Lakewood Informer

Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado

Lakewood Informer

Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado

Special Election Set for April 7

Lakewood City Council unanimously decided to put the zoning code up for a vote on a special election on April 7, 2026. Both pro-zoning and anti-zoning advocates requested the special election. Both sides believe they have the support of the people.

The decision to put the zoning code on the ballot was not about the zoning code. The issue was whether City Council would listen to the people. City Council rushed to approve a new zoning code without a public discussion of the underlying densification decision. The actual changes were a different discussion than the broader Comprehensive Plan or “affordable housing” discussion. Once people started to understand zoning densification impacts, there was a rising number of complaints. City Council Members discounted these voices as a “small minority.”

A year later, City Council seems to honestly believe that the thousands of residents who signed a referendum petition are not only a small minority, but also wrong and misinformed.

Both sides asked for a special election to prove they are right.

Jim Gerrity ∙ Jan 26, 2026 ∙ 3:10pm I repectfully request that Lakewood City Council allow the voters to have a voice regarding your decision to change the city's zoning ordinances. This has a significant impact on existing neighborhoods. High density development comes with a significant cost in terms of quality of life and congestion. Large scale apartment buildings bring residents that do not lay down roots in our community. I understand that our state legislature is holding out a carrot in terms of money to the city if we comply with their power grab over a very local issue. Would it be too much of a stretch to suggest that developers might have a hand in all of this? 10 / 12 Councilors have viewed this comment Karen Girard ∙ Jan 26, 2026 ∙ 3:03pm Your constituents want to vote on this, and deserve the opportunity to do so. 10 / 12 Councilors have viewed this comment
Public comment supporting a special election. https://lakewoodspeaks.org/items/4764

Echo Chamber

The danger for all involved is the tendency to build an echo chamber of support. City Council has built a strong echo chamber to support progressive policies. When those policies are opposed by residents, Councilors say all their policies were supported in order to get elected. 

Support for a person is different than support for a specific policy.

This is same kind of false conflation that occurred during the zoning discussion. City Council said people wanted affordable housing, so therefore Council believed everyone would support a zoning code that turned suburban Lakewood into a more urban area.

Two different things.

Council Supported by Special Interests

Most of City Council was elected without strong resident support. Instead, as reported in Lakewood Informer news, they were:

  • Backed by special interests and outside donors – like Mayor Strom
  • Uncontested – like Councilor Liz Black
  • Or both, like Mayor Pro Tem Jeslin Shahrezaei

More Support AGAINST Zoning

The current City Council did not originally campaign on zoning changes, so their election is not evidence in support for zoning.

In contrast, the petitioners did extensive education and resident outreach on zoning details. They raised support for a voters’ veto of urbanized zoning.

One resident noticed that every item on the agenda demonstrated a problem with transparency. Comments like this point to a chronic and systemic problem in Lakewood.

A comment from Lakewood resident Jon Goldman described how Lakewood’s outreach failed to give accurate information and listen to feedback (see slide pictured below).

Listening is hard work. Being in the same room and saying “I hear you but…” is not the same thing.

infographic from Lakewood showing various outreach methods
Slide from public comment 26 January, 2026

Petitioners Have Provable Support Against Zoning

People signed the petition to repeal zoning once they learned what the all negative impacts of the new code. That was well after the time that City Council said everyone knew and agreed with the new policy.

Obviously, Council was wrong then. The question is, are they still wrong now?

And a second question, will the big outside money that got Council elected work against the residents now?

Will Lakewood residents support affordable housing at the cost of their chosen suburban investment?

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