Centennial

[vegaspilgrim]

Ok, sorry BillRadio if I came off as being a little snotty. No physical harm intended. Yes, you are right there is a semi-rural subdivision called "Piney Creek Ranches" and a couple of other similar ones off Arapahoe Rd. I lived in "THE" Piney Creek for six years (which btw is bigger than all the other subdivisions with "Piney Creek" in the name), so I thought you were mistaking the name for something else. It didn't occur to me that you were talking about the "Piney Creek Ranches" area. Anyway, the whole City of Centennial really shouldn't exist, IMO. The eastern parts should have been Aurora, and Greenwood Village should have annexed the entire western part. Unfortunately, GV had to get greedy, and Aurora wasn't exactly stepping up to the plate to annex their part, so that's what happened. A lot of the "eastern Centennial" residents, such as in my neck of the woods in Piney Creek, supported the new city just so they could have a new mailing address instead of having the supposed stigma of saying they lived in "Aurora, CO." I remember because even though I wasn't old enough to vote at the time, I attended the grassroots meetings put together when they were trying to get citizen support to create the new city.

[thedfly]

We too are looking at WC and a few other subdivisions nearby. There seems to be a lot of school choices. One neighborhood was Dry Creek Elem. and a few blocks away was Homestead. All three schools have terrific reviews. But I like what someone wrote about the neighborhood with no bus service. I think it would build more of a sense of community being out and seeing your neighbors. But we heard that Dry Creek was very well regarded... We originally had not considered this area at all, and have been all over the board. I'm thankful to have these honest posts to read through.

[GARDENGAL60]

Hi, Can anyone tell me where I would find more info on Centennial aside from the town's website? If anyone lives in this town can you tell me more about it? How is the area as far as housing, transportation, climate and crime.
Thanks for all replies.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Centennial is something like the fourth largest city in the state of Colorado with over 100,000 people. It is spread out all the way from Broadway on the west to E470 on the east (well maybe not that far, but it does go pretty far east). Centennial is a suburb of Denver that intermingles with Englewood, Greenwood Village, unincorporated Arapahoe County and Aurora.

You can find just about any kind of housing you would like in the area. Given such a large area, it would be impossible to give you any precise answers to your questions. Just do a forum search since all of this has been discussed many times.

[chilicheesefries]

Originally Posted by Dreaming of Hawaii

Centennial is something like the fourth largest city in the state of Colorado with over 100,000 people. It is spread out all the way from Broadway on the west to E470 on the east (well maybe not that far, but it does go pretty far east). Centennial is a suburb of Denver that intermingles with Englewood, Greenwood Village, unincorporated Arapahoe County and Aurora.

You can find just about any kind of housing you would like in the area. Given such a large area, it would be impossible to give you any precise answers to your questions. Just do a forum search since all of this has been discussed many times.

It may have been at one point but it has since been passed by Westminster, Arvada and Thornton since it is pretty well-developed without much growth and is also behind Pueblo, Aurora, Denver, Lakewood and Colorado Springs.

I can speak for the western part of Centennial (especially west of Colorado Blvd.). It is a very well established suburban area with non-cookie cutter houses and large (1/4 acre or so) lots. IMO it is one of the best areas in the whole Denver area for someone looking for this type of housing. It is close to shopping of any kind you want and you won't hear it mentioned a lot but it is within a short distance to both the I-25 and Santa Fe light rail lines and Southglenn is a center for many bus lines to get you anywhere if you like to be close to public transportation. One other aspect I like is that because of how it is layed out you can get around very well and there isn't the traffic problem or the huge highways that are loud and you spend several turns of the light to make a left turn (ie Wadsworth).

The Streets of Southglenn is a redevelopment that is Centennial's 'downtown' and they've done a good job making a very walkable (although relatively small) outdoor mall that is MUCH easier to get into and around than other similar developments of the same type because there are multiple access points on all 4 sides so traffic isn't funneled to one or two entrances/exits.

My portion of Centennial is in the Littleton School District which isn't as publicized as Cherry Creek but by many rankings performs as well or better than CCSD so in any part of Centennial you'd be in a good school district.

Centennial was formed in 2001 as a limited-government city (with less taxes) and has foudn that this isn't always possible so taxes have been creaping up as the city takes over more and more services that were contracted with the county for but it's still low compared to other parts of Denver Metro. Arapahoe County Sheriff is contracted for law enforcement services and is one of the top agencies around - watch for the speed traps though! Public Works is contracted out as well and snow removal is not as good as it was when they contracted with Arapahoe County and not as good as surrouding cities (Littleton, Englewood, etc). It is in the Arapahoe Library District which along with Douglas County Library District are generally rated the 2 best in the state (you can go to either and use it the same as a resident of one - you can go to any library in the state and do this).

You will easily be able to find neighborhoods without HOA in this part of town which is a plus and a minus although for the most part there isn't blight or problems as this is a mainly established area so the residents take pride in their homes.

[the3Ds]

Originally Posted by rebagirl

I've read all of the posts regarding Centennial/ Aurora, and because I have family in Aurora (80011), I'd like to be in close proximity. I'm curious about the 80015 area, specifically to the west of Smoky Hill and near Buckley Rd. The schools would be Trails West, Falcon Creek and Grandview (Cherry Creek District). Is the area fairly safe? Are neighborhoods well-kept? Is there noise pollution from nearby Buckley Air Force Base? Any first-hand knowledge of the schools? I've also researched Parker and Littleton, as well as the other section of Centennial that falls under the Littleton Public school district. I know that once we finally find jobs, that will determine to some extent where we'll end up. However, I still think it's a good idea to find the decent areas ahead of time. If anyone has info on this particular area of Centennial or comments on other areas even, please let me know. Thanks so much!

You are talking about my neighborhood area, so I can give you some facts. The area is very safe. This is due to a few reasons...it's a newer area, it's considered to be in the "middle of nowhere" (though no one who calls it that seem to ever give us their definition of "somewhere") so most criminal activity is limited to those who live here, and most of the people who live here moved here specifically for the excellent school district and will do whatever we have to in order for it to continue and keep our neighborhoods safe and well maintained. It's not utopia...some would hate the "soccer mom" feeling or the fact that there are minivans and chain restaurants everywhere, but the vast majority of people embrace the suburbia feeling and take pride in their homes. For me, that makes it a great place to live. Add the parks full of kids, the trails full of people exercising and walking their dogs, and the school activities full of participants...it's a recipe for a great life and place to raise your family.

Buckley AFB IS nearby but I've never really been bothered by the noise. It's not THAT noisy...but you DO hear the planes...especially when they're doing "war-games" because you can HEAR the jets before you actually SEE them. Occasionally you also hear the planes from DIA. Again, though...it's never really been something that bothers me and we've got small kids and are outside a lot. It's more like "background noise" than something that would make you stop, look up in the sky, and be annoyed. Most of the kids I know think it's cool.

As far as the commute goes, though I love this area and think you would too, I would not recommend you commute to downtown every day. We take the occassional trip downtown for nice dinners, to get my hair done, to see a Rockie's game, to see a show. From our house, it takes 35 minutes to LoDo. But...we also travel when it's NOT rush hour. Add rush hour traffic (if you went on the 470 and then connected to the I-70...the I-70 has horrid traffic) or a snow day, and you're talking probably closer to an hour. I've lived in places where an hour commute was necessary because the only safe communities with good schools were located FAR from the main workcenters...but Denver isn't that way. I love Cherry Creek School District. I'm actively involved in my local schools and attend lots of school district meetings so I can see what's happening, but even as much as I love it, I don't think an hour's drive EACH WAY is worth it. The school district, however, is a big one (it's the 4th largest in the state) so it encompasses a large area. There are plenty of us that avoid the toll road by taking some of the back roads and perhaps if you are really firm on living where you've mentioned, you can ask a few neighbors about how they get to work. Perhaps there are some easy, main thoroughfares that take many people in that neighborhood to downtown. You also should consider taking the train, if you can.

If you look at the district map...

http://www.ccsd.k12.co.us/documents/...istrictMap.pdf

you'll see the area you are looking at is on the east edge of the boundaries that the district services. You need to head west to shorten your commute time.

As far as the schools go, I know the PTO committee from Trails West and they seem to have a great community for their school like we do. I don't know about the middle school, but Grandview High School is excellent. It sits in all it's "glory" at the top of a hill and everytime someone comes to visit and we drive by, they always ask if it's a community college because it's so massive. I know a few people with older kids who either go there or have graduated and all were very pleased with their experiences there.