Moving to Colorado Springs Area (Denver, Woodland Park: rental homes, sex offender, crime)

[itguy]

I was wondering if anyone might help make a suggestion on where to look for housing.

My wife and I are relocating to the area in the next month for my job requirement. I will be supporting a data center that is located in the northern end of The Springs, but shouldn't have to travel there more than a couple times a week, the other days I will be working from home.

I have a 9 year old daughter and am concerned about her safety, schooling, and having friends in the area for her. It would be nice if she had a school that was fairly close by and had an adequate number of students for her to meet and make friends with.

We are looking for a 3-4 bedroom home around 1500 sq ft. or so to rent, and are wondering where to look.

My boss lives in Woodland Park and looked at a couple places there and in Green Mountain Falls.

I'm wondering how isolated Green Mountain Falls would be for my daughter and where she would go to school at as there was no public school listed there. Would there be many children close by in that area and where would she attend school?

Would Colorado Springs be a better choice given what we are looking for and if so, what areas would be good for a family with a child that age with a good school and safe neighborhood?

Any help or suggestions would be great as I am totally unfamiliar with Colorado Springs.

Thanks in advance.

[Mike from back east]

IT GUY: Good morning, and welcome to Colorado Springs. In the main Forum for Colorado there is a thread titled "Why Choose Colorado Springs" probably on page 2 of the threads listing. It has most of the answers you're looking for. There is another thread in there about "Schools in Colorado - Ratings & Performance" and there are threads on the weather too.

When I hear you say "northern end" of town, that's my area (I-25, exit 151 or 153). If you work up here, good, it's school district 20, which everyone swears is best, is very low in crime and has affordable rental housing in the Gleneagles area (exit 156, aka zip 80921). Use the zip code ICW the realtor web site to look for rentals, or use any realtor you choose (I'm not one).

s/Mike

[INtoCOinJuly]

We thought Woodland Park was gorgeous...but...it is colder up there and it is a drive if you are working on the north side of CS. If you only have to be in a couple days a week...it may work out well for you!

[gcoolidge]

Originally Posted by INtoCOinJuly

We thought Woodland Park was gorgeous...but...it is colder up there and it is a drive if you are working on the north side of CS. If you only have to be in a couple days a week...it may work out well for you!

I would suggest that before deciding where to live, try the would-be morning commute. Traffic on I-25 is getting horrible, particularly rush hour on the north side of town, and there's not much in the way of east-west freeways. Lots of folks love Woodland Park, but if your instincts are making you cautious about it, it's probably justifiable. It's colder at 8500 ft, and the commute might get old.
I disagree with Mike about District 20. It's good, but I don't think most people in Colorado Springs think it's the best. There are lots of nice districts, though, including Woodland Park's and the district that serves Green Mountain Falls (Manitou Springs).

[MidniteBreeze]

Re: school districts

D-12 (Cheyenne Mountain, SW part of town): Very exclusive neighborhood, excellent schools...rich kids with private tutors and that sort of thing.

D-2 (Harrison, SE part of town): most economically disadvantaged part of town...underperforming schools

D-11 (central Colorado Srpings, the city's largest district): serves the working to middle class neighborhoods. Individual school quality vaires. Better schools the further north you get (generally speaking).

D-20 (Academy, north side) upper middle class neighborhoods, good schools.

Surrounding areas:

Manitou Springs (just west of Co Springs) historic neighborhood in the foothills with a quirky, new agey reputation...decent schools

Falcon: NE of the Springs: growing very quickly...some schools have had to use "porta-classrooms" to keep up with the growth. Serves middle to upper middle class neighborhoods. average-above average schools

Security/Widefield Area (south of town): mixture of older neighborhoods and new developments (cheaper to buy a new house there than in town proper, generally). Average schools.

[CSColorado]

If you're not wanting your daughter to be secluded I wouldn't really consider Green Mountain Falls. District 38 is also one of the area districts with a good reputation- that is just north of the Gleneagle area- Monument schools. Generally speaking, the furthur north you go, the more expensive housing gets, and the more expensive housing gets the more tax dollars to support the local schools. But more dollars doesn't always translate into better schools- getting a good teacher is 90% of the battle.

[bashep]

Being that you are looking possibly into renting, you may want to look into the Briargate area. They have alot of great rental homes there. Excellent school district aswell. You can find the rentals on the "gazette.com". That is our local newspaper. I would also encourage you to go to the sex offender website and look there. http://www.nsopr.gov/. Happy to answer any of yoru questions. SHEP

[COflower]

I have lived in Briargate since 1998. I don't have children but the schools up here are excellent. My neices and nephew all go to District 20 schools but are in Distric 11 territory.

http://www.d20.co.edu/education/district/district.php?sectionid=1 (broken link)

I graduated from Cheyenne Mountain School District 12 twenty years ago this year. I don't know who said anything about "private tutors" but I don't recall they were ever available back then. I personally didn't like the place as it wasn't very diversified. I had come from District 11 so I had a culture shock.

District 20 gives you some of the best education.

The area is definately "soccer mom" but it's close to anything you may need. Good restaurants on the north end along with all the shopping you need. Lots of parks and quick to drive to Denver for more cultural and sporting activities.

Now with that said, a family member of mine is highly involved in Jackson Creek up in Monument. In fact, work on their website. I wont promote it by posting links but the Monument area is a nice area and the schools up there are pretty much top notch too. They are a smaller district. The area is not as harried as north C Springs but you get the best of both worlds even if you buy outside of Jackson Creek as you are not that far from C Springs.

Manitou, Green Mountain Falls and the like are very nice places to live. I don't know what offerings they have up in Green Mountain Falls for high speed internet though. I don't even know who is their main phone or cable carrier. I would gather they aren't all that far off but it is a gorgeous area but no little to nothing about the schools.

Good luck on your move!