Colorado blue spruce performs best on moist, well-drained loam to sandy loam soils with a pH of 6.0 – 7.5 and full sunlight. Often, we see more problems with trees that were planted on either very sandy or very wet soils. Their native range is the cooler, higher elevations of the Rocky Mountains.

Whether the particular disease that killed your blue spruce will also affect any other conifer you plant in the same area is not known, especially without knowing which disease your trees had. For example, Phomopsis tip blight can affect other conifers such as pines and firs. Rhizosphaera needlecast disease affects mostly blue spruce, but can attack white or Norway spruce if they are stressed. The links below will give you some information about the various conifer diseases.

https://extension.umn.edu/plant-diseases/rhizosphaera-needle-cast

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/whats_going_on_with_blue_spruce

These diseases do not affect deciduous trees, so they should be safe to plant. However, any tree can be susceptible to disease if they are stressed by environmental issues such as poor soil, drought, invasion by insect pests, or winter injury. Once you select the type of tree you wish to plant in the area, you would be wise to conduct a soil test to be sure the cultural requirements of your tree will be met. You can obtain a soil test via Michigan State University Extension if you desire. Here's how:

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/soil-testing-returns-through-msu-extension