Walkable, pet-friendly, kiddo-friendly neighborhoods? (Denver, Lakewood: for sale, rentals, lofts)

[AntsInMyPantsDE]

My family will be moving to the Denver area from the East Coast and are thrilled at the prospect of living in such a beautiful part of the country with amazing hiking, camping and skiing surrounding us!

We are committed to leaving the smallest carbon footprint we can. My husband will be working in Golden. I'm an ESL teacher and am likely going to work in Denver, unless I am able to locate a job in Golden as well.

We are not fans of suburbia. We'd ideally like to live in a small, historic community (downtown Golden?) or in an urban Denver neighborhood, but would settle for a nice community in the burbs, if it was easily accessible by public transportation and walkable.

Our ideal neighborhood would have grocery shopping within walking distance and nice walks/parks for kids (1 year old and another on the way.) Even better, would be a neighborhood with food, shopping, AND A DOG PARK within walking distance.

We're not picky, we'll consider houses, rentals, apts, condos... Any recommendations? Thanks for your time and consideration.

[2bindenver]

Golden, Arvada, Lakewood would be my suggestions

[the3Ds]

You will find (especially after living on the east coast) that nearly all of Denver is pet friendly and walkable. That includes the suburbs. Suburbs have become popular places to be for families and when you find one you like, you will almost certainly find your criteria met. Not all of suburbia is full of minivans and chain restaurants. Many people just don't want to live in the city so they find somewhere with a convenient commute to raise their families. Colorado is now the only state that isn't considered "overweight." We don't stay that way by accident. People are always outside, whether it's for a walk, biking, hiking, skiing, etc. Nearly every suburban neighborhood has trails that run throughout it for the residents to use. It's a feature I have come to appreciate since I have never experienced that before (after living in numerous cities and states).

[steveindenver]

Stapleton. End of discussion.

[NameAlreadyInUse]

Originally Posted by the3Ds

It's a feature I have come to appreciate since I have never experienced that before (after living in numerous cities and states).

Of the newer developments I've visited, its a nice feature. The trend seems to have started with the development of Highlands Ranch in the early 80s where the gullies were turned into parks and trails, and as the city was built, the trails kept going. The Platte River Greenway is also nice, as long as you don't go much farther north than Confluence Park. I once took the Greenway up to downtown Golden and back to southwest Denver. 40 mile round trip by bicycle. You can take the Greenway to Invesco Field, Elitch Gardens, the Pepsi Center, downtown Denver, and Coors Field.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by steveindenver

Stapleton. End of discussion.

A little far from Golden, for those wishing to minimize their "carbon footprint". Also a little far if you value spending time with your family instead of commuting by any means, including the RTD.

[Bradburn1]

I love Stapleton and it would meet some of the requirements of the OP but it's a icky commute from there to Golden (about 40 minutes in rush hour), but close to downtown which is nice. Also with the overcrowded school situation in Stapleton right now I'm heasitant to recommend it for people with kids until they can fix or mitigate that situation somehow, but I've heard they are working on it.

I would look around downtown Arvada which is a close commute to Golden but a bit farther to downtown. It has a charming, walkable downtown, good schools, character, reasonable housing prices and the best nursery (Echter's, if you are into gardening) in the state. Not sure about a dog park though. If you happen to also get a job in Golden, I would look there. Nothing reduces your carbon footprint like reducing or eliminating (walking or bike riding) a commute by car (unless of course, you walk or bike ride back to a 10,000 square foot house LOL).

[suzco]

Originally Posted by Bradburn1

. . .Not sure about a dog park though. . .

Arvada's Dog Park (http://arvada.org/arts-and-recreation/dog-park/ - broken link)

Arvada's Off-Leash Dog Park. . .The park is located at 17975 West 64th Parkway - approximately 1 1/2 mile east of Highway 93 on the north side of 64th (just east of the Arvada/Blunn Reservoir). Open dawn to dusk, 7 days a week, unless otherwise noted.

[tfox]

Downtown Golden is your obvious choice, but it's surprisingly difficult to find suitable accommodation there. It is relatively expensive though not impossibly so, but the real issue is just that it seems like there's never very much available either for sale or for rent there at any given time. I suppose that must mean that those who move there tend to stay quite a long time.

The only other west metro area that could really be described as walkable would be the older sections of Arvada. They've done up their historic areas with the moniker "Olde Town Arvada" -- cheesy, yes - but it probably meets your criteria. It's a far more affordable area than Golden, and if you work in Denver proper it would be halfway in-between.

Or, possibly BelMar in Lakewood -- which is sort of a new-construction psuedo-downtown built on the remains of a demolished shopping mall. It's a little overpriced for what it is IMO, though one trick might be to live in a condo or single family home within walking distance of the development.

[AntsInMyPantsDE]

Thanks so much for all of your feedback! This is really helpful. We hope to make the move later this spring/early this summer.

We looked into and like Arvada, Lakewood and downtown Golden (at least online.) We've also been hearing that the city of Denver itself has some great neighborhoods, pet-friendly converted lofts, etc. Would you recommend any of these for a young family? Would there be reasonable public transit options for commuting to Golden?