Centennial (Aurora, Greenwood Village: homes, schools, service)

[2bindenver]

It's a fairly popular neighborhood. I have had several requests to look in thee specifically over the years. Small outdoor pool, Tennis Courts, close to Park Meadows & Light Rail.

It is south of Dry Creek & north of County Line, east of Yosemite & west of Quebec.

[suzco]

Originally Posted by 2bindenver

It's a fairly popular neighborhood. I have had several requests to look in thee specifically over the years. Small outdoor pool, Tennis Courts, close to Park Meadows & Light Rail.

It is south of Dry Creek & north of County Line, east of Yosemite & west of Quebec.

Don't want to hassle you, but hope you meant to say west of Yosemite, & east of Quebec? (Yosemite is east of Quebec.)

[2bindenver]

Originally Posted by suzco

Don't want to hassle you, but hope you meant to say west of Yosemite, & east of Quebec? (Yosemite is east of Quebec.)

Yes, you are correct. No excuse but, I was up at 4 am today, to take relos to the airport for a 6 am flight.

Note to relos: Please think of your Realtor when you make travel plans We are happy to give you VIP service, we'd just prefer it to be during daylight.

[goldenmom]

We looked in Willow Creek when we were looking to move. We ended up buying another house in Highlands Ranch, but we seriously had considered one in Willow Creek. I don't know if you have elementary aged kids, but Willow Creek Elementary is awesome! Also, the two middle schools and high school have great reputations. If you have specific questions, please post them and I will try to check in to answer them if I can. I will tell you that everyone that I know who lives there loves it!

[skiboy]

We just moved from the east coast in August, and after heavy research, chose Willow Creek based on location to DTC and the online ratings for the elementary school. No matter how much research my wife and I did, we felt that choosing a place to live from afar was still a crap shoot (though this forum was a tremendous help!). We narrowed it down to Homestead (next block over) and Willow Creek. Admittedly, Homestead was our first choice because it seemed a bit more "updated" - however, having ended up in Willow, we simply couldn't be happier. The school is absolutely unbelievable. It truly is! A true neighborhood school, no bus service - all the families are out walking to the school every day. National Blue Ribbon and all that, and heavy parent involvement. All this equals a very safe-feeling neighborhood.

Anyway - in just two months, we have gotten to know more neighbors than we did in 5 years in Virginia. Amazing, friendly neighborhood. Fantastic walking neighborhood, too - the trails and nooks and crannies can't be beat. You can find newly updated homes with large lots for great prices as compared to other areas (such as Highlands Ranch or Greenwood). Only complaint? I wish people would stain their fences...

[movingtocolorado]

Originally Posted by tfox

Centennial is just a few years old. It all used to be simply unincorporated Arapahoe County, and addresses would say "Littleton", "Englewood", "Aurora" depending on which post office was handling the particular subdivision.

A few years ago, a very aggressive neighboring suburb (Greenwood Village) was threatening to annex out only the sales-tax generating commercial areas from the county, essentially starving the unincorporated residential areas of any funds. GV did manage to grab some of the plum sales tax areas around I-25 and Arapahoe Road before the county citizens could get their act together and put a to stop Greenwood Village's further expansion. The only way to do it was to create a new city (Centennial), since one city cannot be forcibly annexed by another. It's a good thing that the citizens were successful, or Arapahoe County would have ended up in a real fiscal nightmare. The disadvantage is that now the citizens of Centennial have to work to fund city services with the remaining tax base, which is still weak due to GV's initial annexation.

That history aside, Centennial doesn't at the current time have much of a mentality of a city, since its creation was more defensive than anything. The subdivisions tend to exist on their own, and subdivisions close to, say Littleton tend to think of themselves as "Littleton", those close to Aurora tend to think of themselves as Aurora, etc

What Centennial does have, in parts, is a nice, central location in commuting to Tech Center jobs (and beyond). By avoiding the dreaded C-470, Centennial residents can shorten their commute to the major employment centers (DTC and downtown Denver) over other locations (i.e., Littleton, HR, Castle Rock, etc).

This is very interesting and helpful information. Do you have a sense of whether home values in Centennial will go up once the growing pains of becoming a city dissipate and they have it all under control? I would think that they would because of the great location and because many of the neighoporhoods are "scrape-ready". What do you think? We can attest to the phenomenal quality of the schools since we have opted for open enrollment at Newton MS for their IB program (still a candidate school but will get approval soon) and we are incredibly happy with our decision.

[BillRadio]

Originally Posted by Seattleborn

That seems to be a popular family area. So what can you tell me about Centennial? I went to the city web page. I saw a nice neighborhood called Piney Creek.

Piney Creek and surrounding developments do not fit your discription. Residents there pride themselves on NOT having an "urban" environment, but more of "country in the city." People there favor streets without curbs or sidewalks, and, while kids do play together, it isn't as easy to meet the neighborhood kids as it is in a place like Highlands Ranch.

Also, while the schools are among the best in the state, you have a good chance of not having your kids in the same school as the neighbors. An example, in our neighborhood toward the south, my son is acquainted with about a dozen other kids in the neighborhood, NONE of which attend the same school! There are various reasons why, most of them are good reasons.

While there are plenty of amenities nearby, you won't find many pickup games or someone's house acting like a "host" for the others. Also, it is a maturing area, and many kids are going off to college. Most people who land in these neighborhoods like that lifestyle, but find themselves hauling their kids around because few of their activities are within walking or biking distance.

It is not unlike a rural town like Elizabeth where kids need a more deliberate schedule to get out. The "street" won't be your baby sitter. The farther west you go in Centennial, the less isolated these neighborhoods are, mainly west of I-25.

The original idea of Centennial was to be as much of a "virtual" city as possible, contracting for most city services. It has turned out to not be the best way to run a city. We have had excellent services supplied by Arapahoe County, but the two entities are slowly growing apart. Starting July 1st, Centennial will have its own Public Works Department. This is an unknown, but seems to be a result of dissatisfaction with the current system.

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by BillRadio

Piney Creek and surrounding developments do not fit your discription. Residents there pride themselves on NOT having an "urban" environment, but more of "country in the city." People there favor streets without curbs or sidewalks, and, while kids do play together, it isn't as easy to meet the neighborhood kids as it is in a place like Highlands Ranch.

Sorry, but your information is wrong here. Piney Creek is a suburban subdivision; there's nothing "country" or semi-rural about it. It is nothing different from Highlands Ranch. Piney Creek is surrounded by Aurora to the north and west, and is a completely built out area. The entire subdivision is part of the Smoky Hill HS, Laredo MS, and Indian Ridge ES attendance area. Every single street that runs through it (Laredo St, Crestline, Memphis, Joplin, etc) has sidewalks on both sides of the street with well maintained landscaping, not to mention sidewalks on every single neighborhood street. Perhaps you are thinking about "The Pinery," a semi-rural subdivision in Douglas County?

[ColoradoPro]

Originally Posted by formercalifornian

Anyone here familiar with Willow Creek in Arapahoe County? My husband and I have been researching neighborhoods near his office in the DTC, and we thought this area had lovely character...even for a neighborhood built in the 70's.

Any information (good, bad, or neutral) is appreciated.

I actually grew up in Willow Creek. It's a great neighborhood with great schools and shopping nearby. The pools are awesome during the summer, not to mention the beautiful design of the neighborhood (HINT: The name Willow Creek fits) - there are beautiful walking paths, benches, parks, etc. throughout the whole neighborhood. I think it took me 5 years to feel comfortable saying that I had been down every path in the neighborhood. I would 100% recommend a house in Willow Creek. Yes, it was built in the '70s, but all that means for you is that the greenery / trees in the area are much more established than an area like Highlands Ranch where all the "trees" are really just sad excuses for twigs.

[BillRadio]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

Sorry, but your information is wrong here. Piney Creek is a suburban subdivision;

You may be correct, but I am not wrong. There are at least 16 subdivisions in Centennial with the name "Piney Creek" in them. The largest of which is "Piney Creek Ranches", and my desciption of that subdivision is dead on. I look into those homes every day from Arapahoe Road. That area is bordered by Chapparal, Chenango, Foxfield, Antelope and the new Estancia, all neighborhoods with no sidewalks and large properties. You can view maps of these at:

http://www.cencon.net/documents/hoa_5.pdf

However, I cannot see into any of the other "Piney Creek" subdivisions to compare, and, maybe erroneously, can only guess they are similar to Piney Creek Ranches. There are no 6-foot fences behind the homes in Piney Creek Ranches, which makes them easier to describe. Also, Piney Creek runs through Piney Creek Ranches (you need to ford the creek to access some homes), but does not run north of Orchard Road where all the other "Piney Creeks" are.

I can appreciate the input from someone more familiar with a different part of the area as being more accurate about that area. But, you cannot say that I am wrong about the homes I see out my window. I won't argue the point, but I will support the fact that Centennial sports a wide variety of properties, some with sidewalks and homes on smaller lots, and some with no sidewalks, and lots from 1 to 3 acres.