Tag: elections

LAKEWOOD SUED by developer of Belmar Park

Written by Lakewood News from Karen on .

From Save Open Space – Lakewood

List of related news articles continuously updated

Kairoi Properties L.L.C., developer of a planned 412-unit luxury apartment building at Belmar Park, sues Lakewood for enacting an environmentally friendly green initiative 

The citywide citizen sponsored initiative requires all developments to dedicate green space in lieu of its 13-year tradition of adding to the City’s coffers

If Kairoi loses the lawsuit, monstrous buildings planned at Belmar Park and at Quail and Colfax will need to be drastically reduced in size 

Lakewood, December 26, 2024—This week we present the latest episode of the 13 year-long soap opera, “Lakewood’s Big Lie,” which depicts the dramatic twists and turns of a city that prioritizes large scale developments over nature and its own residents. During those years, Lakewood has given developments carte blanche to ignore as many of its codes as they desire, including tree canopy, climate change goals, seamless architecture in a neighborhood, and affordable housing.

On Monday, December 23, it became public that Kairoi Properties LLC had sued the city over the Green Initiative that its city council had passed but doesn’t really want.

An explanation of the bizarre turn of events including the political motives behind this unnecessary legal action, is best summed up in the following excerpts from resident Steve Farthing’s email to the savebelmarpark.com group:

“Most city council reps took the position [at the November 4 City Council meeting] that the ordinance, as written, would be ruled illegal if a legal challenge were raised in front of a judge.

“They actually discussed that adopting the ordinance and then inviting the city to be sued would be a prudent course of action!  This was after one of their members even advised they could simply adopt and repeal the problematic ordinance.  That comment fell on deaf ears.

“Is it any wonder our valuable parks and habitats are managed by ignoring science such as the science regarding wildlife buffer zones?  By gosh and by golly, if our council members don’t grasp that they are legislators, we are in trouble.  And so are our parks and natural areas.

“Litigation should be the last resort after best efforts are made at an effective and legal legislative solution or at least a reasoned decision to repeal.

“And don’t forget how much some councilors talked about not allowing the Lakewood voters to weigh in on this ordinance due to the cost of a mail ballot election but they are perfectly OK with the cost of litigation which could be more than an election.

“In reality, the concern about letting voters vote could be that the open space issue in Lakewood would get much more attention once you mail a ballot out to every single voter in the city.  

“If you are trying to get re-elected, you might not want too much attention paid by voters to the open space issue.  When you combine that with the Belmar Park fiasco, it could be political Kryptonite on election day.  Or maybe Mentos and cola.  You pick.

But a mail ballot open space-related election could be a ‘no-no’ to some councilors seeking re-election later in the year.”

Farthing’s comments are supported by the facts that (1) the City rushed the signature counting process and (2) scheduled the special meeting on November 4, the day before elections, and (3) filed a lawsuit after hours on Friday, December 20.  Both dates were likely chosen to avoid media scrutiny.   The lawsuit was submitted so it wouldn’t become public until Monday, December 23, two days before Christmas.

Lakewood’s Big Lie became apparent to many in the spring of 2023 when residents learned that for more than two years the City had secretly planned to approve Kairoi Residential’s massive luxury apartment building that would tower over much beloved Belmar Park. The five and six story building would have more than 80 units per floor, a two football field footprint, and require the removal of 65 mature trees.  It would extend its boundaries right up to the existing park sidewalk. No environmental study was performed in a park known to be uniquely rich with 240 bird species and treasured for its tranquility.

Hundreds of residents pleaded with the City Council for months to do something about how devastating the monstrous building would be for them, wildlife and birds. Council responded by feigning support, falsely claiming they were powerless to act, and later saying but never demonstrating that they had been working on the issue for months.

Kairoi Residential, a billion dollar developer based in San Antonio, Texas, and with an office in Denver, has another project in the works in Lakewood consisting of 850 luxury units that would replace a King Soopers grocery store and create a food desert at Quail Street and West Colfax Avenue.  

Cathy Kentner, a Jeffco school teacher and community activist, who spear-headed Save Open Space – Lakewood (SOS – Lakewood) and the petition, opined, “When elected officials fail to respond to the public’s wishes, the people have no other avenue than to exercise our constitutional right to direct democracy and the ballot box.”

SOS – Lakewood was formed to petition the city council to eliminate the practice of accepting a fee instead of following Lakewood’s land dedication requirements.

The initiative petition, through an historic all-volunteer effort, garnered 6,492 valid signatures — far more than the required 5,862 — to force City Council to either enact the legislation or send it to the voters.

It should be noted that the volunteer signature gatherers began their work months before the State Legislature added wording to HB24-1313 requiring a “fee-in-lieu” option. Lakewood’s city officials were well aware early on of the specifics of the people’s initiative.  At no time did they attempt to collaborate with community advocates to develop a compromise for an ordinance that would address the concerns of all parties. Instead, they waited until the November 4 special meeting to air their harsh criticisms.  

Councilor Paula Nystrom sought to provide constructive advice to her fellow councilors at the November 4 meeting. She said, “Citizens shouldn’t have to protest, gather signatures, hire lawyers, or jump through hoops just to have their voices heard. The question isn’t whether this petition is perfect; it’s about understanding how we got here and how we can prevent this from ever happening again.”

As the lawsuit progresses, it will be interesting to see if the City presents a strong defense of its new law or continues Lakewood’s Big Lie by creating the illusion of support while allowing the developer to be victorious in the end. 

Read other news coverage of lawsuit:

Lakewood Council green-lights citizens’ petition with its disingenuous vote

Written by Lakewood News from Karen on .

From Save Open Space – Lakewood

At a 9/4 meeting, Lakewood City Council spoke with its usual forked tongue, voting for a citizen led green initiative to expedite delegitimizing it

Monday, November 11, 2024—-At the November 4 Lakewood City Council meeting, residents witnessed the culmination of more than a year’s intensive effort by hundreds of volunteers to hold their city accountable to its progressive environmental ordinances.    

The only item in the hearing was a petition, created by Save Open Space – Lakewood (SOS – L) and signed by more than 6000 voters, which, if approved, would eliminate the option given developers to pay a fee to the city and instead require them to provide the full, current standard of 10.5 acres of parkland for every 1,000 occupants.

For over ten years, the predominantly pro-development Lakewood City Council has allowed all developers to pay the city a fee in lieu of donating land for parks and open spaces.  This has led to monstrous, soul-less apartment buildings with no green space that remind observers of Russia, not Lakewood. 

More than half of those who spoke extolled the benefits of open space and their concerns about the impending mammoth luxury apartment building adjacent to Belmar Park. 

By law, the council either had to vote for the petition at the meeting, or send it to a special election.

Following three hours of resident testimony and council deliberation, eight out of 11 councilors declared the initiative to be in conflict with state statutes. By voting to approve it, they said they could expedite a legal challenge.  They added that if they were to defer to a special election, it would be expensive and voters would become distrustful of them if litigation would eliminate their vote following the election.  

Jim Kinney, a Lakewood native, former policy analyst at the Bureau of Reclamation, and former member of the Lakewood Commission for an inclusive Community, believes that “It may not be true that the initiative is illegal due to wording. The issue of whether the state can tell a home rule municipality what to do in the area of land use remains untested in court. It may be that it isn’t the initiative the council just passed that is illegal, but the requirements in state law that are illegal!”

Councilor Paula Nystrom noted at the meeting, “We’re in an untenable situation, but there’s a reason we got here. Citizens shouldn’t have to protest, gather signatures, hire lawyers, or jump through hoops just to have their voices heard. This should be a situation where citizens are notified when something is being planned, and then they have an opportunity to speak out and make suggestions.”

Nystrom added that “we need to be consulting with environmental planners and environmental engineers…we cannot keep cutting down mature trees and expect our air quality to get better and expect citizens to be mentally healthy.” 

During the hearing it came to light that, behind its frequently closed doors, the city plans to allow Kairoi Residential, the developer of the huge building at Belmar Park, to also build 850 high density, luxury apartment units at Quail and Colfax while tearing down a grocery store and creating a food desert.

Last year, Cathy Kentner, a Lakewood music teacher, former city planning commissioner and longtime community activist, founded SOS – L which created the petition. According to their web site, “Save Open Space – Lakewood is a grass-roots initiative created and promoted by Lakewood residents who seek change in the status quo of rubber stamping development projects without consideration of the future impacts to residents and our natural environment.”

Kentner says, “The reason grass-roots initiatives exist is because elected officials have been unresponsive to the reasonable requests of their constituency.  It is a last resort that involves countless hours just to have a small chance of being heard. The fact that this council continues to be unresponsive is, therefore, not surprising.

“What is surprising is that their ignorance has led them to the assumption that they can act as judge, jury and executioner by claiming that a citizen initiative is ‘illegal’ before ever going through due process.  I am confident that, should this ordinance be challenged in court, it will hold up given a proper defense. But the question remains:  Will there be a proper defense when the fox is guarding the henhouse?

“Opposition to this initiative has come mainly from out-of-state, big money developers who don’t care about the quality of life in Lakewood.”

Save Belmar Park, formed in September 2023, is one of many neighborhood groups that have had similar experiences with Lakewood and developers. The objective of the SOS – L initiative is to bring all of these groups together to work toward their common goal of protecting Lakewood’s natural environment.

Kentner’s presentation to city council was based on debunking the illegality claim and other F.E.A.R. (False Evidence Appearing Real) -based statements that were presented as facts during the meeting.

Lakewood Lobbies for Your TABOR Refund

Written by Lakewood News from Karen on .

Lakewood has hired Magellan Strategies to conduct a ballot measure survey intended to help pass a ballot measure allowing the city to keep your TABOR refunds. Residents are already receiving the first part of that survey by cell phone message. The intent is to use the survey to find out what question residents respond positively to, and use that language on the ballot. The survey will also allow weighing responses by demographic group and information targeted to specific demographics. The city will spend up to $74,000 figuring out how to convince residents to give up their refund. Opposing groups will not have this advantage.

This survey is a one-sided informational campaign aimed at allowing the city to keep TABOR refunds because the Budget and Audit Board has already identified the need to keep the funds. According to Magellan, a cold ballot measure, one without prior information, does not have a good chance of passing. Through the survey, the city can spread the information that the city needs money.

In other words, the survey is a way to get around the prohibition against government ballot campaigns.

“A ballot measure survey is more than just measuring voter support and opposition for a sales or property tax increase. The ballot measure survey is the single best way a government organization can educate and inform their resident and voters about the reasons why new revenue is needed for core services, capital projects, an other needs. 

From years of experience, we believe a ballot measure asking voters to approve a tax increase for any purpose is more likely to pass if a survey is conducted. One primary reason being, informed voters, who trust their local government’s leadership, appreciate the information and can better rationalize the financial contribution they are making.”  

From: https://magellanstrategies.com/surveys-for-governments (emphasis added)

What does the city need money for?

Well…. everything. The city does not know and cannot say specifically. Spending levels for all city departments have gone up over the years and that level is now expected to be maintained.

The survey attempts to find out what residents would be willing to spend money on so that the city can justify keeping refunds.

The Budget Board had not identified possible specific cuts prior to the survey. If the ballot measure fails, City Manager Hodgson told the Board the city will default to across the board spending cuts. In other words, reverting to previous levels.

The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete and is composed of general interest and demographic questions. This will help gauge the mood of the residents. The demographic questions will help the surveyors weigh your response. For example, respondents who are homeowners over 65 will have their answers downplayed, while Hispanic renters will have their answers amplified. This artificial weighing allows the consultant to mimic the demographics of Lakewood, rather than the demographics of actual respondents or voters.

Take the survey here https://www.research.net/r/What_do_you_want_for_Lakewood

There will be a second survey in June to refine the actual ballot language. This first survey is just gauging community interest.

Residents question the use of city funds in an effort to gain resident money, as demonstrated in the Nextdoor post below. According this post, the average income in Lakewood is $45,000, almost $30,000 less than what Lakewood may spend on this survey.

Contrary to its title, the survey is to find out if you are in favor of once again letting Lakewood keep your TABOR rebates. Other questions are aimed to discern how to promote a ballot vote to do so according to your preferences of your ranked answers for how to spend it. Pretty biased wording, as someone who used to design mkt research studies. Read carefully, but do complete if you care. Context to cnsider: the average lakewood individual’s income is only $45.3k. (US census). Compare that with The city mgrs income package of about $360k and gets bonused $10k every year i have observed. Other staff income is 3 digits as well. Perhaps before asking again to dig into the pockets of its residents, far more stressed today than themselves, city hall might have instead asked us how we feel about stabilizing staff salaries or freezing bonuses for a couple of years. Then after that is done in contribution, come ask us again for more of our money. Especially since many of us arent feeling the benefits of the money we approved last time.

A Brief Lakewood Legislative Report

Written by Lakewood News from Karen on .

Guest Post by Joan Poston

So this morning 2/8/24,  I went to the Lakewood City Council Building to attend the Lakewood City Council legislative meeting. I made an error as to the time so I showed up at 8:30 and the meeting had started at 8:00 am. I am not my best at early hours. 

The legislative committee is made up of one member of each ward and they look at bills from the 2024 legislature that is considering issues/consequences that would impact the city of Lakewood.

2024 Committee Members
Council member Glenda Sinks – Ward 1
Council member Isabel Cruz – Ward 2
Council member Rebekah Stewart – Ward 3
Council member David Rein – Ward 4 
Council member Jacob LaBure – Ward 5

Rebekah Stewart (Ward 3)  is the chair of the legislative committee.

When I walked in there was a discussion about a bill about occupancy. I believe it was HB24-1007. But could not confirm that was the bill they were discussing. They decided not to put it on the list because the target city was Ft. Collins and college towns and did not apply to Lakewood so they would just watch it and add it to the list later. 

There was a little discussion lead by Councilman LaBure as to the need to define the role of the legislative committee. 

And then Councilwoman Stewart asked if there was any other business and Adjourned the meeting. 

I arrived at 8:30 and the meeting was adjourned at 8:36. 

I went to speak to the Deputy City Manager about how they had not stated when the next meeting would be and he said “in two weeks  if it was not canceled.”

So stay tuned. 

Meanwhile ColoradoTaxpayer.org is a great resource for what is happening at the Legislature 

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