Conifer Park & Rec District

The recreation issue is but symptomatic of a larger cultural shift in our area. Some schools have student populations shrunk by 20-30% over the past five years. People are leaving here because there is no economic engine any longer. Development WAS the engine and that was paid for not by locals but new people moving up here. We have no industry except development. The wealth here flows UP the corridor not the other way around.

We embrace a new round of development (sanely of course) or the depression will continue for many years. Plowing snow and digging horse graves is not a base for a viable economy (silicone valley this is not).........those days are gone. A new recreation facility will provide jobs and relief for our children.

IF we want more control incorporation is a viable path to follow.

A new recreation facility will provide jobs and relief for our children.

If it is such a great idea, why isn't private industry interested in doing it?

I think the answer is that it will be a $$ losing situation.

The children need relief? Maybe they should get off their a** and go outside and do something. The opportunities provided by the location are nearly limitless, but they have to have the gumption to take advantage of them.

I grew up in a mountain area with no recreation center, and I was never bored. I couldn't find time to enjoy all the things that nature had provided for me!

I didn't grow up in a mountain area but on military bases and in the suburbs. On some bases, we didn't even have a playground. We found plenty to do. If there was a playground, we played there some of the time and between the apt. bldgs. the rest.

In the suburbs, no parks, etc. A pool you bought membership in. We played in the woods for the most part or rode our bikes and skated with the old skates that would come off, knocking you down on your knees and elbows. Learned to suck it up and keep playing.

No organized sports for girls. We played a lot of kickball. Kids can figure things out if you let them.

People are leaving because in many ways it is more expensive to live up here. The commute is expensive. They are tired of driving the distance.

The foreclosures up here tell the tale.

I grew up in an urban environment. We didn't have a 'community center'. We had friend's houses. You wanted to meet? You called and said "Who's house today?"

The kids don't need relief. They need to get off their butts and have some fun. If it's snowy, build a fort. If it's raining, wear a poncho. If it's sunny, go for a hike. Maybe build something - My firends and I built a treehouse when we were 12 and 13 years old, complete with a zipline.

Rec districts are not required to live well. They do not provide necessary services. They provide luxury to a few that can afford the additional fees in addition to the money taken from the rest of the homeowners in the district.

The rec district is a bad idea put forth by people that want a luxury paid mostly on other people's dime. It's been brought up and shot down numerous times. When are these thick skulled rec district proponents going to get a clue?

As the area develops we will need facilities for the kids - they have little up here except dope. booze and hikes. I have seen a number of 75,000 people living within 10 miles of Aspen Park - and growing albiet slowly. 285 will be the next big development zone in Denver and we will have little choice. Time to consider incorporation of Conifer and embrace development (it it the ONLY economic engine we have here).

deltamrey - I don't want to pick on just you but could it be that you are wrong about the way you see the area and how it works around here?

How long have you lived here? I just wonder if maybe your one of the recent additions to our area, maybe from New Jersey?

You can let us know.

For your record- the population stats for the area are as follows

The Evergreen area has a population of 25,473 (2009 numbers)
The Conifer area has a population of 8,221 (2009 numbers)

The entire area together is only 33,694 in population, less than half of your 75,000 number. This would include much more area than the 10 mile radius you mention. Can you see why I question your version of reality?

The reason why I ask how long you have lived here is because I grew up here. I watched Conifer grow from a stop sign and a gas station with two pumps into what it is today. Many of my friends I grew up with live in Conifer, and I own property within the proposed rec district and live in the Evergreen Rec District. I can't vote against the new district, but I can bitch about it since I will be paying taxes for it.

I can tell you when we were kids- sometimes we complained about not having anything to do up here, but the truth of it was that we always had things to do - and we only scratched the surface of all the great activities that our area has to offer. If your kids grew up in New Jersey or California, it may take some adjusting but take my word for it - there's plenty to do here. I look back on it all now and consider myself so lucky to have grown up here, and not in some city environment or (god forbid) a place like highlands ranch.

Back when I was in Evergreen High School - the Recreation District was just getting started. It's stated mission for being created was to provide a swimming pool for the kids. With the swimming pool nect to the school, I think I actually swam in it 2 times. It must have been a requirement for some PE class I was in.

Today the Evergreen Rec District has grown - not only the taxes have gone up and up but they keep building more multi-million dollar facilities. They have completely abandoned the original intent of just providing a swimming pool and have become a “all encompassing” political bureaucracy that no longer resembles the little rec district it started out to be.

I would guess that less than 1% of the population here actually use the vast facilities available to them. The last place we wanted to be as teenagers – was at the rec center. These days – I find my time is consumed by work and home obligations, leaving little to no time to take advantage of the facilities I pay taxes for every year.

In fact – I’ll have to work more hours every year just to cover the bill for those multi-million dollar facilities and the maintenance and upkeep for them. You would be totally blown away at the size of the Rec district and what it has grown into in 30 years.
The mil levy for our district now stands at 6.998 in Evergreen. For me that’s about $240.00 / per year.

I assure you that I could use that money for other things that interest me – not a recreation district that 99% of the people who live here do not use. For senior citizens on a fixed budget, it means they do without things they need because somebody wanted a swimming pool.

The best way to keep this from happening in Conifer, is to oppose the district from forming in the first place.

Evergreen Recreation District mill levy is twice the mill levy we pay for law enforcement in the area– to give you an idea how much it has grown.
Rec District = 6.998 mils
Jeffco Law enforcement = 3.2 mils

Bringing your crap over here too, eh Del? same thing I said on Pinecam - if people are too damn lazy to get in their cars to drive to the existing facilities, when they are the same distance from home they would be if you lived in Denver, then that's their problem.

And the excuse of drugs and alcohol are the exact same used in the late 70s early 80s - and lots of us DIDN'T get into the drugs and alcohol. yes, I lived up here then too - Graduated Evergreen HS in 1983. Amazingly, we found a LOT to do without drugs, alcohol or sex, or even having to leave town to go for a hike. Bear made that clear already. I too, remember Conifer as Bear does, remember 285 as a 2 lane highway, thought Pine Junction was really far away until I went to Gunnison for college and to live.

And what is so horrible about running about on a mountainside anyway? What do you have against hiking? or is nature too much for you- only a treadmill counts?

People are not leaving here because there are no jobs - there were NEVER the jobs up here - living up here was a luxury, even for the middle and lower class folks, just like today. Point of fact, there are MORE jobs up here now than there were in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Example - a woman I babysat for recently moved to Denver because of the drive time. She had the income, but wanted to be able to spend some waking hours with her kid.

I'm still not going to pay for someone else's inability to parent and inability to go outside and the get the same exercise they would in a rec center, on on perfectly groomed and animal free trails.

And stop trying to make this like every urban area - if we wanted Highlands Ranch, we'd live in Highlands Ranch.

Bear, yep it ws PE requirement - put in to prove we actually needed the building and the pool.

More progress in the boon docks......The application from Ron Lewis to rezone a portion of property northwest of Shaffers Crossing in Jefferson County received partial approval by the Jefferson County Planning Commission on Feb. 9 and now the application will go before the Jefferson County commissioners on March 1.
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The days of old hippies seeking refuge are gone......the wealth here flows UP the mountain - not down. I have been here 10 years (and need not qualify my positions by how long I have sit on the mountain). The locals live off the productive sector and without development and growth more would be on the dole. Booze and rehab are indeed growth industries up here - not much more (wait - dope growing has been a great new activity we do note).