City leaders in Lakewood grappled Monday with the gritty details of putting into place an annual housing cap that voters in the city recently passed as part of an effort to slow the metro area’s explosive growth in one of its largest suburbs.
The discussion, held during a City Council study session, touched on how affordable housing and senior housing would be treated under the ordinance while the council also debated exactly what portions of Colorado’s fifth-largest city would be subject to the limitations of Question 200, which restricts construction of new homes and apartments each year to no more than 1% of the existing housing stock in the city.
Additionally, projects exceeding 40 units have to get specific approval from City Council, according to the measure passed at a July 2 special election.
Much of the focus Monday was on language in Question 200 that exempts blighted areas in Lakewood from the new home limits. One map presented at the meeting showed that nearly half the city would be off-limits to the housing cap if designations like urban renewal areas, Opportunity Zones, Low-Income Housing Tax Credit areas and Community Development Block Grant zones are included under the definition of blight.
“I don’t think voters’ intent was that 40% to 50% of our land mass would be exempted from this,” said Councilwoman Ramey Johnson.
The ordinance specifically speaks to the need to “encourage redevelopment of blighted and distressed areas” in Lakewood, but exactly what neighborhoods and commercial corridors fall under the term “blighted” caused some consternation on the dais Monday.
Several members of council said the city should stick with the strictest definition of blight, as spelled out in Lakewood’s urban renewal statutes, rather than trying to fold in Opportunity Zones and CDGB areas in the city as exempted areas under the growth cap.
“Doing anything else dishonors the voters,” said Councilwoman Barb Franks.
But several members of the public expressed concern that excessively limiting the areas that are exempted from the new housing caps could stifle redevelopment in areas that need it. Liz Black, executive director of 40 West Arts, an arts district focused on West Colfax Avenue, said the new ordinance could “soften and destroy” the vision of the district by curtailing development.
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Lakewood will begin awarding allocations to homebuilders in January, with the 1% cap keeping the number of new permits issued for dwelling units in the city to just under 700 in the first year based on a housing stock of approximately 67,000 homes.
Voters passed the measure last month after an expensive campaign in which developers and real estate associations poured nearly half a million dollars into defeating Question 200. They outspent backers of the measure 25 to 1.
The Front Range’s population has exploded in recent years — growth rates in metro-area counties from 2010 to 2018 have ranged from 10.7% in Boulder County to 20.1% in Douglas County. The rate in Jefferson County, where Lakewood is located, was 8.5% during that period.
The council on Monday also talked about whether to have the planning commission brought in to render its expertise on whether or not larger projects should be approved. Councilwoman Karen Harrison said planning commission involvement should be welcomed.
“I think it’s a good primary check before it gets to us,” she said.
The council will continue to work on implementing the new housing cap measure through the rest of the year.
