Lakewood Informer

Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado

Lakewood Informer

Resident generated news about Lakewood, Colorado

LAKEWOOD INFORMER

Reference Shelf

Zoning yard signs

Save your yard signs! They can be moved to new locations or the stakes can be used for new signs.

Support the
Lakewood Informer

Donation QR Code for Lakewood Informer

Zoning Change Links to Information

Fact Sheet: Proposed new zoning code will: * Convert existing single-family zoning to multi-family and retail *Eliminate occupancy limits CITYWIDE so every home can be used as multi-family * Change height restrictions * Reduce mininmum lot size * Eliminate parking minimums * Sacrifice home rule

Latest Articles

  • All Posts
  • Budget
  • Community
  • Crime
  • Development
  • Elections
  • Entrenched Bureaucracy
  • Homeless
  • Jeffco
  • Statewide
  • Sustainability
  • Transparency
  • Vote Tally
  • Word Games
Resident Voices: Stop the Madness

Stop the Lakewood Zoning Code Fiasco

August 4, 2025/

From Jim Kinney Friends and neighbors, I hope you all have had a chance to study the draft City of Lakewood Zoning Code being pushed forward by what appears to be the majority of City Council, the Mayor, and the City Manager and the Director of Planning. The new code is being “sold” as the answer to fix the problem that our City needs affordable housing. Minneapolis was the first city in the nation to abandon the single family zoning category, in about 2018, thinking that action was the answer to magically have the city filled with affordable housing. The article, Counterpoint: Upending Single-family Zoning Isn’t the Answer: Like many zombie ideas, the idea that zoning changes will magically provide abundant affordable housing just doesn’t die, was written by Linda McDonald, of Minneapolis, who is a former City Council member and is one of the founding members of the citizen group Minneapolis For Everyone. The following quote is taken from her article (my highlighting). “In addition, the Urban Institute found no evidence that more low-cost housing was built, or that lower-cost housing became less expensive when zoning was reduced. This isn’t surprising. The real reason new housing is so expensive is that the costs to build — lumber, copper, labor, etc. — have been increasing much faster than inflation. The private marketplace simply cannot produce deeply affordable housing, the housing critical for truly low-income persons. In Minneapolis, there has been an increase in deeply affordable housing, but only because the...

Read More
Now or Never Event

Now or Never Event

August 4, 2025/

From Republican House Districts 28 and 30 Join us for a night to connect with local conservatives to discuss schools, elections, how we lost Colorado and how we win it back Who will be speaking Where & When Westfax Brewing: 6733 W Colfax, Lakewood 08.26.2025, 6:30PM – 8:30PM See pricing on the flyer

Read More
Graham Park from Lakewood site

Why shouldn’t we pave over Graham Park?

August 4, 2025/

From Eve S Build! Build! Build! That is the priority of the Ward 1 Council members. I live within a mile of Graham Park and this is the first I have heard of this new Build project. Who asked them to build at Graham Park? Have they done any environmental impact studies? How many trees will they cut down?   Graham Park is located at 2345 Routt St. in Ward 1. See Graham Park Improvements | Lakewood Together.      Before ruining this park, Lakewood should be required to study the impact of redevelopment on the native and migrating species that have been surviving on this small green space. This research should be done across all seasons so migrating species of insects and birds are not excluded. The existing trees should be examined and their uses should be included. The Lakewood forestry experts do NOT value old growth trees, but these are essential to many insects. Chickadees and raccoons build nests in the rotten spots of old trees, but Lakewood regards big, old trees as worthless. The city removes them and replaces them with non-native saplings. At Belmar Park Lake, the city ignored the requests of many residents to consider our wildlife and our ordinances. Among other negative decisions, they declared that roof tops fulfill the “open space” requirements. The Council members love concrete and asphalt and they hate all natural creatures and plants.     Lakewood said: “2025: Funding is allocated in the 2025-2026 budget for the removal of the Graham House...

Read More
Home Rule in the guillotine

Lakewood Sacrifices Home Rule For No Reason

August 4, 2025/

Lakewood seems to be giving up local control through home rule: The sacrifice is being made in order to gain state funding for local initiatives that ALSO have not been transparent and do not have resident support. Lakewood City Council is throwing away the bedrock of local representation – home rule – in a bid to win political support for zoning changes. New Colorado statutes preempt local zoning code, a move other cities are fighting. But Lakewood is using Colorado’s preemption to show: The majority of Lakewood City Council agree with the proposed zoning changes and have already voted by resolution to accept the proposal (only Councilor Olver dissenting – Ken Cruz and Bill Furman not yet on Council).   No Reason With the majority of Council in favor of the proposed code, Council should not have to worry that the changes will pass. There is no need to sacrifice home rule in order to pass the new code. Lakewood could fight for the principle of home rule – a principle Lakewood was FOUNDED ON over 50 years ago – and still enact the zoning code changes that Council feels are necessary. Instead, Lakewood will change its code so that for the first time state statutes will override local zoning (see highlighted insert from the version 3 redline proposal below). No Transparency According to resident Karen Gordey in Lakewood Informer news, the authority for  the zoning came from home rule itself. She wrote: “… the Authority section (17.1.5). It originally cited “the...

Read More
Springsteen in Court of Appeals

Lakewood Loses Appeal in Body Cam Case

July 25, 2025/

Lakewood spent two years fighting against releasing body cam footage in a fatal shooting case but has now lost in the Court of Appeals. The issue was first raised by then-City Councilor Anita Springsteen. The original story can be found at Fox31: 17-year-old’s killing by police raises questions for councilor. After turning down multiple requests for the video release, Scripps News filed a lawsuit, naming Springsteen as the requesting official. Lakewood lost in lower court, then appealed and has now lost the appeal. The ruling was made July 10. The footage has not yet been released. By Jeffrey A. Roberts, Executive Director, Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition Appeals court: Children’s Code does not bar public disclosure of blurred body-cam footage showing Lakewood officers killing 17-year-old robbery suspect Colorado’s Children’s Code does not prohibit the public disclosure of blurred body-worn camera footage of Lakewood police shooting and killing a 17-year-old robbery suspect in 2023, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. Affirming a district court decision, a three-judge appellate panel rejected the city of Lakewood’s argument that the statute which protects the confidentiality of juvenile records trumps the footage-release provisions in the 2020 Law Enforcement Integrity Act. The statute, the judges concluded, “unambiguously required the court to release” the video. The body camera footage is not a “juvenile record” under the Children’s Code, the opinion says. Rather, “it is a conduit through which information from a juvenile record might be disclosed absent blurring of the video. And even in that circumstance — where the...

Read More
logo

“Rooted In Littleton” Provides Blue Ribbon Example

July 20, 2025/

Littleton residents claim to be amateurs in the political sphere but you won’t believe it when you see how they have successfully organized against density-driven zoning changes. Rooted in Littleton got density changes postponed in January and kept fighting to recently gather enough signatures for a petition. Their website reads: “We are passionate about preserving the small-town charm and beauty of Littleton. Our deep roots inform the perspective that good things grow slowly and knee-jerk responses to large social issues don’t produce lasting results. Let’s not let increased density usher in a new era of increased traffic, crime and big city-problems in our little town.” Does that sound familiar? They have many of the same objections to densification as Lakewood residents, such as the attempt to “to erode our home-rule rights with a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach that could strip our community of its uniqueness.” Check out their website for excellent material that could be used as a blueprint for others fighting this issue: Survey Have you ever felt that Lakewood presents data on “housing density and housing shortages in 2024 [that] was insufficient and skewed toward City Council insiders”? That’s what Rooted in Littleton wrote but Lakewood residents have also been making that point for months. The argument really gained traction after the Belmar Park fiasco. (See these articles from savebelmarpark.com: Lakewood’s Housing Affordable Surplus, Lakewood’s 10-year Housing Surplus, Denver Has Enough Housing.) Instead of just complaining about it, Rooted in Littleton organized a survey of their own and provided...

Read More
Load More

End of Content.

Subscribe to Our Substack
By subscribing you agree to Substack’s Terms and Privacy.
Your ad here: $30 for 5 postings email thedesk@lakewoodinformer for more information
Fleischer Familiy Farm logo
Colorado Pest Pros Lakewood: 720-422-1083
Local teacher and author Angela Chirila
Colorado Pest Pros Lakewood: 720-422-1083
Your ad here: $30 for 5 postings email thedesk@lakewoodinformer for more information
Fleischer Familiy Farm logo
Scroll to top