Living Colorado Springs » Neighborhoods

Annual Colorado Springs Home Values Report Released

Rick Van Wieren — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 15:38:00 +0000

There are lots of ways that home values get reported in Colorado Springs. Many of us as agents track this tightly, the Pikes Peak Association of Realtors definitely makes a major effort, and the El Paso County Assessors office takes its own swing at the issue. But this is one area where I really have to tip my hat to our only daily Colorado Springs newspaper, The Gazette.

Today they released their annual Home Values section. I like this particular section, because it is probably the most in-depth look at housing values at a neighborhood level that we ever see without doing it ourselves. They include the assessors office data, and they identify foreclosure information, too often overlooked in other analysis. I don’t always agree with the way they break down the neighborhoods, there can be a huge swing in the number of homes they include in each, but none of this kind of work is perfect.

Their numbers correlate with, but don’t match, prior analysis released by PPAR. They show prices fell 8% during 2009 (compared to 6.2% reported by PPAR). The online version of the report is very interactive, enjoy playing with it! The Gazette’s Online Annual Home Values Report

Old Farm Neighborhood Residents Taking Ownership

Rick Van Wieren — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:34:20 +0000

I’d guess that Colorado Springs budget woes have become famous about everywhere in the country by now. Not that they are actually that much worse than most places (what town is not feeling the pinch right now?), but Colorado Springs is more famous for how decisively the city council has acted. In particular, everyone seems to have heard about the hit that the Colorado Springs city parks maintenance budget has taken. I’m not going to spend a lot time talking about whether they were right or wrong in their decisions, but rather about how one neighborhood has responded.

Old Farm is tucked up against a ridge on the north-eastern part of the city. It has always been popular because of its great views, parks and trails, and good schools. Old Farm Park itself has all the great elements of a Colorado Springs City Park, with rock formations, a hiking trail that goes through it (The Homestead Ridge Trail is a 7 mile scenic trail), playground equipment, and a nice spacious grassy area perfect for throwing a football or Frisbee.

When the city announced they would be cutting off trash collection, watering and fertilizing at the neighborhood parks (as opposed to the large, more famous regional parks such as Garden of the Gods), Old Farm families decided to do something. Not picket, not protest, not get mad, but something constructive. The banded together, met with the city parks department, and came up with a plan to keep their park from going downhill. 48 families signed up for weekly trash removal and cleanup duties. A fundraising effort is underway to augment the watering and fertilizing schedules, so the turf won’t die. People are involved.

I guess if you are going to have a budget crisis, is there a better outcome than having neighbors working together to keep it from adversely affecting their neighborhood?

The following is a current list of homes for sale in the 3 subdivision that make up the generic Old Farm area (Old Farm, Starwatch and The Ridge subdivsions). For RSS reader, this link allows you to see the same information

Colorado Springs City Budget Woes

Rick Van Wieren — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:15:57 +0000

Colorado Springs has a budget problem. Yawn. So does about every city, state and county in the country. The Federal government is about the only entity out there than can just print or borrow money when they are short. For those living in Colorado Springs, there are also some other issues however.

1. Every government entity in Colorado is required to have a balanced budget. That means the city can’t hit their Visa card to pay for services.

2. Taxes cannot be raised without a general referendum here. In fact, if tax collections rise as a result of, say higher auto sales, they can’t even keep the money without a vote. This law, called TABOR, has made it very difficult for cities to figure out how to maintain services.

3. Coloradans in general, and residents of El Paso County in particular (of which Colorado Springs is the bulk of) are pretty tax resistant. The recession hasn’t ignored us here, and with many either unemployed or underemployed, more taxes are not exactly on the morning breakfast menu when they wake up. Low taxes are in part why our cost of living is 7.7% below the national average.

At a national level, the debates rage over “guns vs butter”. To be more specific, defense spending vs health care spending in the current environment. At the local level, if revenue can’t be raised, it comes down to some pretty basic services, like trash cans and irrigation in the parks, street lighting, police and fire department staffing and response times, fixing pot holes, bus services, etc. In Colorado Springs, the city council is having to make some tough choices. Some of them may, at some point, cause noticeable drops in city services that we all have come to expect. The watering season for our parks really doesn’t start until May, so the decision not to run the sprinklers may not even be noticed until then. Who knows, with the weather being so weird nationwide, we might even get lucky and have a wet summer that makes this completely a mute point. There are even discussions underway to possibly sell the city owned Memorial Health System. They are auctioning off police helicopters, and even sold some buses to help continue funding the commuter bus service to Denver (called FREX for Front Range Express). CNN is supposedly working on a piece using Colorado Springs as an example of the municipal budget dilemma being faced around the country.

This week I had a homeowner tell me that they are going to try and organize their neighborhood to raise money for the watering and otherwise maintaining the neighborhood park in Old Farm. Old Farm Park is part of the network of parks connected by the Homestead Ridge Trail. It has awesome views, some nice play areas for the kids, and services an area of about 1200 homes. I was totally impressed by the level of commitment being expressed to not let this recession rob the quality of living in Colorado Springs in the Old Farm area. Perhaps this is just one park, but perhaps this will be duplicated in other areas, and just perhaps this sort of thinking will take hold across the country. Until this recession is over, maybe individuals and neighborhoods will chip in to do what government can’t afford to at the moment?

Pulpit Rock Park Is A Hidden Gem in Plain Sight

Rick Van Wieren — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:55:01 +0000

When you drive I25 in Colorado Springs, Pulpit Rock is a very clear and distinguishing landmark near where the new Costco is on North Nevada. What isn’t so obvious, is that it is actually part of a gorgeous (though pretty much undeveloped) park. The trailhead is actually pretty hard to find, on a frontage road right where Nevada merges onto the interstate heading north, not exactly where you’d expect it, and you can’t backtrack to it easily if you miss it. The reward is some pretty lightly travelled trails, magnificent vistas, breathtaking scenery, and the satisfaction of climbing to the top a pretty amazing rock formation. This is a great hiking and mountain biking place. You feel like the world (or at least Colorado Springs) is really at your feet from the top. Residents of the University Park, Erindale, Pulpit Rock and to a certain extent Garden Ranch subdivisions have the added benefit of being able to walk in from the north and east side of the park through neighborhood access points. UCCS (University of Colorado Colorado Springs) also borders the park.

I took a little exercise break yesterday afternoon (how much time can you spend in front of a computer at a time without going crazy?), and took these shots in the middle of the afternoon. I pretty much had the place to myself. It was a little cool (upper 30′s?) and sunny, but I was pretty warm once I started walking and climbing.