LAKEWOOD INFORMER

The City of Lakewood cites an increase in crime around or near Jumbo’s Sports Bar and Grill (6111 W Colfax Ave), leading to increased emergency service calls. The City cites this increase as a reason to suspend the bars liquor license. Others point to the regular crime rate along Colfax as the source for crime. Jumbo’s owner, Tanesha Howard, argues they are the victims of crimes that Lakewood will not investigate. Some neighbors have complaints over alleged license irregularities. A State investigation of license irregularities concluded the liquor license allegations were “unfounded”. Ms. Howard explains that opening the bar actually cleaned up the area and gave good purpose to the property. Robert Vigil, a local resident and supporter, says he looked forward to having a safe place in the community to come to. Jumbo’s routinely feeds the homeless. According to CBS Colorado, Lakewood’s document calls Jumbo’s “a target for gun violence”, not a perpetrator, enabler or cause of gun violence. This marks a disturbing trend in Lakewood to penalize property owners for their property not being safe. Recently Lakewood passed a new ordinance for vacant properties, requiring owners to register, pay fees, and potentially be penalized, because their vacant property attracts crime. Jumbo’s may also be penalized for property location. Fox31 KDVR shows Lakewood City Council Member Springsteen saying, “I’ve read through the allegations from the City and I did not see specific circumstances when people from this establishment were causing gun violence that you don’t see anywhere else on...

In a contentious meeting rife with head-shaking, eye-rolling and looks of disgust, Lakewood City Council voted to overturn the will of the voters and sunset the Strategic Growth Initiative (SGI)  aka Lakewood’s Growth Cap.  The sunset will occur in 24 months, ostensibly to bring the city in line with Colorado’s new law to preempt “Local Regulations Limiting the Number of Building Permits“, Colorado HB23-1255. This decision will allow Lakewood 24 months to discuss next steps and work towards compliance, without waiving any Constitutional rights. The discussion allowed residents to see if and how each City Council Member would fight for Lakewood’s local rights as well as voters rights. Debate seemed divided between those citing affordable concerns and/or wanted time to find a solution and the people who wanted to uphold local control and/or the will of the people. Of those who discussed the need for affordable housing as a reason to overturn SGI: Councilors who voted against the sunset and/or in support of keeping SGI intact argued: What did your Councilor say about it? Mayor Paul: Said options are limited without an executive session. Able: Fought against the notion that we needed to overturn SGI for affordability reasons. Before SGI we weren’t getting “the housing types that were called for in our housing studies, we didn’t have any move towards affordability and as far as I can see we still haven’t made a move towards affordability. The committee that was going to deal with affordability had its knees chopped off…...

On July 24, 2023, Lakewood City Council voted in a new ordinance that could penalize leaving your property vacant for more than 30 days. Many of the Council Members who spoke, expressed reservations with the ordinance as written. City staff say they will take their concerns into account and use staff discretion when enforcing the new ordinance. This ordinance arose from discussions on the increased calls for service to distressed properties, specifically involving the homeless population. This measure may be part of a strategy to decrease homeless activity around vacant property by penalizing property owners rather than the homeless. How this affects residents The new ordinance states that if your residential or commercial property is vacant for more than 30 days you will need to register it as vacant and have mandatory inspections. The new ordinance will particularly affect vacant homes for sale; an exemption can be applied for. The ordinance includes the provision that property owners shall have a plan to inhabit or demolish any buildings within six months of vacancy, meaning no structures will be vacant for more than six months. No data was presented as to how many vacant properties this would affect outside of the few problems that have been discussed in Council meetings. Each vacant property registration will require a fee. Council Member Shahrezaei inquired as to whether a additional fee could be used to establish a fund that would provide monies to neighbors in a non-vacant property to mitigate their hardship. The city attorney...

Jefferson County seems to think Lakewood and Arvada will build a navigation center that Jeffco can contribute to, according  to the August 1, 2023 Jefferson County Commissioner work session. Lakewood mentioned that Jeffco is looking for a navigation center site early in the year. Meanwhile, Lakewood and Arvada are applying for state grants that would go to expanding nonprofit organizations. Ideally, the proposed navigation centers would host services, permanent housing and shelter beds. A navigation center, a concept pioneered by officials and advocates in San Francisco in the past decade, is a place where a city’s unhoused residents can stay until they can be connected with permanent housing. – msn.com Jeffco secured $6 million through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), also called the COVID Stimulus Package, of 2021. The money was intended to be used for two navigation centers where homeless resources could be centralized and coordinated. Ideally, the centers would host services, permanent housing, and shelter beds. Jeffco has committed those funds for two years, and time is running out to have it spent. Arvada has purchased land with a building, but unfortunately Arvada found environmental problems with the building that caused delays. Lakewood has reportedly been looking for an acceptable site to build a shelter for the last year. Lakewood says they are still open to that plan, but the current focus is on Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) grants to expand RecoveryWorks. Likewise, Arvada is also applying for the same grant to be passed to...

Reposted from CPR By Andrew Kenney Lakewood just became the first city in Colorado to change its development policies in response to pressure from Democrats in the state legislature — but not without an intense public debate. A new state law forbids cities like Lakewood from enforcing what it calls “anti-growth” policies. Lakewood city leaders responded on Monday by starting to undo the “strategic growth” law that has dominated city politics and reshaped Lakewood’s growth in recent years. The council voted 8-3 to put an expiration date on the city’s growth law, setting it to disappear in two years. The change appears to put the city in compliance with the new state law, but it leaves Lakewood with the question of how it will manage growth and development as a new chapter of city politics begins. Continue reading…

Guest Post by Linnea Hauser Another big foot of the federal government is stepping its way through Congress and may soon be heading to Lakewood. That foot belongs to the Telecom industry. Its name is H.R.3557 – the American Broadband Deployment Act of 2023. If passed by Congress, it will clear the way for the reckless deployment of future wireless infrastructure, usurping Lakewood’s current laws and stomping out our right to manage our public rights-of-way and our land use policies. Its damage will be permanent; its only benefit will be to the Telecom industry. It will allow the wireless industry to ignore the critical environmental laws, historic protections, and aesthetic considerations that Lakewood has thoughtfully built into our city programs. And, contrary to what its promoters claim, it is not likely to close the digital divide.  The National League of Cities, in opposition to the bill, claims “There is no evidence that heavy-handed preemptive mandates, such as harsh permitting shot clocks, deemed granted policies, or restrictions on permitting fee arrangements or cable franchises, have expedited the deployment of broadband infrastructure”. The Lakewood Broadband Task Force, a group of Lakewood citizens, wants to make our community aware of this bill. We urge each resident to tell their local, State and Federal elected representatives that H.R.3557 should be stopped. The US Conference of Mayors, the National Association of Counties, the National League of Cities, and many others have already spoken out in opposition to H.R. 3557. Thank you for joining us in this important campaign. ...