Guest post from Jim Kinney Lakewood’s City Council’s established Core Community Values, and Commitment to Citizens, which are both found on Lakewood.org, which include commitment to transparent government, open and honest communication and a commitment to provide education and information. City Council, which includes the Mayor, has also committed itself to focusing on quality results, promoting an inclusive environment for all citizens, respecting the traditions of the community, and honoring Lakewood’s neighborhoods’ values. City Council’s Policy and Procedures Manual (also found at Lakewood.org), approved on May 14, 2018, contains the official policies and procedures City Council (Council) has developed and approved for themselves, to which their duties, proceedings, meetings and conduct all must conform. The authority for the Council Policy and Procedures Manual comes from the City of Lakewood Home Rule Charter and the Council’s approval of their Policy and Procedures Manual (Manual). Manual, Section 05.16, establishes official Council policy and procedures for Study Sessions. Study Sessions are a regular event conducted to familiarize the Council and the public with detailed information and aspects of subjects under consideration in advance of the date the subject is to be before Council on the regular Council meeting agenda. Study Sessions are scheduled to be held on the first and third Mondays of each month, to facilitate coordinated study of subjects in preparation for upcoming regular Council meetings, which are scheduled for the second and fourth Mondays of each month. The public may comment at Study Sessions and their comments add to the...
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Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado
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Mayor Wendi Strom has changed the timing of public comment. In the name of efficiency, Strom has moved comment from the beginning until later in the meeting. Originally, public comment was moved to after the consent agenda. Now, there is no public comment until all business has been concluded. You can voice your opinion after Council has voted. In this case, efficiency may seem like shutting down the voices of the public. Are there other efficiencies being achieved? The agenda for Monday, February 12 is shown below with notations for topics that will bring changes to Lakewood that have been in the news recently. Public Comment online is available until noon, February 12. To comment, go to the meeting agenda page and click on the item you wish to speak about. There will be a “Comment on this item” button. If there is no Comment button, Council is not accepting comment on that item particularly (for example, Mayor and Council Reports in the picture below). Anything on those items will go in “Public Comment”, while “City Navigation Center” has its own comment section. Sidenote: Lakewood City Councilors expressed satisfaction during the January 8 meeting that there were 50 comments supporting migrant assistance. In point of fact, many of those comments were supporting revisions to the Yarrow St development plan. Recently, Lakewood Informer conducted a survey that showed residents were not in favor of the migrant assistance or the current plans for the homeless shelter. The survey had 4 times as...
Pictured below is a call to support migrant and homeless assistance. Homeless is homeless. Lakewood will vote on spending $9.3 million for homeless services on Monday, Feb 12, 2024. Agenda item 13 already has public comments. Possible migrant actions will be discussed during the executive report, which has been moved up to agenda item 8 and is not accepting public comment.
Recent park land dedication discussions show that the policy is used for more than just adding parks for new residents. The policy could be used to extract fees from developers for other park services. The policy could also be used as a tool for preferential development. Or the policy can determine whether the city increases the number of parks or level of services. The review for this policy is overdue, but thanks to a motion from Council Member David Rein, it may be discussed soon. The new development at 777 S Yarrow St did not require any land dedicated for parks for the new residents. The land dedication would have been of particular public interest since it is near Belmar Park. Instead of land, the city accepted a fee that will be used for undisclosed park services. The fee was set in 2018 so it may seem low in todays market. This so-called “fee-in-lieu” of park land dedication is the policy under discussion. See more at savebelmarpark.com, including how this property does not pay taxes on full acreage Paying a fee in lieu of dedicating land was made possible in a time of slow growth for Lakewood, when Lakewood officials decided there was enough park land. That is no longer the case but developers are accustomed to being able to pay a fee in order to maximize their land development. This pushes new residents into existing parks, putting strain on those resources. Ironically, fees collected today are supposedly going to...
Correction: The Denver7 article said that migrants were causing enrollment to go up and enrollment at Slater went up by 50 students. The two statements were apparently unrelated to migrant enrollment. 12 February, 2024 Several new migrant families have started attending Foothills Elementary school in Lakewood. This information comes after the Denver7 report that 50 migrant students were attending Slater Elementary in Lakewood, indicating that the migrant influx continues. Jefferson County Schools have not yet replied to official requests for information (made only late on 2/9/24). An accurate head count may not be possible as the number of migrants attending school continues to change. A large, sudden influx of students this late in the year will present challenges for the entire school community. Denver is currently dealing with the issues inherent with a large influx of non-english speaking students this late in the year. According to the Denver Post: “DPS, which has a $1.3 billion budget, also has drawn from reserves to help make up the difference, district spokesman Bill Good said. The district is now working to hire more Spanish-speaking teachers and other support staff.” “Our system was never built to handle this kind of challenge,” said Rob Gould, President of the Denver Classroom Teachers Association. “You’re taking an already stressed system and applying more stress to it.” From Migrant influx leaves Denver Public Schools short $17.5 million in funding as students keep enrolling According to the article, Denver has needed more bus routes, more furniture, more teachers, and more...
Guest Post by Joan Poston So this morning 2/8/24, I went to the Lakewood City Council Building to attend the Lakewood City Council legislative meeting. I made an error as to the time so I showed up at 8:30 and the meeting had started at 8:00 am. I am not my best at early hours. The legislative committee is made up of one member of each ward and they look at bills from the 2024 legislature that is considering issues/consequences that would impact the city of Lakewood. 2024 Committee MembersCouncil member Glenda Sinks – Ward 1Council member Isabel Cruz – Ward 2Council member Rebekah Stewart – Ward 3Council member David Rein – Ward 4 Council member Jacob LaBure – Ward 5 Rebekah Stewart (Ward 3) is the chair of the legislative committee. When I walked in there was a discussion about a bill about occupancy. I believe it was HB24-1007. But could not confirm that was the bill they were discussing. They decided not to put it on the list because the target city was Ft. Collins and college towns and did not apply to Lakewood so they would just watch it and add it to the list later. There was a little discussion lead by Councilman LaBure as to the need to define the role of the legislative committee. And then Councilwoman Stewart asked if there was any other business and Adjourned the meeting. I arrived at 8:30 and the meeting was adjourned at 8:36. I went to speak to the Deputy City Manager...
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