Areas to live in Grand Junction

Kevin's got the answer above. . . 

Chad is wrong per usual. Also a pretty loud, mean troll. Just look at his comment history.

GJ is where hippy meets red neck. Clifton is to be avoided. Loma is far from everything. 

Tread lightly. 

Kevinmurray wrote:

Ummmm, water

You missed the part where I mentioned sustainable growth despite the reduction of water.  I won't go into details but there are many ways to become more efficient with available water resources that would allow the grand valley to grow to the numbers I mentioned.  This would be without damaging the ecosystem.   This wouldn't be easy or inexpensive though. 

grug g wrote:

Chad is wrong per usual. Also a pretty loud, mean troll. Just look at his comment history.

GJ is where hippy meets red neck. Clifton is to be avoided. Loma is far from everything. 

Tread lightly. 

Opinions vary. I wouldn't say there are any hippies here.  Well at least not at the level of Boulder hippies.   I do agree about Loma though.   

Chad Miller wrote:

You missed the part where I mentioned sustainable growth despite the reduction of water.  I won't go into details but there are many ways to become more efficient with available water resources that would allow the grand valley to grow to the numbers I mentioned.  This would be without damaging the ecosystem.   This wouldn't be easy or inexpensive though. 

Yeah people thought the same thing when they wrote the Colorado River Compact of 1922.

Kevinmurray wrote:

Yeah people thought the same thing when they wrote the Colorado River Compact of 1922.

No they didn't.  There is nothing in that compact about dealing with growth, sustainable or otherwise.  

Chad Miller wrote:

No they didn't.  There is nothing in that compact about dealing with growth, sustainable or otherwise.  

There was a water scientist that was part of the group that wrote the compact and he wrote that the plan for the river was not sustainable in 1915. We could toss this around forever but the logical conclusion is that there is not now nor will there be enough water for that kind of growth. All the places I have lived in the west have water issues and every city council and developer has said we have enough and we can work it out and none have. Replacing grass is not enough. Too many people there now, which is why I don't live there.

Sigh.  

You just contradicted yourself.  First you said that people thought there was enough water for sustained growth back in 1922.  Now you say that the people developing the compact knew there wasn’t enough water  in 1915.  The fact remains that no thought was ever given to sustained growth in the 1922 compact.  

Regardless, water usage has become more efficient in the 100+ years since that compact was written.   The facts are that there is enough water for sustainable growth of the grand valley to the size I stated.  For this to be done though water conservation has to continue to be improved upon.

It seems like you’re using the ‘water issue’ as a justification for your view that too many people live in the grand valley.  

On a side note, it’s not just the western US that has a water resource problem. The entire planet has this issue.  That’s disingenuous at best.   

It’s been enlightening debating this with you. I’m sure you have more important things to do though. 

In the end it only ended up being a few people, two dozen or so maybe. It was a big political noise that resulted in very little actual change in GJ. 

If anyone has any recommendations for reputable tree companies in the area, I would be very appreciative of a PM. I lived in GJ as a little kid and would really like to move back that way at some point. I apologize for not adding any useful info for the original topic 

Regarding the BLM 'move'.

It started out a big news but turned into a blip.  

Only around six people from the BLM were actually moved into a small leased office space in GJ.  Everyone else was split up between regional offices and WFH all over the country.  The idea was to get BLM out of DC so they couldn't easily interact with government members.  Hence why when Haaland was appointed everyone moved back to DC.    

I am moving to GJ and looking at a couple of houses in Orchard Mesa. I want new construction, but am concerned about location. The subdivisions are River Walk and Shadow Mesa. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

I’d talk to a realtor.  They will have a better understanding of the changing market than any user here.

Good luck. 

Of the two areas I think I'd rather live in River Walk, but there will be more crimes of opportunity down there due to the homeless camps along the river. The river trail is for the most part really nice and the homes in that area are also nice. Lots of short term rentals though. It would give you better access to what little culture there is out here. Shadow mesa is right next to the fair ground and traffic and access to the area aren't as good, orchard mesa is kinda weird. 

Edit for grammar.

I think Klaus means the River Walk subdivision.  

I play on or near the river quite a bit.  There are a few people who have put up 3-6 tents from Palisade to Fruita.  I wouldn't call them homeless camps though.  

Orchard Mesa is a working class area where homes are still lower cost but plain.  I suppose you could call that 'weird' but to each their own I guess.  

Chad- I did indeed mean river walk, that’s why I wrote river walk, answering the question about river walk. Geez. Those rose colored booster glasses you wear must have a tent filtering effect if you have only seen 3-6 tents. I can point out 8 camps that have been there for at least two years just between las colonias and Redlands parkway boat ramp. That might be the worst section, but the area around corn lake where river walk is located has several camps too. I’m not saying it would be a deal breaker, just that I would keep exterior security in mind. Lock everything you don’t want to lose and encourage your neighbors to do the same. Once a neighborhood becomes a target they tend to stay a target.

As far as orchard Mesa being weird, the traffic access to stores and restaurants isn’t as simple as it should be and the whole area has the feel of a planning afterthought. 

Klaus, you'll have to point out those eight camps that have been on the river for over two years.  I've never seen them and I'm on the river at least once a month six months out of the year.  Same goes for the Corn Lake area.  I work with the local police quite a bit and they don't even know about these eight permanent camps. Maybe you should give the police a call and let them know about it. 

As for the River Walk subdivision.  I wanted to make sure wheezer p wasn't confusing Riverwalk with the new developments around the Riverfront Trail in Orchard Mesa.  Sorry for the confusion.    

One question though.  Do you still live in the Grand Valley Klaus?  I thought I'd hear that you moved out 3-4 years ago.  

I moved in 4 years ago from montrose and I float weekly, but I don’t wear rose colored glasses and I’m not trying to convince people that the doubling the local population won’t diminish the current quality of life. You must have me confused with someone else. Camp 1: river left 100 yards downstream from the entry chute at las colonias. Friendly guy. Camp 2: river right at the Eastern end of Watson island disc golf course. A young woman with different male friends every time. Camp 3: river right at the gunnison junction. Camp 4: river left at super shallow rifle 1/4 mile below gunnison junction. Camp 5: river left under the broadway bridge. Camp 6: river left 1/4 mile peat broadway bridge sketchy looking dude with cool dog.  Camp 7: river right near ice rink, dude who really digs fishing. Camp 8: dude with dogs in the bend behind bananas. Camps 1, 2, 6, and 7 have had the same occupants for the last two years. The other camps might have different people but they have the sane tents and they are in the same spots. 

I understand the confusion.  I thought you were saying a camp as in multiple people.  I've seen all of those tents.  They may have had the same occupants but they aren't always there.   With the exception of two to three of them they do move around quite a bit.  In fact just last month all of them were removed by the police.  

I'm not trying to convince anyone about the possible sustainable growth of Grand Junction.  I'm not going to argue the science and facts behind increasing the population of Grand Junction to around 250K won't reduce the quality of life.  Honestly I'm not sure if Grand Junction will ever grow that much.  A lot of positive changes need to be made to the economy and education system for that to occur.  

You're NIBISM is still astounding though. I think you're just pissed off that Fruita is growing at a rate that far surpasses Grand Junction.  You want to blame someone for the change and you've decided it' me.  You can do that if it makes you feel better.  Too bad I had nothing to do with it.  in fact I seven years ago I was hired to review Fruita's master plan.  I and several others advised the Fruita government that their plans for expansion where not well thought out, poorly designed, and weren't sustainable.  Fruita ignored all of us and is now attempting to slow growth by not improving it's failing infrastructure and creating super restrictive covenants.  Fruita is not Grand Junction though.