Fun, friendly, walkable locations near north Boulder? (Denver, Longmont: renting, condos) - Colorado (CO) - City-Data Forum

sdmomto2 · 03-19-2010, 12:46 PM

Hi everyone. I've read a lot of great advice on this forum, so I *think* I have a pretty good handle on the generalities of the area. Maybe...

My husband is coming for an interview at a company north of Boulder, near Celestial Seasonings. While he's there, I'd like for him to visit some areas where we may consider renting or buying a house if the job pans out.

My criteria:
* Walkable community -- I LOVE to walk to the grocery store, school, coffee places, a library, around town. I'd much rather walk than drive anywhere.
* Good schools -- I'm not too worried about this, as I've read that all the schools in the area are pretty good and I'm involved. We do have an elementary school aged child, and another who will be in preschool next year.
* Commute <30 mins. -- He has about a 5-min. commute now. I'd much rather have him home than in his car!
* House ~3br/2ba for <$400k. I prefer smaller houses with a somewhat larger yard for the kids (8-10,000 sf is ok).
* Safe neighborhood with lots of kids for my kids to play with. We're social.

Areas to investigate:
* Louisville -- How far from the town center is still walkable?
* Lafayette -- same question as above.
* Boulder, north suburbs -- don't know where to begin here. Any suggestions?
* Bradburn Village -- Is this too far of a commute?
* Other suggestions?

Thanks so much!
sdmomto2

chilaili · 03-19-2010, 01:26 PM

Celestial Seasonings is in the neighbourhood of Gunbarrel which is a primarily residential area with some office buildings where several tech-related companies have located (eg; Covidien) as well as the Leanin' Tree art musem and a small strip mall with King Sooper. Here's a link to some basic information about Gunbarrel: Gunbarrel Northern Colorado: Buying or selling a home in gunbarrel (http://www.eratradewind.com/gunbarrel.asp - broken link).

It is a nice quiet neighbourhood with easy access into Boulder, Longmont or Niwot and you could probably walk to work from just about anywhere. There are lots of condos and townhomes there as well as houses of varying size, plenty of space to walk around and open green areas for neighbours to get together. If it makes any difference, the Boulder Country Club is in that area too.

sdmomto2 · 03-20-2010, 05:41 PM

Thank you for the reply chilaili. I was under the impression that Gunbarrel was a bedroom community (i.e., houses, elementary school, and not much else). Is that not right? I was hoping for a library, stores, and "destinations" to walk to.

Bradburn1 · 03-20-2010, 11:24 PM

Hi,

I live in Bradburn and my husband works in north Boulder, very close to where your husband would be. The commute can range from 20-40 minutes depending on traffic, it averages 25 minutes unless there is snow or an accident in which case, it can be 40 minutes-1 hour (doesn't happen very often though).

As far as your price ranges goes with what you want for walkability as well as other wants, I think Bradburn is by far your best bet. You can walk to every thing you listed from Bradburn easily from a house in your price range which is not the case with the other areas (although I like those other areas, don't get me wrong).

Honestly, you can walk (and/or bike) to the largest number of different things from Bradburn than any other neighborhood I know of in the north Denver metro area, including a large open space with miles of trails. Being able to walk to urban amenities such as the organic grocer Sprouts, doctors' and dentists' offices, bars, restaurants, shops, several schools (and soon to be one more--they are building a Montessori school here soon) etc.. as well as having direct access to many parks and of course the open space is pretty unusual I think. I hate to drive too which is one of the main reasons we live here and there are many days that go by where I don't have to get into the car at all if I don't want to. I'm sure you've read other posts about Bradburn so know it's super, super social and filled with kiddos. It has a community feel like a small village, you WILL know all your neighbors, most likely very well LOL.

For other choices though, you might have a look at Prospect New Town in Longmont which is another new urbanist neighborhood like Bradburn--although you can walk to less from it (no grocer, school, library for example)and it has higher prices (but is really, really unique--it's worth a visit, trust me, wear sunglasses though). Commute time to north Boulder about 20-30 minutes, could be less in light traffic (I do it in 15 during off hours).

Also look at the Holiday neighborhood in north Boulder, although not sure you can get what you want housewise in that price range--still worth a look.

Another one I can think of is Anna's Farm in Lafayette. It's a small neighborhood but has some walking access to an adjecent shopping area which has restaurants, a coffee shop, etc.

Feel free to send me a private message if you have specific Bradburn questions and good luck to your husband on the job offer!

chilaili · 03-21-2010, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sdmomto2

Thank you for the reply chilaili. I was under the impression that Gunbarrel was a bedroom community (i.e., houses, elementary school, and not much else). Is that not right? I was hoping for a library, stores, and "destinations" to walk to.

No library but there are definitely lots of residential options and I think a school around there as well as the art and a car museum. You can also take tours of Celestial Seasonings. I don't know what you mean by "destinations". The bus into Boulder takes about 20 minutes to the central bus station and from there you can walk to the main library and downtown.

Katarina Witt · 03-21-2010, 08:48 AM

* Louisville -- How far from the town center is still walkable?
* Lafayette -- same question as above.

Most of Louisville is "walkable" from the town center, depending, of course on your own personal definition of walkable. The majority of Louisville is built on flat land, so what isn't walkable is generally bikeable. With kids, you'd want a trailer. If you're up on top of the S. Boulder Rd. hill, it's somewhat less walkable coming home, but that is mitigated somewhat by the distance, which isn't far. I live up there, and I'm 1 1/4 miles from the Safeway, about 2 miles from downtown. On the SW side of town, there is a shopping center with a Kohl's, Albertson's (groceries) and restaurants, which is walkable from many residences in that part of town. There are bike trails all over the city, so if you don't mind hills, you can get just about anywhere.

We used to go to church in Gunbarrel, near Celestial Seasonings; it took about 15 min.

Lafayette is similar, though different, if you get my drift. There's less of a concentrated downtown, and the city services are more scattered. I have no clue about trail systems there, though I know there are some. Commute times to Gunbarrel would be about the same, as Lafayette is mostly north of Louisville.

You will find more kids in the newer areas, regardless of where you live.

suzco · 03-21-2010, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katiana

* Louisville -- How far from the town center is still walkable?
* Lafayette -- same question as above.

. . .

Lafayette is similar, though different, if you get my drift. There's less of a concentrated downtown, and the city services are more scattered. I have no clue about trail systems there, though I know there are some. Commute times to Gunbarrel would be about the same, as Lafayette is mostly north of Louisville.

You will find more kids in the newer areas, regardless of where you live.

Lafayette has plenty of good trails, and many neighborhoods are walkable for day to day life, including to library, schools, grocery stores, restaurants, coffeeshops, rec center etc. Many of the trails (such as Coal Creek trail) connect with trails in Louisville and are part of the same trail system.

In Lafayette a great place to find kids and families to play with is the playground at Waneka Lake. You'll meet up with a micrcocosm of Lafayette's population.

edog80 · 03-22-2010, 01:25 PM

Some areas that came to my mind:

Niwot is a really cute town, but it's expensive, you might end up with something that needs a fair amount of fix up for that price in Niwot.

Heatherwood is a nice area, pretty affordable, there are some open space trails out there but you won't have a coffee shop or grocery store within walking distance.

Keep an eye out for the Palo Park area of Boulder, it's in the northeast section of Boulder and it's somewhat affordable, downside is that houses are rarely available.

The Holiday area of North Boulder is brand new and has some condos in that price range. None of them have yards but all use green common areas, but they will be awesome to walk around in, really cool coffee shops and restaurants.

Erie/Lafayette are good choices too, based on what you said, I would probably give the nod to Lafayette out of those two because it has a cool downtown area to walk around in.

sdmomto2 · 03-22-2010, 08:59 PM

Thank you so much everyone for the great advice! My husband will be in town for one extra day, so I think I have enough locations to keep him pretty busy for the day. Hopefully it'll all work out and I'll be on here again to get more advice. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Thanks again!

sdmomto2 · 04-01-2010, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katiana

You will find more kids in the newer areas, regardless of where you live.

Hi Katiana. I've been thinking a lot about your reply above and have a related question for you.

Are there areas of town that have a larger concentration of younger kids than others? I understand that some of the older areas (with the larger yards that I want!) may have some empty nesters as their kids grew up and moved out. Are some of those areas turning over (i.e., empty nesters moving out with others moving in)? I'd love to be within walking distance of a school (esp. elementary) and i want kids my kids ages for them to play with without having to drive them somewhere all the time.

Feel free to send me a PM about this... It makes me slightly uncomfortable asking such a question on a public forum, but I couldn't PM you... If you feel uncomfortable answering, I understand that too!

Thank you so much!