Podcast 12.3min • MP3

Developers Run Lakewood — With the City as an Accomplice in the Assault on Its Own Community

How the community, environment, and city resources are being EXPLOITED 

By: Regina H.

Lakewood loves to brand itself as a city that values trees — we even carry the Tree City USA designation and host an annual tree sale. But talk is cheap when our city routinely ignores its own tree preservation codes and sides with developers over the environment and residents.

According to city ordinance, trees with a caliper of 8 inches or more are considered protected, and “lot layouts shall be designed to minimize disturbance” to them. But time and again, developers submit plans that wipe out mature trees — and Lakewood’s planning staff rubber-stamps these designs without public input. In return, developers plant a few 1 or 2-inch saplings — a laughable “replacement” for the ecological value of a century-old tree.

We saw this play out in real-time with the Belmar Park fiasco, where nearly 70 protected, old-growth trees – many so large you couldn’t even wrap your arms all the way around them were clear cut and placed into industrial grinders as if they were trash to make way for another big-box market-rate 411-unit apartment complex right next to one of our most treasured parks. Even the City itself refers to the Park as the "crown jewel" of Lakewood. Not to mention, they crushed wildlife underneath the trees. Many animals had no time to escape and were killed. 

But the City of Lakewood doesn’t care. Kairoi certainly doesn’t either.  The developer, Kairoi also refused to include simple bird-safe features like anti-collision window coatings because they were “too expensive” – despite already planning to spend hundreds of millions of dollars. They’re only interested in lining their billionaire pockets, no matter who gets hurt or how many citizens’ voices they bulldoze along the way. Worst of all, the City has become an accomplice to this assault and betrayal on our community.

In 2024, the Planning Commission had an opportunity to consider the environmental impact of development on park-adjacent land — like other cities already do (Fort Collins provided 13 pages of precedent). Instead, they dismissed the idea without even reading it, killing the resolution 5-1.

If this sounds like a city that values tree canopy and habitat — think again.

Where’s the justification for Lakewood continuing to approve thousands of new apartment units — without the jobs to support the people moving into them?

It’s not Lakewood’s job to house the entire Denver metro area. Yet it feels like we’re being turned into a regional overflow zone without any coordinated plan to match housing with employment opportunities. We’re importing thousands of new residents, but where are the jobs to support this? 

Instead of allowing developers to dictate Lakewood’s future, we must hold our City Council, Economic Development team, Mayor, and especially our city manager—who earns an outrageous $465,000+ per year—fully accountable. 

Where is the economic justification for all this high-density growth? What jobs are being added to Lakewood to support all this high-density growth? It’s not Lakewood’s job to house the entire region. If you want density – Denver’s right next door. 

Lakewood’s leaders have become indistinguishable from the developers they’re supposed to regulate. We need to start calling this what it is: Developers are the ones driving the agenda, and the public — the community, environment, and city resources — are the ones being exploited. But make no mistake, Lakewood WANTED this to happen. They’ve been carefully giving more and more power to developers and making alliances with developers behind our backs for years and ignoring our pleas. Why? To maintain control of their political position, votes and enrich themselves. 

What used to be a party of community-minded Democrats has morphed into a brand of ultra-progressive politics that talks green but votes developer. These officials campaign on “affordable housing,” but once in office, they push through whatever the developers want—mostly more apartments—with no regard for environmental protections or real homeownership opportunities.

Residents try to engage — we show up to speak, we write letters — but it feels like we’re shouting into a void. City leadership is largely unresponsive, and nothing meaningful changes.

It’s time to take real action:

✅ Think before you vote – Party loyalty and defending “blue” or “red” just because you’ve always voted that way isn’t cutting it anymore. It’s natural for our sense of identity to get tied up in party loyalty—but holding on without questioning only keeps us stuck and blind to what’s truly best for our community. We need voters who think critically, research candidates thoroughly, and understand exactly which agendas they’re supporting. Don’t be afraid to switch teams. 

✅ Petition to Remove Lakewood’s Tree City USA designation — until the city proves it will actually follow its own tree codes. No more pretend words about “sustainability” and “caring about the environment.”

✅ Demand accountability in development — Require environmental impact evaluations for park-adjacent projects, as other Colorado cities already do.

✅ Support Save Belmar Park Inc. in their legal battle — they’re fighting for all of us.

✅ Change the system:

• Elect councilmembers who listen to the people, not just donors.

• Restructure city leadership so that Council, not the unelected City Manager, holds the power.

• Put reforms on the ballot — don’t wait for elected officials to challenge the system that got them elected.

• Reduce Council to 6 wards, 6 reps – fewer seats means less campaign money needed, more grassroots wins, and better representation.

Lakewood’s current path is not sustainable. We’re on a train that’s about to crash and burn– yet it’s the whistleblowers who face the heat, while our government and profit-driven billionaire developers escape accountability. Mature trees don’t grow back overnight. Once they’re gone, so are the ecosystems, shade, carbon capture, and beauty they provide. We are losing what makes Lakewood livable.

We need your help to stop this reckless out of control train – that’s driving us all toward extinction just a little bit faster.

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