Tag: news

Fees for Park Land Static Since 2018

Written by Lakewood News from Karen on .

The development near Belmar Park, on 777 S Yarrow, has brought into focus the “fee in lieu” provision of Lakewood, Colorado’s Municipal Code L.M.C. 14.16.010. These fees have not been reviewed, or changed, since 2018, resulting in potential under-compensation to the city. Historically developers have had to provide park land for their residents to use. The fee was instead of park land. Existing Lakewood parks would provide park services for the new development.

In light of the confusion regarding the fee in lieu of land dedication/policy the following was sent out to Council and staff on Dec. 31, 2023: 

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lenore Herskovitz <lenoreherskovitz@gmail.com>
Date: December 31, 2023 at 2:56:12 PM MST
To: Wendi Strom <WenStr@lakewood.org>, CityCouncilMembers@lakewood.org, Kathy Hodgson <KatHod@lakewood.org>, Travis Parker <TraPar@lakewood.org>, abrown@lakewood.org, kitnew@lakewood.org
Subject: Fwd: land dedication fee in lieu

“I don’t know if you’ve seen this before but this is the fee that was set by Director of Community Resources in 2018. The fee is determined by the Director. The ordinance was supposed to have been reviewed by Council no later than Dec. 31, 2023. Also, the fee is due at the time of site plan approval or can be delayed by the Director (Kit Newland) until building permit issuance. The amount to be paid shall be the fee in effect at the time of payment (although it is interesting to note that the fee mentioned in the document expired on Dec. 31, 2019). As far as I know, the fee has not yet been paid. There has been misinformation sent out by the planning department stating “the city staff cannot change this valuation without an act of Council”. However, 14.16.07B of the 2018 document says that the Director shall set the fee equal to fair market value…The only job of Council right now is to review this ordinance. Why was this not placed on the agenda months ago? Staff should have been well aware that this needed to be addressed before the end of the year and it should have been posted. Former Councilor Springsteen mentioned this in October and no action was taken. Why are we updating fees so rarely? Prior to 2018, the only ordinance addressing this was passed in 1983. Obviously, property values fluctuate greatly and fair market values should reflect that. How much potential revenue have we lost over the years due to this antiquated system of determining fees? Council should review this ordinance at the next scheduled meeting and alter the terms as needed.”

See ordinance and policy letter below:

parkland-dedications-finalDownload

Lakewood to Propose a Homeless Shelter in Public School Building

Written by Lakewood News from Karen on .

Correction, Jan 18, 2024: The unnamed, closed Jefferson County school was not proposed as a homeless shelter but as a new location for the Jeffco Action Center which offers hardship services. Increased housing for the homeless would then be available and Lakewood would have a presence in two Action Center buildings. Plans are not final, but discussions have been started. More details have not been brought before Council yet. 

Correction: Services, Not Shelter, to Move to Jeffco School

Lakewood’s Strategic Housing Plan (SHP) researched the possibilities of redeveloping vacant or underutilized land for affordable housing. For example, there are many vacant commercial sites that could be used for new affordable units. The SHP currently does not have details, rather the plan is ready for further research and public discussion. However, Lakewood City Manager Hodgson says that by listening carefully to City Councilors, city staff could anticipate that this item was of particular interest so staff has started work.

Towards that goal, Lakewood staff already has a proposal to work collaboratively to house homeless in a closed Jeffco school in Lakewood. That project includes working with the Jeffco Action Center to provide shelter in these already controversial neighborhood sites. Financial incentives may be available from the city.

This proposal will be coming to Council for approval soon, with no other details provided by Hodgson, as announced in the December 18 study session.

Public comment shows people want further discussion regarding sheltering the unhoused in a school, but city staff believe they have enough tacit approval from City Council that they have proceeded with their plans.  Under the option for repurposing existing buildings for affordable housing, the city will not require a separate discussion for this topic, outside of plan adoption, although public comment would be available if there is a separate proposal.

Although the people who live in those highly residential areas may not want a homeless shelter next door, the city has an answer to that: Public comment is over-represented by affluent long-term homeowners (link added 2/11/24). The argument that owners of single-family residences are generally rich, white people who are over-represented in their city council meetings is laid out  in the Harvard Law Review paper to show affordable housing is a right. 

Sidenote: City Manager Kathy Hodgson and Mayor Wendi Strom have studied government at Harvard University.

The city survey correlated how long residents have lived in Lakewood with survey responses in order to pit residents against each other, in what seems to be a continuing conversation of older residents versus younger residents. For example, it has been suggested during the demographic study that residents “ageing in place” contribute to taking up valuable housing stock that would otherwise be “affordable.”

From Lakewood Strategic Housing Plan presentation

Destabilizing neighborhoods by changing their use or density may prove a base assumption of the plan. The SHP depends on residents that have enough money moving out of their existing homes and moving into the newly created market-rate apartments. The move would allow for the existing housing stock that was vacated to be used for those less fortunate. Housing migration is a critical component to a successful market-rate overstock policy implementation.  (Hattip Ditson)

Correction: Study date changed from Dec 19th to 18th

Not Affordable: More Market-Rate Housing Coming to Lakewood

Written by Lakewood News from Karen on .

Newly elected Lakewood City Council Member Isabel Cruz says increasing housing supply has led to higher rents and gentrification of her area, Ward 2.  However, Lakewood’s Strategic Housing Plan (SHP) says the opposite will happen in the future, that increasing overall supply will decrease rents, especially in areas of high homeless population such as Ward 2. The plan depends on the theory that more market-rate housing will create affordable housing in an indirect way that has not been proven in Lakewood. This discrepancy between theory and observable experience was not resolved before Lakewood City Council agreed to move forward with the plan as proposed on December 18, 2023.

Following SHP recommendations will:

  • Incentivize market-rate, high-density, low-parking apartments for middle- to higher-income residents
  • Enable pallet homes and create homeless shelters, possibly in a closed Jeffco school, for very-low income residents
  • Fund these programs with city tax dollars
  • Enable housing opportunities for low- to middle-income residents when residents vacate existing housing

This plan to recommend more development was created by a group largely comprised of developers, along with city staff. Only one “active resident” is listed (Hattip Hasfjord – see SHP pg 3)

Many of the details needed to understand how the plan will impact Lakewood are missing from the plan. Council Member Mayott-Guerrero explained in the very beginning that passing the plan is just the first step for being able to really dig into the details and research this plan. City Manager Hodgson apparently disagrees. She says that staff has been listening to what Council wants and has been acting on those desires by developing project specific proposals.

The detailed project proposals were developed without public input or vote by Council on what their priorities will be. The proposals will be ready for Council approval as soon as the plan can be passed.

The goal would be to move quickly. Hodgson already has a specific bank and funding options researched to start incentivizing development as soon as first quarter 2024.

That seemed to be exactly what Councilor Stewart wanted to hear. As current chair of the Budget and Audit Board, she asked for options to begin adding to the budget immediately (normal budget procedure would be to pass new options in fourth quarter 2024). She also pointed out that her proposals for the Lakewood Planning Commission to research loosening Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) regulations would help move the SHP forward.

These are big changes that the public has been told will have the opportunity for further discussion. However, having proposals ready to be approved is different than ready for public participation. Several mentions of the “housing emergency” and “needing to move quickly” suggests the rubber stamp process may be implied with the passing of the plan.

For example, combining current ADU research, zoning code rewrites that are almost completed by staff (not publicly available) and past precedent for using city funds, Lakewood could start accelerating ADU development within first quarter 2024 by directly paying for water tap fees.

Although the word “subsidy” is rarely used, Lakewood has paid in the past for public infrastructure “gap funding” for water tap fees through the Lakewood Community Block Grant. These tap fees are the biggest hurdle for ADU development so increased funding or subsidizes could greatly increase development.

Just the change in ADU development, effectively changing all R1 into R2 zoning, would double the housing density of Lakewood.

As the Strategic Housing Study found, it is not possible at today’s construction costs to develop new housing at less than market rate.  Lakewood will not and cannot develop apartments that are more affordable – the government is not a developer. The Strategic Housing Plan does not guarantee new affordable housing but rather makes new market-rate housing available for higher income residents to move into, thereby increasing housing migration, with the hope that older affordable units will open up (Hattip Ditson).

This plan will increase market-rate housing by offering incentives including:

  • Public funding for developers and housing assistance for individuals
  • Relaxed regulations such as decreased parking requirements and the ability for pallet homes
  • An easier permit process and expedited assistance

Correction: Study date changed from Dec 19th to 18th

Residents Will Pay For Development

Written by Lakewood News from Karen on .

One recommendation from Lakewood’s Strategic Housing Plan (SHP) is to incentivize development with city funds. A variety of costs and methods are discussed. Specific spending decisions have not been made but City Manager Hodgson says staff is ready with a proposal to work with  the Community First Foundation  in a donor-advised fund. Funds could be ready as early as first quarter 2024. Hodgson suggested a starting amount of $500,000.

In most cases, direct funding would not be economical so available funds could be used to leverage other funds. For example, city funds could match against other government grants for development.

There are significant other costs proposed:

  • Increased staff costs
  • Increased administrative costs
  • Rebating city property taxes
  • Waiving permit costs
  • Paying for property damage
  • Increasing city funds for direct housing vouchers
  • Utilizing resident TABOR refunds
  • Non-direct costs such as impacts of loosened parking requirements

The other favored source of proposed funding would be from an increase to the Accommodation Tax (currently 3%). This hidden tax increase would have far-reaching effects:

  • Proposed changes would almost double the tax
  • Increased taxing makes it less economical for hotels, so would therefore decreases hotel viability. Hotels drive other tourism-based businesses.
  • Increased hotel fees make Short-Term Rentals (STRs) more attractive since they are immune to the tax.
  • Increased STRs contributes to needing more housing which will need more financial housing incentives while driving down the business that is providing the funding.

The reason for the accommodation tax in the first place was to fuel economic development but that purpose has been modified for public safety by Lakewood City Council.

The city has previously made funds available through the Community Block Grant Fund to pay for infrastructure costs for development. One benefit of having a new fund with the Community First Foundation would be that funds would be immediately available on the developers’ schedule, rather than waiting until grant approval time.

The indirect costs of increased residential services and decreased business opportunities cannot be directly calculated so are not considered.

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