Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado
Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado
Jeffco Schools unanimously voted to sell Emory with barely a stall in the consent agenda on November 13, 2025. Statements made at that time and also at the November 5 study session indicate that Jeffco School Board and staff were heavily influenced by one-sided propaganda. No other ideas were considered and the propaganda was passed along without fully informing the public.
The October 27, 2025 City Council meeting demonstrated how determined Council is to approve the Emory sale and Action Center purchase. That date was the first opportunity to approve the multiple transaction after the new zoning was passed – zoning which was required for the new operations. Despite having an injunction in place to stall the vote, Council did everything possible except the actual vote itself. They claimed everything was known, disclosed and proper. They laughed and smiled as if the injunction was a joke. However, despite their claims, below is a list of over 70 lingering questions.
The votes on Emory have been delayed from October 27 to October 29 and now until November 3 while Council desperately tries to vote as soon as possible even while the case is in court and under injunction. The difficulty lies in how to restore trust and enable a public process to answer questions that have been handled behind the scenes for two years.
Lakewood’s shell game to buy Emory for the Action Center has shone a light on deals made before the public has a chance to weigh in. City leaders tell residents they can speak at the public comment period that was months away, and then they use the time before public comment to cement their plans away from public eye. More proof? An upcoming event taking place at Emory Elementary, hosted by Kaiser Permanente to benefit the Action Center. Chances are good that this was originally planned to be a celebration event for the Action Center that has now devolved into an event “with nonprofit partner.”
This is not just a regular Canstruction event. This is special for the Action Center at Emory.
Anita Springsteen, former Lakewood City Council Member and attorney, has won an injunction filed against Lakewood. The injunction will pause two upcoming votes on Emory, wherein Lakewood is acting as an agent for the Action Center. It is unclear what, if any, benefit Lakewood will gain through this deal, but it is very clear the city will lose millions. At the same time, the Action Center will gain millions of dollars of property that it could not get without the special privileges of the government middleman. The injunction will pause the vote until after the previously scheduled October 28, 2025, court date.
Jeffco Schools is not disclosing how much the district will lose on the Emory Elementary deal. And curiously, no one knows when the Board met or voted on selling the closed school.
Lakewood Informer reached out to school officials and could find NOTHING. How is Lakewood selling the property when the purchase has not been completed through Jeffco? Has it been completed and everyone missed it?
Emory Not Purchased Yet but is Already Scheduled to Sell The sale of Emory has already been scheduled for October 27, the same day Lakewood will authorize buying the current Action Center for more homeless services. There is no mention of when Lakewood will complete the purchase of Emory, but Lakewood must be confident since it is already scheduled for sale. There is no update on the Jeffco website and calls for comment have not been returned. No evidence of a public meeting with Jeffco schools can be found. Lakewood has consistently told residents that the purchase and sale of Emory Elementary was not a “done deal” and that the community would have plenty of opportunity to weigh in. But so far, that hasn’t been the case. While there have been many meetings where the Action Center has explained their plans, there has been no opposing views presented. Resident concerns have been brushed aside. The only real discussion about Lakewood’s homeless policy was during a Council workshop at which no votes were taken and public comment allowed. The sale date of October 27th is the day before the District Court trial involving Lakewood’s alleged violations of the Open Meetings Law. Former Lakewood Councilor and attorney Anita Springsteen filed three lawsuits against improper notice of executive sessions for Emory purchase discussions. Losing Money Jeffco will not disclose the market valuation of Emory, claiming negotiation privilege. However, the discussion from the Action Center presentations suggests: the property is worth around $10 million Lakewood will purchase the building for $4 million. Lakewood will then sell the building to the Action Center for $1 million. If true, that’s a $9 million loss to the taxpayers. Add in the cost for Lakewood to buy the current Action Center property and the cost goes up. Meanwhile, Jeffco has been cutting costs elsewhere — including reducing school resource officer coverage. Residents can’t help but connect these decisions to recent tragedies like the Evergreen school shooting, which happened when the SRO was off duty and a replacement had been “deprioritized”. Biased Presentations The Action Center has sponsored a couple of one-sided presentation meetings. Ward 2 residents expecting a zoning discussion on September 13 were instead met with a surprise Action Center presentation. The Action Center meeting scheduled for September 17 has turned into a Ward 3 meeting. It is scheduled for 5:30 at Emory Elementary. What’s missing is any balanced discussion of: The real taxpayer costs The impact on nearby neighborhoods Program effectiveness Whether these programs can stand financially without ongoing government support Expanding Homeless Services City Manager Kathy Hodgson previewed this direction back in December 2023, saying “… we are talking about a partnership with the Action Center to move them to one of the schools that’s been closed…. then Lakewood would have a presence in the existing two buildings of the Action Center to complete the navigation concept and allow for more housing for our homeless population….“ Since the City Manager made that comment, the Navigation Center has proven to be more expensive than anticipated and has drawn criticism as a magnet for the homeless. Even Governor Jared Polis recently questioned “Housing First” strategies like Lakewood’s. In a September 12 interview with CPR, Polis said Denver’s model hasn’t worked and shouldn’t be emulated. Instead, he pointed to Colorado Springs and Aurora, which emphasize mental health and individualized approaches over housing alone. (See Lakewood Informer news article for a comparison) From CPR interview with Governor Polis, 12 September 2025 Zoning Changes on a Fast Track Lakewood’s City Council is expected to vote on the final zoning changes, including the Emory site, on October 13. The move would “spot change” Emory’s zoning without the typical public hearing process. All of this is scheduled to be finalized before the next election, effectively locking in the decision before residents can have their say at the ballot box. The Bigger Picture Lakewood’s leadership continues to move forward without presenting residents with a full picture of costs, tradeoffs, or alternative models. Governor Polis himself has warned against relying on “Housing First” — yet Lakewood is doubling down on that very approach. The new zoning enables this approach while bypassing normal public hearings on controversial site changes.
New Resident Group Opposes Action Center at Emory LakewoodCoConcerned is a new resident group that looks like it opposes the Action Center moving into Emory Elementary. No contact information is available so that’s all we know for now. Meanwhile, The Action Center is planning on moving in. They are having another meeting at Emory on September 17, 2025. Again, the latest information we have is that both Lakewood and Jeffco will be losing millions of dollars giving this closed school away while blocking out any better offer. The following email is from the Action Center (thank you Lakewood Informer readers for sending this) Scroll to the bottom to see how this circle of funding works – they hold lobbying events for elected officials and the elected officials provide government funding. This event is sold out
Lakewood is adding a new word to the dictionary — an innocuous move that covers up a dedicated zoning change for the Emory-Action Center swap while also shutting down future resident protests. Lakewood is planning on adding a new “Community Resource Facility” use to the zoning code to enable an “Amazon” warehouse-type low-income distribution center to operate anywhere in Lakewood. This new use is necessary for changes to the Emory Elementary property that Lakewood proposes to sell or exchange with the Action Center, which will convert it into a “Community Resource Facility”. That swap is not mentioned in the May 19th meeting on the zoning code change, even though the swap is what prompted the change in the first place. To listen to that meeting, one would think that there has just been a glaring oversight for the past 50 years, and no non-profits have been able to operate food pantries. Taken in isolation, residents could be forgiven for thinking that Lakewood didn’t have the ability to allow what is clearly already allowed in multiple places. Therefore, once again, residents must dig deeper to understand what is going on. In this case, allowing high populations of low-income support services in every zone in the city, including those previously reserved for schools. (For background, read Lakewood news at https://lakewoodinformer.com/springsteen-files-injunction-regarding-emory/) Travis Parker, Chief of Planning and Community Development, says Lakewood hasn’t had a request for something like this during his time with Lakewood, which may give residents an idea of the scale of the facility that is envisioned. The Action Center currently operates in a commercial area and sometimes has customers lined up down the block. The new “Facility” will be much larger. Envision the difference between the local retail shop and the Amazon warehouse. Are residents prepared for the warehouse of low-income services anywhere in the city? *Another word game warning: since places like the Action Center and Recovery Works are paid for by donations, Lakewood claims they are different from commercial activities, so they use the word “guests” instead of “customers”. They say this is a “distribution of goods and services” instead of commercial activity. The medium of exchange might be different, but the underlying intent is the same. The new code discriminates against for-profit businesses that are not eligible to operate everywhere in the city. Lakewood is a government, not a charity, and this type of special treatment drives out other commercial businesses who cannot compete with special favors granted by the government. It also discriminates against smaller non-profits that currently operate throughout the city but are not getting financial favors from the city to host a “facility” — like the one envisioned by Lakewood for the Action Center. In a city where small businesses are closing everywhere, why give special treatment to organizations that don’t pay taxes? When a City Council member asked how existing operations were allowed, the answer was that they were in a mixed-use zone, but it was unknown under what technical use definition. Historical precedence seems to be pertinent to the discussion. Is it possible the man in charge doesn’t know how this could have been accomplished in the past? Or is the change specific to something that could be pertinent only to the Emory property swap Councilor Isabel Cruz asked what this change would look like outside of the school disposition process. Her question suggests an understanding that the change is driven specifically by the Action Center swap, even if that is not communicated directly. Councilor I. Cruz asks about smaller non-profits, but they are already allowed under existing rules. This change is necessary only to allow the Action Center’s mega-warehouse tied to land swap. Lakewood is making changes behind the scenes to preempt resident objections. Under current zoning, residents would have a chance to protest the Emory Elementary use change later. Adding this definition makes the change happen now, without specific public notice.
By Jimmy Sengenberger, in the Denver Gazette The backroom deal I warned about last year is now playing out in broad daylight. In February 2024, I asked whether Lakewood was eyeing a bargain on the closed Emory Elementary — a deal that could dodge public input and leave Jeffco taxpayers holding the bag. Fifteen months later, the answer is a resounding yes. On Monday, Lakewood’s City Council authorized a $4 million below-market purchase of the school — a site that got $2.6 million in taxpayer-funded upgrades before Jeffco closed it in 2023. It’s now on track to become the new home of the nonprofit Action Center — courtesy of a taxpayer-funded workaround. The Action Center’s mission may be noble, serving vulnerable families and individuals. But the process? Not so much. It reeks of an almost theatrical disregard for transparency and taxpayer interests — with a straight face. In January 2024, Jeffco Schools quietly introduced a new “Municipal Interest” process giving municipalities like Lakewood first dibs on shuttered schools — without competitive bidding or public input. COO Jeff Gatlin confirmed Lakewood’s “interest in the Emory property,” revealing they were already “working through the municipal interest route.” Translation? A backdoor sale — letting Jeffco Schools unload taxpayer-funded property at a loss. A consultant even advised this process empowered the district to skip community feedback entirely. Read the rest of the article….
