Lakewood Informer

Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado

Lakewood Informer

Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado

LAKEWOOD INFORMER

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December 29, 2024/

From SaveBelmarPark.com The developer of the ‘Properties’ (as we now know they are referred to by their attorneys) at 777 S Yarrow and 777 S Wadsworth has proposed a subdivision re-plat of the 777 S Yarrow location described as a lot line adjustment. However, it does not qualify under Article 16-5-2 of the subdivision code as only a lot line adjustment because several additional changes are included to vacate, add, and modify various easements, an additional tract A is created and it conflicts with the laws requiring subdivision plats to have utility easements delineated and approved. The link above brings up the drawings of the re-plat and if you care to scroll down to page 4, you will notice there is a prominent 30-foot wide easement provided for the Bancroft Water District.   However, there is no provision for electrical service or natural gas!  Yet Colorado statute requires that: (3) Subdivision regulations adopted under provisions of this section shall require that a subdivider, as defined in section 30-28-101 (9), C.R.S., submit to the commission evidence that provision has been made for facility sites, easements, and rights of access for electrical and natural gas utility service sufficient to ensure reliable and adequate electric or, if applicable, natural gas service for any proposed subdivision. Submission of a letter of agreement between the subdivider and utility serving the site shall be deemed sufficient to establish that adequate provision for electric or, if applicable, natural gas service to a proposed subdivision has been made. Lakewood’s own subdivision code states: “Utility...

December 29, 2024/

From SaveBelmarPark.com Attorneys for Kairoi have now filed a lawsuit regarding the recent ordinance adopted by Lakewood City Council that eliminated the option to pay a fee to avoid providing open space with land development projects. You can read the court filing HERE. Kairoi’s own attorneys have made it crystal clear that the project scope is NOT reflected by any of the four Major SIte Plan submittals Kairoi has filed with Lakewood. We are pointing out that this fact arguably means Kairoi has never filed a ‘substantially complete application’ for their project because over half of the project’s units have not yet been included in their Major SIte Plan submittals! This means Kairoi has no basis to claim that previous city ordinances or other commitments written or oral made by the city should be binding on the city until a full and substantially complete application is brought forward. After all, even for just the 777 S Yarrow site, Kairoi has made no effort in their MSPs to date to even comply with the basic utility easement requirements for water, sewer, natural gas, transformers and electrical service!   So even those MSPs are not ‘substantially complete’ because the developer may have to make significant revisions including modify building setbacks and footprint in order to comply with the basic utility easements! Their own attorneys go into detail about Kairoi’s development process including their contractual provisions for land acquisition of the two parcels from the same seller. They state two 12-story buildings are...

December 29, 2024/

From Save Open Space – Lakewood List of related news articles continuously updated Kairoi Properties L.L.C., developer of a planned 412-unit luxury apartment building at Belmar Park, sues Lakewood for enacting an environmentally friendly green initiative  The citywide citizen sponsored initiative requires all developments to dedicate green space in lieu of its 13-year tradition of adding to the City’s coffers If Kairoi loses the lawsuit, monstrous buildings planned at Belmar Park and at Quail and Colfax will need to be drastically reduced in size  Lakewood, December 26, 2024—This week we present the latest episode of the 13 year-long soap opera, “Lakewood’s Big Lie,” which depicts the dramatic twists and turns of a city that prioritizes large scale developments over nature and its own residents. During those years, Lakewood has given developments carte blanche to ignore as many of its codes as they desire, including tree canopy, climate change goals, seamless architecture in a neighborhood, and affordable housing. On Monday, December 23, it became public that Kairoi Properties LLC had sued the city over the Green Initiative that its city council had passed but doesn’t really want. An explanation of the bizarre turn of events including the political motives behind this unnecessary legal action, is best summed up in the following excerpts from resident Steve Farthing’s email to the savebelmarpark.com group: “Most city council reps took the position [at the November 4 City Council meeting] that the ordinance, as written, would be ruled illegal if a legal challenge were raised in front of a judge. “They...

December 29, 2024/

From SaveBelmarPark.com Lakewood has issued a directional drilling permit ROW24-01480 to the developer as follows: “Xcel Energy gas main extension for new build.” That might sound like a typical thing to do for a new build.  But there are some problems.   No ‘new build’ has been approved.  Or has it?  Has the city made a secret deal?  Why does the city assume this is a done deal when it is still up to the Planning Commission to decide?  Do city staffers have inside information?  Have city staffers been having ex parte discussions with Planning Commission members regarding approval of the project?   Based on this new permit issuance and the included announcement by the city that there will be a new build at 777 S Yarrow St, we urge that the entire Planning Commission recuse themselves from the decision and refer the matter to the next appeal level in order to avoid what would obviously be a predetermined and biased decision. And further, doesn’t it seem strange extending an Xcel natural gas line to serve an unapproved site when Xcel has explicitly stated the site plan proposal ‘does not seem feasible’?   Especially considering the gas line requirements Xcel specifies have not been satisfied even on the 4th site plan submittal from the developer? Read more here…

December 29, 2024/

The Colorado Gives Foundation donated $20,000 to the 2024 Jeffco political issues to eliminate TABOR refunds. Free State Colorado walks through the mechanism in the video below with Natalie Menten. Major Colorado Charity Gave $20,000 to Raise Taxes & Eliminate TABOR during 2024 Election! As reported in Lakewood news, Colorado Gives also gave $5,000 to de-TABOR Lakewood. Cory Gaines reports that Colorado Gives Director Dunkin confirmed that the foundation, after a vote by their board, did donate the money. The board felt as though the donation reflected their mission. Gaines also reported that “Director Dunkin was quite emphatic in saying that no donation that comes through cogives.org or cogivesday.org is ever used, in any way, for any ballot issue or political purpose. Nor is it used by Colorado Gives for anything other than a tiny fraction to keep the donation infrastructure running.” As reported by Free State Colorado, there is no record of where the money came from to donate to the Jeffco and Lakewood de-TABOR political issue. Colorado Gives raised $54.6 million in 2024 for Colorado causes.

December 16, 2024/

In less than a year, the $0.10 fee from shopping bag sales have generated $692,000 for Lakewood so far. That revenue was only 60% of the $0.10 fee. The remaining 40% stayed with the stores, which means local stores made about $461,333 from plastic bags fees. Lakewood revenue from bag fees will be used to support multiple sustainability projects in 2025, including an Organic Waste Pilot Program as well as a project focused on Multi-Family Waste Diversion Resources. The plastic bag fee is a state law even though “plastic bags result in about half the emissions of alternative bags,” a fact known since at least 2014. The Organic Waste Pilot Program would include a variety of test programs aimed at increasing participation in both backyard composting and community collection hub programs for food waste. The Multi-Family Waste Diversion project would develop toolkits, educational resources, and provide technical expertise to property owners and managers of multi-family buildings with the goal of supporting the establishment of recycling and potentially organic waste collection service. These seem to be expensive education projects but new projects could still develop. Lakewood anticipates generating over $250,000 every year from this fee.

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