The closed Irongate building, in front, is located by Belmar Park in Lakewood on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023. Texas-based Kairoi Residential wants to replace it with a five-story apartment building. (Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
A judge has barred Lakewood from enforcing a new ordinance on developers and has ordered the city to let a disputed apartment project move ahead to a planning hearing.
Kairoi Residential, of Texas, seeks to build a 412-unit apartment complex on private property on the east side of Belmar Park. That idea drew the ire of some residents in 2023, who pushed for a city ordinance requiring developers set aside a portion of their development for parkland. Until then, developers had been able to pay a fee in lieu of the parkland designation, as Kairoi planned to do.
Before the people of Lakewood could vote on the matter, the Lakewood City Council approved the ordinance itself in an 8-3 November vote. Mayor Wendi Strom said at the time she expected the measure to face legal challenges and didn’t want to spend money on an election “when the outcome will ultimately end up being decided in court.”
The ordinance took effect in December. Kairoi then sued, arguing the new law is illegal and unfair. It spent millions planning and designing its apartments under one law and now must contend with a new law that would make the project impossible, it says. The ordinance also runs afoul of state and federal constitutions and infringes on Kairoi’s property rights, according to its Dec. 20 lawsuit.
Earlier this month, the developer asked District Court Judge Jason Carrithers to temporarily prohibit the City of Lakewood from enacting the change. The matter was urgent, Kairoi said, because its project was to be considered at a planning commission meeting Jan. 29. (The project will no longer be discussed on that date, a city spokeswoman said Wednesday.)
Lakewood responded that it “does not object to the entry of the preliminary injunction as a way to move this case forward as expeditiously as possible and to conserve both judicial and party resources” but worried Kairoi “will use a preliminary injunction to moot this matter by moving forward with their development” to such an extent that the city can’t enforce the rule.
To alleviate that concern, Carrithers issued an order Jan. 14 making clear that Kairoi’s “developments will be subject to the provisions of the ordinance if the ordinance is upheld.” But the planning commission will not be allowed to apply the new rule to next week’s vote.
Carrithers also signaled that Kairoi is likely to ultimately win the case in his courtroom, writing that the developer has “a reasonable probability of succeeding” as “state law already forbids local governments from requiring land dedications without also offering the option to pay a fee in lieu of physically dedicating land.” A trial in the case has not yet been scheduled.
Separately, a Lakewood homeowner looking to demolish her current house and build a new one told Denver7 earlier this month that she was told by city staff the new ordinance requires them to “dedicate, through an easement, 1,300 square feet of our property back to the city.”
“We can’t do anything with it. It has to just be open space and comply with the city’s open space requirements from now until the end of time, which is ridiculous,” Katie Christensen told the station.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to note that the project will no longer be discussed at a Jan. 29 meeting.
The closed Irongate building, in front, is located by Belmar Park in Lakewood on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023. Texas-based Kairoi Residential wants to replace it with a five-story apartment building. (Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
A judge has barred Lakewood from enforcing a new ordinance on developers and has ordered the city to let a disputed apartment project move ahead to a planning hearing.
Kairoi Residential, of Texas, seeks to build a 412-unit apartment complex on private property on the east side of Belmar Park. That idea drew the ire of some residents in 2023, who pushed for a city ordinance requiring developers set aside a portion of their development for parkland. Until then, developers had been able to pay a fee in lieu of the parkland designation, as Kairoi planned to do.
Before the people of Lakewood could vote on the matter, the Lakewood City Council approved the ordinance itself in an 8-3 November vote. Mayor Wendi Strom said at the time she expected the measure to face legal challenges and didn’t want to spend money on an election “when the outcome will ultimately end up being decided in court.”
The ordinance took effect in December. Kairoi then sued, arguing the new law is illegal and unfair. It spent millions planning and designing its apartments under one law and now must contend with a new law that would make the project impossible, it says. The ordinance also runs afoul of state and federal constitutions and infringes on Kairoi’s property rights, according to its Dec. 20 lawsuit.
Earlier this month, the developer asked District Court Judge Jason Carrithers to temporarily prohibit the City of Lakewood from enacting the change. The matter was urgent, Kairoi said, because its project was to be considered at a planning commission meeting Jan. 29. (The project will no longer be discussed on that date, a city spokeswoman said Wednesday.)
Lakewood responded that it “does not object to the entry of the preliminary injunction as a way to move this case forward as expeditiously as possible and to conserve both judicial and party resources” but worried Kairoi “will use a preliminary injunction to moot this matter by moving forward with their development” to such an extent that the city can’t enforce the rule.
To alleviate that concern, Carrithers issued an order Jan. 14 making clear that Kairoi’s “developments will be subject to the provisions of the ordinance if the ordinance is upheld.” But the planning commission will not be allowed to apply the new rule to next week’s vote.
Carrithers also signaled that Kairoi is likely to ultimately win the case in his courtroom, writing that the developer has “a reasonable probability of succeeding” as “state law already forbids local governments from requiring land dedications without also offering the option to pay a fee in lieu of physically dedicating land.” A trial in the case has not yet been scheduled.
Separately, a Lakewood homeowner looking to demolish her current house and build a new one told Denver7 earlier this month that she was told by city staff the new ordinance requires them to “dedicate, through an easement, 1,300 square feet of our property back to the city.”
“We can’t do anything with it. It has to just be open space and comply with the city’s open space requirements from now until the end of time, which is ridiculous,” Katie Christensen told the station.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to note that the project will no longer be discussed at a Jan. 29 meeting.
