Concerned about moving to Longmont/Lafayette (Denver, Boulder: best neighborhoods, to rent, crime)

[Julia Garbus]

It's Weld County. That means the schools are worse than any other suburb.
Not many trees, lots of cookie-cutter new houses.

[eon-krate32]

never commute to Longmont from Lafeyette. Highway 287 sucks majorly and is now one of the deadliest roads in Colorado. As a long-time resident of Longmont (since 1996) I have watched the city go from being relatively small to booming proportions. Longmont has added a good number of shopping districts on all sides and is now focusing on new housing development (which in my area are $500k and up in price). The roads are getting much better and traffic doesn't get backed up as much as it used to. Longmont has repeatedly be named one of the top 50 places to live in America and has even earned the title of an All American City in 2006. Being a crossroads town (with 4 or 5 major highways and Interstate 25 not far away) Longmont has great and often direct access to just about any city in northern Colorado, although 3 of those highways are currently undergoing repavement. The taxes are fair and the water rights are among the best in the nation. But don't ignore places like Firestone, Erie, and Hygiene which are also relatively cheap but not as congested (however Erie recently underwent a residential explosion and may finally be feeling the pains from the rapid 10K resident addition)

[V1VrV2]

Originally Posted by Lupulin

It's a great place to live, and a great place to raise a family. Way better than Iowa, IMO.

You won't see me disagreeing with you on that, Lupulin!

Originally Posted by eon-krate32

never commute to Longmont from Lafeyette. Highway 287 sucks majorly and is now one of the deadliest roads in Colorado.

Thanks, eon-krate32. My wife would be the one doing the commuting and I worry about her driving the way it is now! Seriously though, it's good to hear a positive view of living in Longmont and I appreciate the detail.


Thanks again all for the feedback. Once we looked at everything positive and negative about the area -- and even considering the lackluster IT job market -- we still decided to go with Longmont. Hopefully the economy will improve between now and when we're able to relocate. While it's not a sure-deal yet (since we have to wait for my wife's medical license and other associated paperwork to be transferred to Colorado) we're excited about the possibility of living along the front range once again -- And, after all, I think one should be happy about the area in which they live.

[randomy]

From Lafayette, You can take CR1 or Hwy 95 into Longmont instead of 287.

[cranfordusa1]

Hi I live in Longmont and have commuted to Lafayette, it is a long, slow crawl. If you go to Main Street, it is faster, but the other alternative, not so great, 2 lanes. I like Longmont, my neighbor works at an affliate of IBM, works at home and also goes in-a 5 min. commute off of Pike Rd. Let me know if you want a nice cul-de-sac area, it is for families, and there is lots of empty nesters, too.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by 9042

What can you tell me about Erie and the towns around it? I have two kids, one in HS and one in MS. Seems like there are a lot of great deals on new houses. What are the property taxes like?

I disagree on several points.

1. Not all of Erie is in Weld County. The part in Boulder County is in the Boulder Valley School District.

2. The Weld County Erie schools are not "worse than any other suburb". With all the growth in Erie, Erie High is a very good school.

3. If you truly have issues with Erie schools you can open enroll somewhere else.

BTW, Erie is in the same SD as Longmont, and Niwot. (St. Vrain Valley SD)

[eon-krate32]

Well hopefully that won't take too long.

Where ever you chose to settle down I hope it's the right one for you! Good luck.

[qsr]

Since I live in Erie, I think I should defend it a little bit. It's actually a very nice town, if maybe a little bit on the boring/bedroomy side. The new rec center and library are great. Mainly I like it for the location and proximity to Denver, Broomfield, Longmont, and Boulder (all about a 25 minute drive.) Lafayette is similarly situated. All parts of Erie go to the St Vrain schools, which are overcrowded, but I don't have kids so I can't say either way how they are. There's other charter schools and BVSD nearby. Also Erie might have the best mountain view in the metro area.

Having said that, if you are thinking of moving to Colorado from out of state--FORGET IT. There are NO JOBS. Especially in IT! Our biggest employers are IBM and Sun, who just cut back month after month, creating a big pool of tech people to fight over the scraps. Actually I'm just warning you to look into the job situation before moving out here. Wages have dropped precipitously in the past couple of years, partly due to the influx of new people.

[eon-krate32]

Originally Posted by qsr

Since I live in Erie, I think I should defend it a little bit. It's actually a very nice town, if maybe a little bit on the boring/bedroomy side. The new rec center and library are great. Mainly I like it for the location and proximity to Denver, Broomfield, Longmont, and Boulder (all about a 25 minute drive.) Lafayette is similarly situated. All parts of Erie go to the St Vrain schools, which are overcrowded, but I don't have kids so I can't say either way how they are. There's other charter schools and BVSD nearby. Also Erie might have the best mountain view in the metro area.

Having said that, if you are thinking of moving to Colorado from out of state--FORGET IT. There are NO JOBS. Especially in IT! Our biggest employers are IBM and Sun, who just cut back month after month, creating a big pool of tech people to fight over the scraps. Actually I'm just warning you to look into the job situation before moving out here. Wages have dropped precipitously in the past couple of years, partly due to the influx of new people.

Actually that distinction goes to Longmont thanks to it's elevated portions of the city being well over 5000 feet with minimal obstructions from east to west. Although Erie does have some very nice views (especially from the golf courses).

As for the jobs in Longmont you forget Seagate, Xilinx, Amgen, and many others (including a Federal Aviation Administration facility) all have fairly large offices in Longmont. The FAA is considering adding onto it's already vast personnel.

[Neditate]

FYI Xilinx has had massive layoffs in the past 2 years as have Seagate and Amgen. No one is hiring.