LAKEWOOD INFORMER

From Denver Post, by John Aguilar, jaguilar@denverpost.com The Lakewood City Council has revamped a controversial land-use ordinance that city leaders hope will break a logjam for approval of badly needed housing projects. The measure, passed 8-0 by the council late Monday, is aimed at balancing a fervent desire by residents to preserve as much green space and parkland as possible in Colorado’s fifth-largest city with the need to create affordable homes in a region that is sorely lacking in residential units. Most notably, the city of 156,000’s new ordinance restores the ability of homebuilders to buy their way out of making land dedications in certain cases — a practice called fee-in-lieu. The change reverses the core of the original measure adopted by the council last fall that placed a clear emphasis on preserving green space in Lakewood. The council’s move Monday night also breathed renewed life into a controversial 411-unit apartment building that is slated for the east edge of Belmar Park, a project that was stymied by stricter land dedication rules adopted by the city last fall. That proposed project is what prompted the battle over how much green space to preserve in the city. Cathy Kentner, a Lakewood resident and former mayoral candidate who helped spearhead an effort last year to put a mandatory land dedication measure before voters, called the council’s overhaul of the legislation Monday a “bait and switch.” Read more…

From SaveBelmarPark.com Here is more of the cloudy history from the strange Book of Belmar.  This has come to light due to the attention to detail provided by Kairoi’s excellent attorneys at the Brownstein law firm in their court filing with Jefferson County District Court. Please notice the map above.  The green area represents Belmar Park.  The two red blocks represent the two parcels of land that comprise the Irongate Office Complex.  The red square on the left is 777 S Yarrow Street.  The red rectangle on the right is 777 S Wadsworth Boulevard. The developer plans to build at least 411 apartments at 777 S Yarrow within the red square on the left. An additional 650-800 apartments are planned within the rectangle on the right at 777 S Wadsworth.   How will they construct so many units at 777 S Wadsworth?   By building TWO 12-STORY TOWERS. Two key points to consider. 1)  Kairoi always planned to develop BOTH Irongate parcels.  Namely, 777 S Yarrow Street and 777 S Wadsworth Blvd shown above. This point is established by numerous statements in the legal brief filed on behalf of the developer including that Kairoi submitted a formal letter of intent to purchase both properties way back on October 9, 2020. The two parcels are conveniently located directly across the street from each other and are both part of the Irongate office complex as shown on the map above. Yet incredibly, the developer has succeeded in excluding the S Wadsworth location from consideration...

From Save Open Space Lakewood The saga over the future of the Belmar Park project could be nearing its final chapter depending on the outcome of the Lakewood City Council meeting Monday, February 24, at 7pm in Council Chambers. Council will vote on whether or not to repeal and replace the citizens’ initiated Save Open Space Lakewood (SOS Lakewood) Green Initiative with City Hall’s anti-environmental, no-transparency, developer-friendly ordinance. Lakewood, like many communities, adopted an ordinance requiring developers of large residential projects to dedicate a portion of land to the City for parks and open space. Lakewood’s first version was in 1983. Then in 2018 the ordinance was updated to encourage more such donations. A separate provision also was adopted, requiring the code to be reviewed “by December 31, 2023.”  That date came and went without the required review, despite the outcry from the community that no such dedications had occurred since 2013. Between 2013 and 2023, City Council heard from multiple neighborhoods that opposed Lakewood’s relentless drive to become a concrete city. They expressed concerns over problem developments with little or no green space, all of which had paid a fee in lieu of property dedication. Community members were appalled when they learned that Lakewood had secretly ushered through approval of a behemoth luxury apartment building adjacent to Belmar Park. For months, they approached Council asking for the development to be modified and for months their pleas were ignored. As a result, the SOS Lakewood Green Initiative was launched in...