Anyone live in Colorado Springs? Moving there - need advice

[Travis]

I'm transferring to Colorado Springs in July and I've started looking at housing and schools.  I'm in the Army and will work on Fort Carson.  I lived there four years ago, but that was pre-MMM where I owned a truck I didn't need, a house almost three times the size I needed, had a 20-30 minute commute, and I never paid any attention to my bills.  I'm trying to start out right this time.

I've narrowed my search for housing to the area immediately north of Carson between highways 115 and I-25, and a couple neighborhoods east of Carson along Mesa Ridge Parkway.  My budget for rent is no more than $1400 and I'm looking for a 3bdr house or apartment.  Rental homes offer more square footage for the price and are more numerous, but also come with a few more responsibilities on the part of the tenant than an apartment would.  I live in an apartment now and I've spent the last year selling off extra furniture and tools from the previous house.  I still have the washer and drier which were bought in 2009 and I have been sitting unused since we moved in 2011.  I'd love to sell them, but if I rent a house I'll probably need to drag them back with me to use. To narrow my search I'm also trying to focus on homes within a couple miles of an elementary school. My son starts kindergarten this fall.

DW is a SAHM, but she might be getting a part time job downtown.  This might affect how our son gets to school (walk him vs school bus), the possibility of needing some day care, or getting a second vehicle again.  Right now I ride my bike to work 4 miles one way a couple days a week.  It takes me about 25 minutes.  The closest homes I could find to my new office on Carson within my parameters are 6-8 miles and I'm nervous about riding for an hour one way, especially when winter comes.  It's 3-4 miles just from the Carson gates to my office no matter which side I come in.  If I have to get a second vehicle, I was aiming for a mid-2000s hatchback of some sort. We own a 2003 Focus and I'd like to get something of similar capabilities, but with more cargo room. 

Any thoughts on housing, schools, transportation?

[Colorado Hiker]

Hey, not sure how much I can help, but I live in the Springs and work not too far from Fort Carson.  You should be able to find a suitable place for $1400/mo. or less.  As far as school districts in that area (Fountain) goes, I'm told by a co-worker that District 3 is pretty good.  There is a decent bike path system in the city that should allow you to avoid most road travel depending on where you live, but like you said it will probably be a least a few miles once you get on base to where you need to go.  As far as areas to live, I'd recommend avoiding the southeast side of Colorado Springs (east of Union, south of Pikes Peak or so) . . . but that would be a little farther than you want to bike anyway.  The area you're mentioning should work out just fine, I just don't know anything about the schools in that area.   Bike map:  http://www.springsgov.com/SIB/files/2014_Bike_System_Map.pdf

[MishMash]

Oh boy, most of the areas right around Carson you couldn't pay me to live in (hubz is Army as well, we moved out of COS 1.5 years ago).  You might want to check out the CSPD GIS crime tracking system or CrimeTracker.  A LARGE amount of the violent crime in the area occurs right around where you are looking, avoid the area near the airport at all costs.  The best school districts are in the north and west D-20 and D-11, we lived right next to Mountain View elementary and while we didn't have kids every one of our neighbors RAVED about the school.  Another thing, I don't know which unit you are with, but Carson is HUGE and most definitely not bike friendly, DH routinely had training, meetings etc on a part of the post that was a good 15 miles from his office.

We lived up in Briargate, by the Air Force Academy, and the commute was not fun, but it was safe, walking distance to the school, and had everything we would ever need within biking distance (grocery stores, parks, pharmacy, doctors office etc)