Emory Questions Left Unanswered

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 unanswered, 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.

Items not transparent before Oct 27 meeting:

1. How did the municipal process get started in the first place?
   1. Did the school board do a study to find any financial benefit to the municipal process?
   2. Why couldn’t the Action Center buy the property directly?
2. ZONING
   1. Emory deal is contingent upon zoning – what happens to sale if zoning is repealed?
   2. What damages will the city be responsible for if the property is sold but contingent zoning is repealed?
   3. Why has Lakewood avoided holding a zoning hearing for the upcoming Action Center shelter/housing during the last year while this was contemplated, for full transparency?
   4. Why has Lakewood avoided holding a zoning hearing for RecoveryWorks shelter during the last two years while it was being developed AND USED?
   5. Why did Lakewood make this special use category for the new Action Center mega-complex available anywhere in the city, not just for this one property? Are more coming?
   6. Is there any evidence that the public agrees with removing public hearing for what used to be special uses – like shelters?
3. What are the current draft contracts to allow detailed analysis of:
   1. Emory purchase?
   2. Action Center purchase?
   3. Action Center lease?
4. Market analysis for Emory
   1. How much will Jeffco School Board lose on this deal?
   2. How long could the school operate with that money?
   3. How does losing money “for the public good” compare to losing money on behalf of students?
   4. Were there any other interested parties that could purchase Emory from Jeffco?
   5. Were there any other interested parties that could purchase Emory from Lakewood?
   6. How many other nonprofit and/or business opportunities did Lakewood research to fulfill their statements that the deal didn’t have to be for the Action Center?
   7. Why isn’t Lakewood interested in keeping this as open parkland?
5. How long could Emory function as a school with the $8 million Jeffco is losing?
   1. How many staff could be paid with that $8 million?
6. What is the final purpose of the 7 acres Lakewood will retain from Emory? There has been NO public discussion of this piece-NONE
   1. Does the deed restriction for no overnight sheltering extend to the fields that the city will retain?
   2. Can the city host another nonprofit on the fields part?
   3. Does the city plan to use the fields part as housing of any kind?
   4. Does Lakewood plan to retain of the fields as parkland?
7. What are potential benefits to the community to not having the nonprofit center use?
   1. Single-family housing to allow for more family housing?
   2. Less traffic?
   3. Match the existing neighborhood?
   4. Keep all as parkland?
   5. Were there any similar statistics gathered from neighbors on what they would like to see, similar to the one-sided data gathered showing favorability for the Action Center?
8. When was the detailed plan for the Action Center at Emory finalized?
   1. Before the agreement for Lakewood to buy the Action Center on their behalf?
   2. Does the Action Center have any demonstrated experience in running multiple other businesses out of a single location like this?
   3. How did the Action Center get to be singled out for special financial advantages out of all the nonprofits in Lakewood?
   4. How will security be addressed in the surrounding neighborhood, not just the single property?
9. Market analysis for the current Action Center building
   1. Why did Lakewood ask for (and pay for) an assessment on the Action Center property that would double the price of the property?
   2. Did the purchase price of the current Action Center need to be equivalent to the Emory purchase?
   3. Did the Action Center try to sell their current property to other buyers?
   4. Why wasn’t the analysis made public?
10. Future costs for current Action Center property
    1. What are the costs to remodel the current Action Center?
    2. What are the operational costs for supportive housing?
    3. Was there a comparison study for non-Action Center properties that would serve similar purposes?
    4. Where is the business case for Action Center to housing conversion?
    5. Who are the partners and funding sources for current Action Center housing conversion and support?
    6. Would Lakewood do something different from commercial builders who say it’s too expensive to convert existing vacant buildings to housing?
11. Is there data showing support for government housing, paid for by Lakewood residents?
    1. How much will Lakewood pay for the housing?
    2. What will Lakewood do differently than Denver to avoid becoming a homeless industrial complex?
    3. What are the long-term projections for permanently decreasing homelessness?
    4. Is this planned to be Housing First model or contingent upon self-help?
    5. Business case for Lakewood’s current shelter proving anticipated benefits?
12. Reason why Lakewood is in a rush to buy current Action Center
    1. Why does Lakewood have to buy the Action Center now, rather than in two years when the Action Center is done with it? (is there a benefit to Lakewood or just the Action Center)
    2. How much money will be lost in opportunity cost for buying current Action Center now rather than later?
13. What are the full budgetary impacts for Emory-Action Center-new housing unit which were not disclosed for any transaction in staff memos?
    1. Is there any ongoing maintenance agreement or financial obligation from Lakewood to the Action Center?
    2. What are the financial commitments from the Anchor partners ?
    3. What is the total loss for the real estate transactions?
    4. What was the total cost in staff time for developing this deal on the Action Centers behalf?
14. How will the Action Center business partnerships be structured? For example, is Red Rocks Community College renting space?
    1. When were all the “anchor partners” decided and announced at a city meeting?
    2. How many of the supporting partners will benefit financially or otherwise through involvement (ie not impartial support)?
    3. Was there a competitive process to bid on partnerships?
    4. What was Lakewood’s involvement with building partnerships?
    5. Were non-profit or business partners with financial OR PERSONAL ties to Lakewood or Jeffco officials disclosed?
15. When did negotiations with Action Center start? (city has given very conflicting answers)
    1. Were negotiations for the current Action Center location held in the improperly-noticed executive session that was involved in the court case?
16. Why is each real estate transaction linked? Is there an impartial study to show that each transaction can stand on its own to financially benefit the residents?
17. What kind of impact will the new Action Center programming have on current recreation centers?
18. Why no meetings with city staff? City manager is one responsible for the details, not city council. Staff are not available to public
19. What are the drawbacks to having the Action Center purchase Emory? No drawbacks of any kind were disclosed by Lakewood – an unrealistic situation
20. When did Council decide to have a special meeting on October 29, 2025? The date seemed agreed upon before the Oct 27 meeting. Same for the November 3 date