Conifer, Colorado Info Please (Denver, Colorado Springs: hair salon, vacation home, purchasing)

[cbtj]

Hello,

I was interested in any information you can give me on Conifer, Colorado. My family and I are thinking about it for possible relocation from the east coast. The houses and lot sizes seem to be what we are looking for but is it remote? Some of the houses have a log cabin/vacation home feel, do most people use it as a second home or are the residents full time? Approximately, what would it cost to heat a 3,000-4,000 sq. ft. home with propane, as most of them seem to have propane. We have a high schooler and Conifer High School seems to be well rated but I noticed there was a drug issue a few years ago, is that still a concern? Is there more snow/weather to be concerned with vs living in the Littleton/Roxborough area near Lockheed? Any and all info you can give would be appreciated. Thank you!

[alliern]

Hello again ~ Since I have lived in the Conifer area for the past 5 years (originally from the east coast) I can give you all of the information that you are asking about.

I would not consider Conifer to be remote. In Aspen Park (the main "hub" for Conifer) there are two huge supermarkets, Safeway and King Soopers. There are restaurants, dry cleaners, hair salons, spas, doctors' offices, auto shops, gift shops, hardware stores, etc. There is no large shopping mall or movie theater but, everything you need on a daily basis is here. If you are looking for a Costco the closest one is about 25 minutes down in Littelton on the corner of Quincy and Wadsworth. There's also every other store you'll ever need along Wadsworth. Movie theaters and every other suburban request can be met within a 25 minute drive on a highway.

That being said, there are areas of Conifer that will allow you to be more remote...if you live on top of Conifer Mountain or a few miles down Richmond Hill Road off of Shiloh or something like that. There are plenty of nice areas that allow you to live closer to Highway 285. I live about 5 minutes from 285 in what is really South Evergreen but, I do all of my everyday shopping in Aspen Park. A huge majority of people that live here do so full-time, year round. I know a few people that live here 6 months out of the year that are retired and also have a home in Arizona or the like. Quite a few people have ski homes in Breck or someplace as well and use them on the weekends and over the holiday breaks. For the most part, residents of Conifer are full-time. It's not too easy to find a "native". Most folks have come from some other part of the country and relocated here at some point. That makes it easier to meet people.

Most homes with propane will also have either a fireplace or woodstove to help out with heating. For any home you are interested in purchasing, you can call the utility company and find out the high, low and average for past 12 months. My home has natural gas and my most expensive heating bill was $300 for one month to heat 3500 finished sq. ft.

Conifer High School is highly regarded by many people that I know that have children in the school. I can put you in touch with 30-40 families that I know personally that have kids that attend the high school. They'd be happy to talk to you about it. My oldest is in 7th grade so we're not quite there yet. From what I hear, there are drugs in every high school. It's part of reality. I don't know of any rampant drug issues with either Conifer or Evergreen HS but, there are kids using drugs in every high school across the country. I spent 12 years as a Pediatric RN and saw everything in the hospital that I worked in. Still hear stories from all of my colleagues and friends that still remain in Pediatrics.

As far as weather is concerned...if it is snowing in Denver, it is probably snowing up in Conifer. We typically get a few more inches with each snowstorm than the folks who live in the metro area. That being said, our roads are plowed much better then the roads "down the hill". Our side roads get plowed here whereas, subdivision roads in Littleton (for example) do not. Highway 285 is extremely well maintained by the roads crew. There are tons of people that live up here and need to commute into Denver for work.

Hope this was helpful! Good Luck with your search for the perfect place to live. After 5 years here, I still pinch myself!

[2bindenver]

If you are working in Waterton Canyon, explore living closer than Conifer first. If where you live is not a not paved road, you need to rely on your neighbors to plow.

[Colorado^]

I lived in Conifer for a few years. It's great IMHO... a good compromise between the suburbs and the real high country. Check out Kings Valley for AWESOME views all the way to Colorado Springs.

A southern exposure is worth it's weight in gold. I almost never had to clear our paved driveway. And we had great passive solar with a wall of south facing windows. On sunny days in winter, it would get to 80+ in the house and the heater only ran at night.

It cost us around $300 a month for propane in the coldest months. The house was 3,000 sqft.

The commute can be a total PITA when it snows. There's always a pair of selfish drivers creating a rolling road block by driving side by side for miles at a time with their FWD cars with bald tires. You see that way they can't be passed and don't have to deal with crud getting flung up onto their windscreens.

Conifer is close to the Pike National Forest (~ a million acres), so if you're into camping, hiking and mountain biking you will love the location.

The Safeway in Conifer is a flagship store and is head and shoulders above your typical Safeway. Conifier medical center is also top notch.

The only down side is the lack of good fine dinning. But for that Evergreen is pretty accessible via hwy 74 in about 1/2 an hour.

Also watch out for the cops in Turkey Creek Canyon on hwy 285.

[otterprods]

I know that they have one of the most popular and reportedly well designed Disc Golf Courses in the state there, although I have not actually played it yet.

[cbtj]

Thank you everyone, excellent information, I appreciate your time!

[mayra285]

Hi, I lived in Conifer for the past 10 years. Love it up here, the commute to Downtown Denver is approx 40min's, Waterton Canyon 30min's. You can use Hwy 285 or Pleasant Park Rd to Hi Grade Rd and work your way down to SW Littleton/Wateron Canyon area. You may also want to consider Mountain Morrison and Littleton.. Check out the following website recolorado.com. Go to the map section and select anything west of 470 along the 285 corridor. This website is provided by our local MLS and it's the very same site that Realtor s use when searching for properties. Good luck!!

[Lost Roses]

Originally Posted by mayra285

You can use Hwy 285 or Pleasant Park Rd to Hi Grade Rd and work your way down to SW Littleton/Wateron Canyon area.!

Just curious, do people really use the Hi-Grade Road for commuting? Granted, I haven't been up there in years, but I remember it as a narrow cliff-hugging dirt road with a terrifying sheer drop off. Must have been improved?

[mayra285]

Originally Posted by Lost Roses

Just curious, do people really use the Hi-Grade Road for commuting? Granted, I haven't been up there in years, but I remember it as a narrow cliff-hugging dirt road with a terrifying sheer drop off. Must have been improved?

it's paved now and we have guardrails in place. I prefer Hi Grade over 285, not as many drivers.

[Lost Roses]

Thanks, Mayra, I had no clue. Last time we were up there a tree had fallen over the road effectively blocking it. There was no way we could back up so we had to move it which took some time. Thank heavens it wasn't any bigger than we could handle!