The Revolving Door Project reports on a new caucus that favors real estate and landlord lobbying groups. Caucus founders include Representative Brittany Pettersen, a Lakewood resident.
“…the Congressional Real Estate Caucus. Launched in May by two Republicans and two Democrats, the caucus’ stated aim is to “ensure that congressional debates […] include a concern for real estate and serves as a forum for members of Congress and real estate professionals to discuss federal policy and its impact on the nation’s real estate industry.” The real estate industry’s financial success is the priority of the group: the Caucus promised to work to “support policies that allow this industry to prosper.
“Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D, CO-07): Pettersen, a freshman member of Congress and former state legislator, has received a combined $56,500 in PAC contributions from industry supporters of the Real Estate Caucus in just two years. She also co-owns a single-family property in Lakewood, CO that generates rental income.”
Correction 9/21/24: There is no single commercial applicant currently under consideration for the Vivian property. This month, following a pre-qualification process, several applicants were invited to submit final proposals which are due in October.
Correction 9/26/24: Paula Reed represents District 2, not District 1. District 2 includes Green Mountain and Lakewood High Schools . Erin Kenworthy is District 4 which has Alameda High School and the now closed Emory Elementary. Three Board Members are up for election this year: Danielle Varda – District 1, Paula Reed – District 2 and Mary Parker – District 5
Thank you readers for your corrections and information!
An untested process caused misunderstandings and hiccups resulting in delays to Lakewood purchasing shuttered Jeffco schools. Lakewood is now negotiating to buy 3 acres of Vivian Elementary School. They are also still asking about acquiring Emory Elementary for use by the Action Center. At a meeting on September 13, 2024, City Councilors and Jeffco School Board Members were able to get a lot of their positions stated for the record; however, this remains a closed process with both managers negotiating on a staff level. There has been no presentation to the public of a plan for school properties. School district documents show that the district must approve the use designation. That means that Lakewood must have presented their plans for the Action Center months ago, during the same time Lakewood Mayor and City Manager were calling the stories “misinformation”.
City officials appeared united in their efforts to buy school property at less than market-rate for city use or for general community sustainability. They cited multiple reasons for deserving a price break:
Due to the trauma of the school closures, giving the property to a deserving party for less than market-rate would be healing
The school board has a history of giving property away for community use so they should stand by that precedent (two examples cited including a property sold to Gold Crown for $1)
Non-profits like the Action Center do a great community service and there should be an equivalent value included in the decision-making process
School District officials were divided in their response. Although everyone from both organizations signaled their willingness to work together, officials are making hard decisions.
Danielle Varda acknowledged the many great ideas they have received for using each building but said there is no way the district can give away all those properties because constituents expect proper fiscal management of public dollars.
“What I’ve been concerned about since day one is that we have a fair process that’s very public, that all people follow and there’s no backdoor deals, no handshakes.” – Daniella Varda
Paula Reed encouraged a new metric to be added to the evaluation process so that properties could be utilized for other uses, not necessarily getting market-rate. She said that Board Members have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that all assets are used for student education but there are lots of ways to contribute to that, including community sustainability. Reed represents School Board District 1, which covers Lakewood schools
School Board President Mary Parker pointed out that every time they would make a deal with one city, another city would expect the same. Indeed, City Council Member Mayott-Guerrero already brought up Mulholm Elementary in her ward, which is not up for disposition yet, but would be of interest to residents there.
Purchase proceedings were held up not only by price but by parcel size. Lakewood seems to be asking for 3 of the 9.9 acres of Vivian Elementary School property, which will be used as a park. One of the initial guiding principles of the School Board was that the property not be subdivided, which contributed to Lakewood’s delayed offer. Under the old rules, Lakewood could not buy just three acres.
Now the school board is rethinking its decision and will allow subdivision. Lakewood is in active negotiation for the 3 acres of Vivian. The rest of the land is being considered by Cardel Homes (among others) for development. There was no Council discussion about Vivian’s purchase but the residents there have mounted intense public pressure to preserve the land and it has been discussed in ward meetings, indicating some Council Members knew of the plan. Apparently, a new purchase option was issued to show the 3 acres as separate but Lakewood Informer cannot readily find that information.
Lakewood has already met once in a mysterious executive session that did not include a specific reason, contrary to Colorado Open Meetings Law. However, at the end of Monday’s study session, Council agreed to another executive session on September 19 to confirm negotiations on a school property. That meeting agenda also does not state the specific property or use they are negotiating for.
The case for Emory Elementary is less clear. Council Member Shahrezaei asked the hard question about whether Lakewood could get the property in exchange for community use. There were no easy answers to that question and no apparent change to Lakewood’s plan to purchase the entire property and let the Action Center use it.
Lakewood may have the same dilemma as the school district if they start giving any non-profit preferential deals, especially if there are multiple properties purchased.
The Municipal Option for school property purchases seems to be in flux as Jeffco schools test the process on Lakewood. According to the posted process (below), Lakewood and Jeffco Schools should have a joint public session after negotiations have concluded. At this point on Sept 18, it is all being handled by privately by staff.
Municipal Process provided by Jefferson County School District
School district officials seem willing to engage in a public discussion about property use but it’s a fast-moving process. Lakewood is finalizing negotiations on Thursday morning. As of Tuesday night the district website does not show an updated status for the school properties.
Lakewood’s offer to buy Emory Elementary School was turned down by Jefferson County. Lakewood City Manager Kathy Hodgson reported offering in-kind services in return for the school property. City Councilors expressed concern in July meetings at the concept of market-rate pricing but there is nothing the city can do. At the June meeting on the Glennon Heights Elementary School disposition meeting, residents were told that the developer, Cardel Homes, was looking at purchasing multiple school sites for residential use.
No word on what kind of residences would be built in an area that doesn’t have a neighborhood school.
Narrative Change Confirms False Front
The comments from multiple Council Members bemoaning the inability of the city to purchase the school property shows a change in narrative. This change confirms the city was, in fact, trying to buy the property, most likely in concert with the Action Center as previously stated by the City Manager. However, when asked about the purchase in the past, the city narrative from the Manager, Mayor and some Councilors, was that the city “had no direct control over school property.”
This was not a denial. It was misdirection that made residents feel ignorant and foolish for asking when it was true.
This is proof of lack of transparency from the City Manager and Mayor.
“We are working with the Action Center to purchase the property so Lakewood can use existing Action Center property for homeless.” When that got negative public feedback, the story changed to ….
“We have no direct control over the school property” while calling other reports “misinformation”. At the same time, reports were quietly rumored through City Council that….
The City Manager was only interested in purchasing the property to use the soccer fields
No matter what the story, Lakewood has not been transparent since they started working on a plan in 2023.
Win-Win
This may be a win-win for residents. Since Lakewood cannot purchase the property, Lakewood will not make a deal behind closed doors that residents would not have had adequate time to consider before approval.
Likewise the county will not lose money on a private deal for less than market rate.
The sale of school property shows why market forces predominate the housing market. Even when an entity, like the school board, got the land and/or building from the developer for free, no one likes to give away an asset for less than market rate.
Lakewood did not respond to requests for clarification.
New information shows that Lakewood has been planning on purchasing Emory Elementary, in partnership with the Action Center, since at least September 2023 as part of a homeless strategy.
In December of 2023, Lakewood City Manager Cathy Hodgson stated that Lakewood would be working with the Jeffco Action Center to move the Center into a closed public school so that Lakewood would have another building for their solution to homelessness. There was a strong, negative public reaction to this news, which only increased when Lakewood started talking about welcoming migrants. In reaction to the public backlash, the city cried “misinformation”, and both Hodgson and Mayor Strom stated that Lakewood has no direct control over the schools.
However, Hodgson did not explicitly deny that Lakewood has been working with the Action Center and Jeffco schools to move homeless services into a closed neighborhood school and increase housing for homeless. Instead, the manager or council called it “misinformation” in the news headlines, a statement solely aimed at migrant support (this claim was later also negated by discussions that homeless is homeless and Lakewood would support everyone possible.)
Recently alocal effort called Concerned Citizens in Lakewood, [email protected], submitted a CORA Request (Colorado Open Records Access request) which revealed planning meetings with the City of Lakewood, JeffCo Public Schools, and the JeffCo Action Center related to Emory Elementary School and a real estate transaction.
These planning meetings have been going on since at least September 2023.
According to emails, Lakewood’s City Manager Hodgson hosted an organizational meeting between Lakewood, the Action Center Executive Director Pam Brier and Jeff Gaitlin, Jefferson County School’s Chief Operating Officer. The email pictured below reveals that Lakewood and Jeffco Schools have held behind-the-scenes planning meetings for this school, while officials from both governments denied or stayed silent regarding any knowledge of future plans. The email appears to indicate that the purpose of this meeting was to define next steps on the partnership to buy Emory Elementary.
Not only do the emails show the partnership being formed months ago, they show the plans were detailed enough to involve future meetings with real estate agents and school board attorneys. Notable in this email was that commercial real estate agents may not be needed. This was not the public process with ample notice the school board advertised.
Gaitlin, from Jeffco Schools, said in February that Lakewood was in the early stages of using the municipal option. The municipal option seems to have come into being just for Lakewood, since it was unveiled just after Hodgson announced the plans for the school.
Using the municipal option, no community involvement is necessary, and the city could get the property at a discount. There is no municipal option for a non-profit and there is no information on how the Action Center could afford to buy the property directly, although recent evidence shows there is ample money in grants from the state to provide housing.
Officials from all organizations have had months to tell the public that these plans were being formed and to explain the public good they expected to achieve. Instead, they chose silence and a “misinformation” campaign.
There has been no public disclosure of what the city and or the Action Center plans to do with the building, should the deal go through.
There has been no public disclosure of any possible agreements Lakewood has with the Action Center in order to use the municipal option for the benefit of the non-profit.
City Councilor Rich Olver explained in one Council meeting that he was told that Lakewood just wanted the use of the ballparks, they were not interested in the school building. He stated that by talking to city staff he believed Lakewood had no intention of buying Emory Elementary building.
This statement, unfortunately, does not seem to be accurate or else Lakewood would not have to be involved with a meeting between Jeffco Schools and the Action Center, let alone hosting such a meeting. So even sitting City Council Members are not getting the whole story from the City Manager.
Paying close attention to wording, all parties could be honestly portraying the information they want to portray:
Lakewood has no interest in the Emory Elementary building – but the Action Center does
Lakewood has no direct control over the school – unless they buy it
There is a public input period in the school disposal process – unless the municipal option is taken
Plans are not definite – but they are far enough along that at this point, trying to stop it is difficult since minds have been made up for months
Lakewood will not be housing people in the school – no, at that point it would be the Action Center, if they so choose. At the minimum they would continue with homeless services.
The Action Center has not replied to several requests for comment. Lakewood and Jeffco schools have gone out of their way to not talk about their plans when the opportunity arose.
When will residents know what is going on with their taxpayer-funded infrastructure?
![To: Pam Brier; Kathy Hodgson
Cc: Gatlin Jeff; Donna Repp; Tolleson Julie
Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL] Re: Emory Elementary Next Steps Meeting
Date: Tuesday, September 12, 2023 1:40:36 PM
Attachments: image001.png
# EXTERNAL – USE CAUTION #
Kathy and Pam, Jeff and I are very excited to meet with you next week! Pam, I know you had been
talking with JLL, our commercial real estate agent. We’re not sure we’ll need an agent for this
transaction, but we will be using an outside real estate attorney. We believe it will be helpful (and
expeditious) for the attorney to be present early on in our conversations. Our attorney is Blair
Lichtenfels with Brownstein.
We would like to proceed with our meeting next week without counsel to do introductions and
talk timeline and next steps. At the next meeting we set, we would like to have our counsel and your
counsels present so that we can begin to move forward.
My rough thoughts on an agenda are as follows. Please feel free to suggest content:
Introductions
Catch-up on current context – Action Center, Lakewood, and Jeffco
Discuss Jeffco surplus process and timeline
Identify next steps, including to set a meeting with counsel present
Thank you both!
Lisa
Lisa Relou
Chief of Strategy & Communications](https://g51.e2b.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/lakewoodplanningmeeting.png?w=434)