LAKEWOOD INFORMER

Guest post from Joan from Lakewood So the progressive Leadership of Lakewood maintained its position after the November 7 election. Congratulations Mayor Strom. But there is a crack in the smooth surface in Lakewood. An unknown politically naive man with no name recognition or political history came in second with 30 percent of the vote. This was dismissed by the winning party as an awful MAGA uprise and not to be considered. But I contend it is the symptom of the growing anger of the citizens of Lakewood over policies that have ignored public input (see the Save Belmar Park people) But consider this, Arvada has recently rejected the monies from the county to open a negotiation center in the city. And is not developing policies and programs that will attract the unhoused into their community. Meanwhile Lakewood takes 7 million of Jefferson County funds (funds from the Federal Infrastructure Act) to open a recovery/navigation center And makes itself more welcoming to unhoused individuals by opening and celebrating new programs.  Editor’s note: It is unconfirmed if County/Federal money will be filtered through Lakewood or go directly to RecoveryWorks. On November 29, there was a church/community meeting to roll out a “Safe to Park” program in the parking lot of Phillips United Methodist church at 1450 S Pierce St, This program will allow people living in their cars to have permission to park in 4 spaces on the church parking lot.  This program is designed to work with the services of Lakewood and there is...

Guest post from Rocky Mountain How many of us are concerned that about 80% of the posts on Nextdoor are about crime? Crimes that are committed against themselves, relatives, neighbors, etc. Most of these posts are about how to protect ourselves like installing lights, cameras, security systems or “call the cops”. I’m sure many crimes have been prevented by these actions, but how many crimes have been solved and more importantly, what happened to the perpetrators? Did they receive appropriate punishment for their crime or are they simply given a slap on the wrist, made to promise not to do that again and put right back on the streets? Our police force is underfunded and under staffed. They are restricted from performing their duties to arrest and detain criminals. And really, why bother anyway, they will just be let go anyway Many of these crimes are not just about lost or damaged property. My brother’s truck was stolen. He lost much more than his truck. He lost all of his tools and materials he needed to make a living! They really have stolen the livelihood of himself and his entire family! What should the adequate punishment be for the scumbags that ruined the lives of an honest hard-working family? We are more concerned about the proper treatment of the criminals than their victims! Shame on us! Who is to blame? Look in the mirror.  Editor’s Note: Nextdoor users understand the phenomena of posts like these getting flagged or disappearing, while...

By Barbara Millman During two upcoming Lakewood City Council meetings Save Belmar Park supporters will continue to testify against multibillion dollar developer Kairoi Residential that has planned and pushed through with the full cooperation of the City of Lakewood a gigantic 412 unit, 5 story luxury apartment building sharing the eastern boundary of the city’s treasured  Belmar Park. Gigantic: It has a footprint of two football fields, is 5 stories high, most with 83 apartments on each floor. Secretive: The Lakewood City Council only notified a small neighborhood HOA, Belmar Commons, about the planned development a year ago. The two month pause declared by Karoi to meet with the community concludes December 20. Kairoi has not responded to SBP’s inquiry about a meeting date.  Bits and pieces have come through to SBP only after Kairoi talked to City officials.   Smoke and mirrors? The latest “bit” is that Kairoi, in collaboration with the City, last week defined the terms of the community meeting they had pledged to hold.  They will limit attendance to a very few residents of Belmar Commons where the primary, legitimate concern is safety on S. Yarrow Street.  This will not reflect the many different reasons for concern expressed by park users SBP has talked to regarding the mammoth Kairoi building. Kairoi has hired attorney Carolynne White of the prestigious and powerful Brownstein firm to represent them.  Records show she contributed to the campaign of outgoing Lakewood mayor Adam Paul.   The Brownstein firm has been hired by Lakewood on numerous occasions. SBP has used the expertise of its...

The Lakewood Planning Commission was asked by City Council to investigate ways to expand use of Additional Dwelling Units (ADUs) to increase affordable housing in Lakewood.  In a series of increasingly acrimonious meetings, the Commission developed a series of recommendations that have residents concerned the city would turn all R1 zones into R2 zones while having no impact on affordable housing. The main barrier to building ADUs are the high water and sewer tap fees, which the city has no control over. Rather than acknowledging the barrier is out of city control, some Commissioners pushed to “liberalize” the code while arguing with other Commissioners over the basics, such as what “primary residence” means. The theory behind the original request was that people with large lots could easily add an ADU, such as a mother-in-law suite or garage apartment, to make easy affordable housing. As the Planning Commission quickly found out, ADUs are extremely uncommon. The reason for that is the cost of the water and sewer taps. These fees are set by the respective water and sanitation districts to cover the cost for infrastructure and cannot be changed by Lakewood. After determining the cause of limited ADU development, the Planning Commission faced a decision: The Commission chose the later option, interpreting the assignment as a mandate for action no matter what the research revealed. Dialogue from the Commissioners revealed the reason for this stance. Commissioner Kolkmeier stated: ““We have, without question, an affordability problem, and it’s not just Lakewood. What...

The following is a transcription of public comment from the November 27 City Council meeting. It provides an update on a case the city fully expected to lose. The City, and the people, won first in trial court, and now again in the Court of Appeals. Congratulations and thank you! By Lenore Herskovitz I don’t know how many of you presently sitting on City Council are aware of a lawsuit filed in 2021 by Colorado Christian University against the City of Lakewood regarding an ordinance pertaining to Student Living Units. Two years ago some of the new Council members expressed an interest in learning about this but never followed up. I am bringing this up because last Wednesday the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled on this lawsuit. They affirmed the District Court decision in favor of the City (and the Intervenors who stood up for their neighborhood) and permits the City to prohibit certain uses (in this case Student Living Units) in their zoning. CCU was claiming discrimination and violation of their constitutional rights. Both the District and Appellate Court disagreed. The timing of this ruling is serendipitous occurring the day before Thanksgiving. Also tonight marks Councilors LaBure’s return to the dais. He was a sitting Councilor in April, 2021 and voted with the majority of the Council to reinstate with modifications the Student Living Unit definition that had been removed without notification from the 2012 revised Lakewood Municipal Code. Although this was an issue that directly affected the neighborhood...