January 13, 2025, Lakewood City Council will vote in a new ordinance regulating metropolitan districts. The Denver Post has done deep investigations into metro districts, exposing them as mechanisms that bury taxpayers in debt with no accountability. Other cities are starting to pay attention and not allowing metro districts. Lakewood, on the other hand, is still supporting developer-sponsored metro districts. Staff has been bringing forward this ordinance since 2021 and backing down against resident pushback in Lakewood and across the state. Now the time has come. The new ordinance has language attempting to fix some existing problems with metro districts. However, a city ordinance cannot fix the problems that exist within state law. Lakewood is passing the ordinance now to enable the developers of The Bend to apply for metro district status, which is anticipated in February. Metro districts are critical for developers to make money from bonds without a vote from residents – because there are no residents to vote yet. Research shows this debt does not benefit residents. “…developers issue a small tranche of debt on the bond market with unfavorable terms (above-market interest) and then buy the debt themselves so future homeowners will end up paying the developer for decades through their property taxes for a completely unnecessary load of bad debt.” -Denver Post “Metro district financing is the opposite of affordable housing.” – Rooney Valley News Will Lakewood have a “safe” metro district ordinance? Not if state law prevails. They can only make baby improvements. “[metro...
Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado
Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado
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On January 22, 2025, the Lakewood Planning Commission will vote on designating a new development area as an Urban Renewal. This designation will allow the city to fund part of the development. The development in question is called “The Bend” and is located on what used to be the Denver Federal Center, southeast of the 6th and Union intersection. The property includes an ex-Superfund site that has not been remediated. However, the property was not blighted before the property sale, when all buyers could plan for city assistance. Instead, the area was deemed a prime location for commercial activity, according to comprehensive and special studies. Once again, Lakewood has contracted a study to prove to the residents that they have no choice except to do what is really a discretionary action. The study by Ricker Cunningham shows that “the survey concluded that nine (9) of the 11 total possible factors [for blight] are present at varying degrees of intensity, but all at levels considered adverse to properties, businesses, and persons living, working, and traveling through the area.” Read the study: The study is some research but more justification for what the city apparently wants to do. There is no explanation from anyone about why it wasn’t blighted anytime in the last 30-50 years since the site was decommissioned. An earlier designation would have created a more equal playing field for those bidding on the property, in the name of full disclosure. As it stands, it seems that one developer is...
A resident sent pictures of what he’s sees as new gang activity in his neighborhood. The picture below is an example, taken near Lamar and Alameda on the south side. Two to three days after this marking there a fire set right next to it. Now similiar writing is appearing in Belmar and on sidewalks near In & Out. Please share any updates you may have. Police were not asked because this is so small. But residents sometimes see what’s going on in their neighborhood.
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Note: This is pertinent to Lakewood because Lakewood is trying for exactly the same kind of high-density, multi-unit homes. They have already contracted new codes to be written, and it’s scheduled to be voted on this spring. This is not a resident-led iniative but a regionally coordinated agenda. From Rachel Saurer, KDVR.com LITTLETON, Colo. (KDVR) — On Tuesday (7 Jan), the city of Littleton held a public hearing to allow people to provide feedback on a proposal to amend Littleton’s Unified Land Use Code regarding housing types. At the end of the meeting, city officials made the decision to indefinitely postpone the ordinance. “Our goal is to see if we can address some of the housing issues that we have here in Littleton and the whole metro area,” said Mayor Kyle Schlachter. Read more and watch video…
Note: This is pertinent to Lakewood because Lakewood is trying for exactly the same kind of high-density, multi-unit homes. They have already contracted new codes to be written, and it’s scheduled to be voted on this spring. This is not a resident-led iniative but a regionally coordinated agenda. From Rachel Saurer, KDVR.com LITTLETON, Colo. (KDVR) — On Tuesday (7 Jan), the city of Littleton held a public hearing to allow people to provide feedback on a proposal to amend Littleton’s Unified Land Use Code regarding housing types. At the end of the meeting, city officials made the decision to indefinitely postpone the ordinance. “Our goal is to see if we can address some of the housing issues that we have here in Littleton and the whole metro area,” said Mayor Kyle Schlachter. Read more and watch video…
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