Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado
Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado
Defending the referendum requires legal counsel. Regular residents cannot navigate full legal proceedings alone. Although there can be no issue committee at this time, and therefore no campaign donations, an attorney is stepping forward to assist.
If you wish to support the effort, donations can be sent directly to:
Former Lakewood resident Kip Kolkmeier has filed complaints about the referendum signatures on behalf of Joshua Comden and Reverend Ben Hensley. The complaint alleges very technical violations about the referendum petitions while also complaining about the hearing itself. Without documented procedures, the hearing officer is free to use their experience to guide a successful, neutral process. Kolkmeier disagrees and dictated how the complaint process should be handled, including the hearing and even who is allowed to talk to the City Clerk.
The eight bullet points listed in Kolkmeier’s hearing complaint are not suggestions for future hearings. They are demands to be implemented immediately. He uses words such as “shall”, “is” and “must.” This is a complete departure from suggested advice and does not acknowledge various alternatives of holding public hearings.
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.
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.
The City of Lakewood has effectively pulled the rug out from under the people by imposing impossible deadlines on the citizen referendum process, making meaningful participation nearly impossible.
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
Jeffco Schools unanimously voted to sell Emory with barely a stall in the consent agenda on November 13, 2025. Statements made at that time and also at the November 5 study session indicate that Jeffco School Board and staff were heavily influenced by one-sided propaganda. No other ideas were considered and the propaganda was passed along without fully informing the public.
Colorado State House Representative Rebekah Stewart of Lakewood has requested taxpayer-funded legal representation related to an ethics violation complaint.
According to the Colorado Sun, “Taxpayers will cover the legal bills for 15 Democratic state lawmakers who face ethics complaints related to a dark money-funded weekend retreat held in Vail last month.”
It is particularly ironic that Stewart is receiving taxpayer-funded legal relief. In her first term, Stewart sponsored HB25-1093, shifting more legal costs onto taxpayers. Under HB25-1093, if residents work hard enough to get a citizen initiative on the ballot, the city can take the measure to court, and residents would foot the bill.
The October 27, 2025 City Council meeting demonstrated how determined Council is to approve the Emory sale and Action Center purchase. That date was the first opportunity to approve the multiple transaction after the new zoning was passed – zoning which was required for the new operations. Despite having an injunction in place to stall the vote, Council did everything possible except the actual vote itself. They claimed everything was known, disclosed and proper. They laughed and smiled as if the injunction was a joke. However, despite their claims, below is a list of over 70 lingering questions.
The votes on Emory have been delayed from October 27 to October 29 and now until November 3 while Council desperately tries to vote as soon as possible even while the case is in court and under injunction. The difficulty lies in how to restore trust and enable a public process to answer questions that have been handled behind the scenes for two years.
Lakewood’s shell game to buy Emory for the Action Center has shone a light on deals made before the public has a chance to weigh in. City leaders tell residents they can speak at the public comment period that was months away, and then they use the time before public comment to cement their plans away from public eye. More proof? An upcoming event taking place at Emory Elementary, hosted by Kaiser Permanente to benefit the Action Center. Chances are good that this was originally planned to be a celebration event for the Action Center that has now devolved into an event “with nonprofit partner.”
This is not just a regular Canstruction event. This is special for the Action Center at Emory.
