Stonegate vs. Hidden River in Parker (sales, houses, neighborhoods)

[edg127]

My family is relocating to Parker from the Northeast and we're finally down to two homes and are looking for more info. One home is in Stonegate the other in Hidden River. Can anyone give us some perspective on these subdivisions? We have two small children, one will be in first grade this year.

[maciesmom]

Both are nice. Depending on where you work and what your activities are the locations might be important - if someone is getting on I-25 frequently, then Stonegate would be more convenient; for a person who pretty much stays in Parker, Hidden River is nicely, centrally located. Depending on exactly where in Hidden River the house is, you may not have use of the community pool. Hidden River is zoned for Legend High School (which just recently opened); Stonegate goes to Chaparral High School....

[edg127]

Thanks, commute is not an issue for us. But did notice just from visiting that the traffic on Parker Rd can be rough.
Pine Grove Elementary has a 10/10 great schools score, but Iron Horse is rated high as well at 8/10.
When you say both are nice, is one more desirable than the other? We know we'll have use of the pool in both spots. Both neighborhoods seem great to us, that's why it's so hard to decide!

[maciesmom]

I don't think one is clearly more desirable than the other. Both schools are good (additionally, there are 2 elem. schools in Stonegate depending on where you live - Mammoth Heights just opened in the last year or so). If the commute is not an issue and you are sure about the pool accessibility if that is important to you (I have a friend who lives in Hidden River who only found out AFTER they bought the house that the pool was only for the older "original" Hidden River residents - the newer homes were technically not a part of the pool community) then I would probably go with the house you preferred...Both are nice neighborhoods and have pros and cons but those of course boil down to personal preference ....

Another thing to find out about is taxes. I believe Hidden River is in Town of Parker and Stonegate is technically unincorporated Douglas County (albeit with a Parker address). TofP has higher sales taxes (don't know about property) - this can be significant for large purchases (ie cars). I don't know that there is a significant difference in services other than in Parker, if the police are called, Parker Police respond and in Douglas County the Sheriff responds. Because there is a lot of zig-zagging, either will respond in an emergency situation.....

[rusty289]

We lived in Hidden River for over 4 years. Although I liked Stonegate and thought the houses had a lot of charm with the stone fronts, our daughter was already in Iron Horse and we found a house in Hidden River. Iron Horse was a very good school for our two children. Hidden River's pool is simple and needs repair. The sides have tiles coming off and pieces on the bottom. Kids don't seem to mind but I did. The Stonegate pool on the northside is great. Newer with zero entry and fountains. I'd be there all the time if I could! It seemed like to us that Hidden River had more room between houses and wider streets but my house was built in 1984 where my friends had newer style houses although it seemed like a smaller square footage. Traffic on Parker Road really wasn't too bad. It has increased since when we first moved there with the increase of new stores & resturants but it wasn't a problem for us. Our house has a great view of Pikes Peak but it also had no trees and was very very hot during the summer on the deck and very windy since we were at the top of the big hill. I'd consider if I had direct sun on my next house because we couldn't be out on the deck enjoying the view during the middle of the day which is why we bought the house in the first place. Our street also only had a few kids on it. Not sure why as there weren't many original owners. Our neighbors were great but the kids had to go elsewhere to play with other kids a lot of the time. Both subdivisions are highly regarded but for different reasons. My trendier friends thought Stonegate was best where others thought Hidden Rivers view and house/lot sizes was better. If you have any other questions about Hidden River, let me know. Good luck!