Lakewood Informer

Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado

Lakewood Informer

Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado

Author : Lakewood News from Karen

Lakewood Withheld Financial Information While Spending on Controversial Projects

By Lakewood News from KarenPosted on Posted in Budget, Entrenched Bureaucracy, TransparencyTagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

On September 8, 2025, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled against Lakewood in an important court case against Metro PCS. As a result, Lakewood now owes around $42 million in tax refunds to Metro PCS and other cell phone carriers.  That was big news, but what happened after the court decision is just as important.

Lakewood withheld the financial ramifications of the Metro PCS court decision during crucial budget planning. Although Lakewood didn’t know the total amount involved, the staff was aware that they would have to refund millions of dollars to the cell phone companies. Yet there was no public presentation of possible impacts during the crucial September and October budgeting months.  Instead, Lakewood spent millions on controversial projects as soon as they could. Millions that could have gone toward the mandated refund. 

Read More

Special Election Set for April 7

By Lakewood News from KarenPosted on Posted in Elections, TransparencyTagged , , , , , , , ,

Lakewood City Council unanimously decided to put the zoning code up for a vote on a special election on April 7, 2026. Both pro-zoning and anti-zoning advocates requested the special election. Both sides believe they have the support of the people.

The decision to put the zoning code on the ballot was not about the zoning code. The issue was whether City Council would listen to the people. City Council rushed to approve a new zoning code without a public discussion of the underlying densification decision. The actual changes were a different discussion than the broader Comprehensive Plan or “affordable housing” discussion. Once people started to understand zoning densification impacts, there was a rising number of complaints. City Council Members discounted these voices as a “small minority.”

Read More

Affordable Housing in Colorado Covers Developer Greed

By Lakewood News from KarenPosted on Posted in DevelopmentTagged , , , ,

By Regina Hopkins, in the Westword

There is a glaring lack of long-term thinking when it comes to neighborhood continuity and planning in Lakewood.

City council’s radical rezoning is a blueprint for rushed, cheap, builder-grade development over thoughtful planning. Mature trees? Bulldozed for convenience. Infrastructure for fire, water, traffic, parks? Afterthoughts, already failing to keep up with current demands.

Read More

Decision on Campaign Finance Violation

By Lakewood News from KarenPosted on Posted in Development, Elections, TransparencyTagged , , , , ,

The independent hearing officer made a determination absolving Lakewood and the referendum petitioners in the campaign finance complaint. The complaint was registered by Kip Kolkmeier against the zoning referendum petitioners. The findings say that there is room for interpretation how to safeguard a democratic government.

All the information on this is included at this link to the independent hearing officer’s decision. The document is 197 pages in length but includes the original complaint, the City Clerk’s response to the Complaint, the 8 page hearing officer decision and the full transcript of the hearing.

Read More

NextDoor Banned These 13 Posts!

By Lakewood News from KarenPosted on Posted in Development, TransparencyTagged , , , , , , ,

Struggling social media site Nextdoor published and raved about these 13 recent posts on their site. They described the author as a ‘trusted neighbor’ who was ‘making a difference in the neighborhood’! They also repeatedly encouraged the author to keep posting and asked ‘What will you share next?’ and displayed a large button to create a new post.

Then suddenly, the exact same posts that neighbors were ‘really interested in’ were banned with no notice and no warning as being SPAM even though Nextdoor had repeatedly encouraged the author to post such content on their site.

Read More

Residents Question Parole System After Lakewood Homocide

By Lakewood News from KarenPosted on Posted in CrimeTagged , , , , ,

Lakewood residents questioned why an offender was out on parole after a burgerly turned homocide in Lakewood on December 6, 2025. In fact, more residents commented on parole than offered congratulations to police for a speedy resolution. Comments such as “Another parolee that never should have been released!!” were common to Lakewood Police Department’s (LPD) Facebook post on the issue.

Read More

Referendum Petitions Continue Despite Hurdles

By Lakewood News from KarenPosted on Posted in Development, Elections, Entrenched Bureaucracy, TransparencyTagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

There are several updates to the zoning referendum, including sufficiency, new legal challenges and the city staff writing new campaign finance law.

Zoning petition #3 has passed the count for initial sufficiency. Petition #3 was to repeal Ordinance O-2025-29, replacing Article 3 of the zoning code concerning a lot of single-family zoning provisions. Petition #3 will join 1 and 2 in waiting for final approval before going to City Council.

Zoning Petition #4 has been submitted to Lakewood. That completes the signature gathering process to repeal all parts of the newly passed zoning code.

There are rumors that all petition signatures have been challenged and will require a new hearing and costly legal defense. Details pending.

Campaign Finance Challenge

Read More

Jeffco Schools Wants a Mill Levy Increase

By Lakewood News from KarenPosted on Posted in Budget, Entrenched Bureaucracy, JeffcoTagged , , , , , ,

Recent meetings from the Jeffco School Board Partnership for Fiscal Sustainability discussed raising the mill levy and how to market that decision to residents. This demonstrates yet another government body shaping propaganda to support a future ballot measure. Jeffco Schools, like Lakewood and Jefferson County, hired a consultant to help with a mill levy question. At this point, a community survey has asked about revenue generation. Budget presentations show data about raising the levy. Budget reductions are discussed as a part of the solution.

The point of these meetings was to “prepare and involve the community to support future revenue generation,” as seen in the slide below. This is using district resources to get resident support in what will likely be a ballot question on the mill levy. School communications are also a tool to discuss any upcoming cuts or revenue changes.

Read More

Upzoning and Homelessness

By Lakewood News from KarenPosted on Posted in Development, HomelessTagged , , , ,

From savebelmarpark.com

Homelessness, and especially people who are unhoused, is a growing concern in the US.  Upzoning advocates have pointed to the high cost of housing as a key driver of homelessness and that upzoning would make housing more affordable and therefore would reduce the number of unhoused persons in a city.

‘Upzoning’ is a city planning strategy to increase housing density and therefore housing supply via related zoning changes to support the strategy.

Read More
Scroll to top