In my experience, evergreen trees suck. They still drop needles and cones. The evergreen in my backyard killed the grass underneath it. We removed it last year and the lawn came back.
They're fine for forests and hedges, but as a shade tree for a yard, they're substandard to the maples and elms we have.
I don't think our trees are even similar to yours, and our evergreens don't seem to acid the hell out of the earth like yours! New Zealand doesn't have any deciduous trees I'm aware of... They are usually quite 'dark' though and make somewhat too much shade if not pruned.
They're fine for forests and hedges, but as a shade tree for a yard, they're substandard to the maples and elms we have.