opinions on Erie, Colorado? (Denver, Fort Collins: real estate, new house, landscaping)

[runnergal]

My fiance and I are looking into moving a little closer to the Denver area. Has anyone heard anything on the town of Erie?

[Count David]

The town itself, is, in a word, quaint.

If you are asking about the newer homes in the area, they are pretty much disconnected from the town and really only have the Erie address in common. The same tract homes you can find anywhere.

[drb85650]

Used to get some killer snow about once a year, shut off from the world for a day or so. But guess that isn't anything different from any eastern community.
Then again, haven't been there for 23 years.......

[sumisu]

Hi Runnergal -

I'm a slow runner myself Erie has a good city website and is a quaint town with a budget dedicated to town and school improvements. It's also a reasonable commute to metro areas. Send me a private message if you'd like to talk more.

http://www.erieco.gov/index.cfm?objectid=09B6B7EE-65BD-D40A-FB5EBB925AF83906 (broken link)

Good luck.

[Katarina Witt]

I agree with David's assessment. Also, the new houses are a bit more affordable than in some other places in the north area. I work in a pediatrics office in Louisville; a lot of our patients live in Erie.

[sunsprit]

At just off Hwy 52 and C R 5, we lived on acreage just a few miles NE of Erie in Weld County.

It gave us rural privacy with great access to I-25, with a Denver commute about 35 minutes away.

Unfortunately, when the UPRR was allowed to abandon it's railbeds and to develop the land it owned in the area for residential purposes, the character of the area changed. The Town of Erie platted out a lot of high density residential in our area, and it started to get heavily developed. It's hard to tell a lot of the area now from any other series of subdivisions in the North Denver area.

The only justificaton I can see for living there is if you can find a place you like for less money than closer to Denver, or if you need to commute to both Denver and Fort Collins. There's no advantage in climate, traffic access, schools, shopping, or amenities about the area. Snow and rainfall has a few "dry" pockets around Erie, due to the mountain shadows and up/down slope localized conditions; this can give you a bigger burden of watering your landscaping in the summer months, but less snow to shovel in the winter. Overall, however, you'll still be dealing with whatever snowfall is on the access routes to I-25.

Note, also, that the stretch of Northbound I-25 by the Erie area has a lot of descents on the rolling hills that ice up very heavily; the stretch is well known for multiple car pile-ups as folks crest a hill in the winter and find it nothing but sheet black ice with a number of cars stopped in a pile-up ahead of them and nowhere to go, crashing in slow motion with minimal damage. The big problem is the folks that come charging up the hills at 50 mph+++ on the snowpack and crest them, only to find no traction on the icy descent and a high speed/energy impact which can cause a lot of damage and possible injuries.

Be aware that there are a lot of old coal mines in the area and radon/methane gas emissions are high, so having a well ventilated basement is important. Due to the climate, I wouldn't want slab-on-grade construction.

[NickMan7]

I live in Erie and love it. The town itself works very hard to maintain it's roots - and is successful at doing so. Taking a walk through the downtown area makes you forget your surrounded by sprawling development and has numerous little get-together spots.

Recently completed were a new high school, new library and new community center - the latter two being directly south of downtown about ¼ mile. A new Children's Hospital branch just opened on Highway 7 just west of I-25 (that might be a Broomfield address, but it's right on the border with Erie and only minutes away).

While many thousands of people have moved into the area, it remains quiet and very family-friendly. There are multiple small neighborhood "pocket parks" throughout the area, as well as larger community parks. An off-the-leash dog park is available along 119th between Highway 7 and Arapahoe. Thomas Reservoir is an artificial lake 2 minutes from downtown and is smack dab in the middle of several subdivisions and has a great gravel trail around it for biking, walking or fishing. It's very small, but it adds character and an opportunity to spend time outdoors.

Boulder is the nearest large city and Erie could be considered a suburb of Boulder and/or an exurb of Denver. Boulder is about 15 minutes due west and Denver is about 30 minutes due south.

Half of the town is located in Boulder County, the other half in Weld County. Keep that in mind if you ever consider buying property, as Boulder County will be more expensive than Weld.

[POhdNcrzy]

Well everyone here has made some good and accurate posts in response to the OP. I have ridden my bike through Erie a bazillion times and I also had a temp job there for a summer in 2007.

I think Erie is cool. It is a little dinky town but the view of the continental divide and snow-capped Indian Peaks is superb there. The location is excellent, quite close to Denver but far enough away from the relatively ugly, crowded suburbs that surround that city. Very close to Boulder.

Erie is a beautiful, peaceful escape from the crowded Front Range madness. Erie is still in the very early stages of development. For example, Lafayette is similar but Lafayette has many old rundown homes and stuff. There are some very nice >$500k newer home developments around there that were built by small builders who put a premium on aesthetics and top quality tasteful construction. I wouldn't call them "tract" homes, although there are definitely some "cookie-cutter" developments around there as well. I think buying a newer home in Erie is probably a "can't lose" real estate investment.

I would love to own a home there someday because I'll probably never be able to afford one in Boulder.

If you like road bicycling, that area is pure paradise....

[steveindenver]

Erie is 30 minutes from Denver eh? Maybe speeding with zero traffic.

It is in the middle of nowhere -- but there are quite a few acerage lots up that way for (in relative terms) cheap.

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by steveindenver

Erie is 30 minutes from Denver eh? Maybe speeding with zero traffic.

It is in the middle of nowhere -- but there are quite a few acerage lots up that way for (in relative terms) cheap.

Depends upon the time of day when you do the commute, and obviously not in winter driving conditions when I-25 is iced up or there's less than the normal number of lanes open. Any traffic accident on I-25 will create a severe restriction in traffic flow, too ....

But, yes, from Erie to Denver's northside is normally done in 30 minutes in non-rush hour traffic, and does not need speeding. Downtown destinations aren't but a few minutes longer.

Rush hour is a whole 'nother story. The traffic can easily back up somewhat North of 120th on I-25 and be stop-and-go all the way through the downtown area of Denver. Best to avoid this time frame by leaving a bit early or going through late.

My commute from Hwy 52/C R 5 to Santa Fe/Belleview was quicker than my prior commute from Ken Caryl Ranch to Santa Fe/Belleview after the first few subdivisions went in at the KC Ranch and the Kipling/Wadsworth/Santa Fe corridors northbound in the AM became a slow drive for hours in the AM.