Why isn't Centennial listed as a city on City-data? (Aurora: transfer, established neighborhood)

[adavidson78]

Am I missing something? My husband is going to transfer in his job from AZ to Centennial within the next 6 months or so, and I went to get more data/stats on Centennial with city-data and it doesn't exist! No matter what population setting I put it on, it's not there. Does anyone know the reason why?

[Cupcake77]

Strange since they listed Highlands Ranch. Still not sure if they consider it a city or a subdivison.

[tfox]

Possibly because the city of Centennial isn't that old -- it was incorporated about 6-10 years ago (or so) Most Centennial locations still have Englewood, Littleton, and Aurora in their postal address.

[Katarina Witt]

Yes, Centennial became a city in 2001, according to their webiste. (Can't cut and paste the website from this server.)

But I don't know why CD then lists Highlands Ranch; it's not incorporated.

[cowboyxjon]

They probably list Highlands Ranch because it's a 'Census Designated Place' even though it's basically a subdivision in Unincorporated Douglas County.

Evergreen and Genesee are also CDPs and I believe there were plans to make Conifer a CDP, but the decision-makers couldn't agree on a boundary for it. I could be wrong about this one, but I'm fairly certain this was the case.

As far as I know, they might have just overlooked Centennial because it wasn't incorporated when the 2000 Census was taken. I suppose City-Data will update once all of the 2010 data is available.

[chilicheesefries]

I imagine it's because Centennial wasn't a city in 2000. Another city that wasn't around then but is now Castle Pines North also isn't listed. There are 2 parts of Centennial that are listed (Southglenn & Castlewood are listed and are now in Centennial).

I don't think it's the post office because if we went by mailing addresses Centennial, Greenwood Village, Cherry Hills Village, Bow Mar, Sheridan, Columbine Valley and even Lakewood (there is no zip code where Lakewood is the official city name, only a bunch where it is an 'acceptable' city name just like it is with Centennial where it is 'acceptable' but not 'official') would not exist.

[Count David]

Originally Posted by cowboyxjon

They probably list Highlands Ranch because it's a 'Census Designated Place' even though it's basically a subdivision in Unincorporated Douglas County.

Evergreen and Genesee are also CDPs and I believe there were plans to make Conifer a CDP, but the decision-makers couldn't agree on a boundary for it. I could be wrong about this one, but I'm fairly certain this was the case.

As far as I know, they might have just overlooked Centennial because it wasn't incorporated when the 2000 Census was taken. I suppose City-Data will update once all of the 2010 data is available.

+1.

^ Those are the correct answers OP.

[adavidson78]

Thanks everyone! I didn't think about the census info.

[LisaCACO]

I'm not really sure centennial has a unified city feel anyway. if you look at it on a map, it's all over the place. no one I know who lives in centennial has any feel for what centennial is, other than "not aurora" .

of course, that doesn't mean it doesn't deserve its own little listing, but it will take decades for it to gain some sort of community feel, if at all.

[chilicheesefries]

Originally Posted by LisaCACO

I'm not really sure centennial has a unified city feel anyway. if you look at it on a map, it's all over the place. no one I know who lives in centennial has any feel for what centennial is, other than "not aurora" .

of course, that doesn't mean it doesn't deserve its own little listing, but it will take decades for it to gain some sort of community feel, if at all.

I don't think Centennial will ever have a community feel because of the way it was set up. Just the fact that you mention 'not Aurora' to me signals the stratification of the city - it is a couple of cities mixed together. It has the eastern portion (east of Parker Rd.) which is 'not Aurora' and is mainly newer residential. And if you look at the boundaries when it incorporated it left out some subdivisions so it looks like a checkerboard somewhat. Then you have the central portion (between Parker Rd. & I-25) which is also checkerboard and has some good commercial properties but also left a lot of them unincorporated. And then you have the western Part (west of I-25) which is my area and is mostly 60's - 80's denser housing.

Originally Centennial was a hedge against Greenwood Village taking all the commercial properties along Arapahoe Road so I'm not sure how the far eastern part ended up being part of the city. So many things are different from the eastern and western parts - different water district, different park districts, different fire districts. I think that the western part probably has a better feel of community due to the fact that the neighborhoods are older and more established, there are more people (probably at least 70% of Centennial's population lives west of I-25), there are more commonalities (all of it is South Suburban Parks), and it is all Centennial (not patchwork like the eastern part).

It always crack me up when people ask what Centennial is. To me it's an older, established neighborhood bordering Littleton and to many on the board it's an area south of Aurora. And we're both part right and part wrong. That's why it will never have the community feel.