazine for 2006.
Paul

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by mikedee

-would like very much to live in a mountain community, won't mind a moderate commute (45 minutes okay).
-kids are school age (7 and 14 years), so the quality of local education is important.
-completing a BA degree, so having a 4-year university nearby will be necessary.

West of COS
- A true mountain town would be Woodland Park, west of COS. Teller County.
- 45 min commute to Kaiser on Research Pkwy "can" be done from Woodland Park... when conditions are normal. Rte 24 is steep heading west of COS. If rain or snow, driving time is a lot longer.
- Colleges here are Colorado College (private, $$$), UC-Col Springs Campus, Regis Univ (??)

North of COS
- Monument or Palmer Lake are sort-of-mountain-towns, butting up against the Front Range.
- Monument / Palmer Lake are a 20-30 min commute to K-P on Research Pkwy.
- Monument & Palmer Lake have El Paso County Schools, District 20, among the best here.

We had a recent thread here about Woodland Park where we talk about many of these things, and we've beat the school topics to death here during the past year. Rather than repeat all that stuff, use the Search this Forum tool with the following keywords or combination of keywords: Woodland Teller commute Monument Palmer school schools district college colleges. When using the search tool, better to click the radio button for "show posts" as some of our threads are quite long.