Lakewood voters decisively repealed the city’s new zoning laws on Tuesday night, striking down a change that would have allowed more duplexes, triplexes and other multi-unit housing across the city’s suburban neighborhoods.
As of 10 p.m., the repeal effort was crushing the pro-density campaign with about 65% of the vote. The pro-density campaign admitted defeat around 8:30 p.m.
Backers of the repeal effort packed into an Old Chicago pizza restaurant. Many believed the new zoning laws would disrupt the city’s suburban character, including Debbie York, who has owned a home in Lakewood for 30 years.
“They can’t come in and just destroy our neighborhood,” she said. “And that’s what they wanted to do.”
Meanwhile, the pro-density side met at the Lakewood Social Club. The campaign had hoped to keep the city’s new growth policies, saying the now-defeated laws would “give Lakewood residents more affordable choices for starter homes and a path to home ownership.
This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at denverite.com.
Cindy Oursler has owned a home in Lakewood for 12 years and said she wanted others to have the same opportunity.
“I realized how lucky I am and at the end of the day, very few people want to keep renting for the rest of their lives,” she said. “I have friends who dream of owning a house, but right now that’s not realistic.”
Campaign signs blanketed the city of 157,000 residents, which sits just west of Denver, and canvassers from both sides covered the entire city.
The effort to keep the new zoning — the “no” campaign — had far more financial support and backing from city council members, Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen, the ACLU and AARP of Colorado, and others. But that apparently didn’t make much of a difference.
As of 8 p.m. the repeal campaign had won roughly 14,900 votes in each of the four ballot measures. The pro-density side had won only about 8,100 votes on each measure.
A city divided
Voters trickled past Lakewood Library to submit ballots late Tuesday afternoon.
Nate Sprauge, 31, voted to keep the new zoning laws. He hopes that the city’s empty commercial space can be converted into housing.
He wanted to see “more multifamily housing, just kind of more affordability in the neighborhood,” he said.
Karen Hilsman voted for the repeal. She said Lakewood is a “great little neighborhood and we want to keep it that way — family oriented.”
Sophia Mayott-Guerrero, a former city council member who supported the new zoning laws, said the early returns were showing significantly lower turnout than a mayoral election.
“We know that those who could’ve benefited from something like our new zoning codes are the people who have been systematically left out of the democratic process,” she said.
Karen Gordey, who led the repeal campaign, said the results should send a clear message to the city council.
“It’s about transparency and it’s about listening to people,” she said. “We do not want high density across the entire city.”
What’s at stake?
The new zoning policies had been on pause and now are set to be discarded.
Gordey said she was feeling “pretty darn good” after the initial results came in.
“If the initial results hold, Lakewood spoke very strongly,” Gordey added.
There were four questions on the ballot, each one applying to a different section of the city’s new development laws and policies. But the most controversial change was to the city’s residential zoning.
Under the previous rules, which will now be restored, single-family homes and accessory dwelling units were the only housing allowed in most of the city’s residential areas. Duplexes and triplexes were not allowed in most of those areas.
Last year, the Lakewood City Council voted to eliminate the city’s single-family-only areas. Instead, residential areas were to be designated under statuses like “low-form residential” and “mid-form residential,” which would allow multiple units per property.
Density would still have been limited by other rules about building size and placement, with a maximum of three floors and 5,000 square feet for buildings in the low-form areas.
Council members said the changes were needed to stay in alignment with state law.
Gov. Jared Polis has been aggressive in pushing cities to allow for denser housing. Researchers have consistently found that building more housing leads to lower housing cost — supply and demand. Supporters described Lakewood’s changes as a path to “gentle” density that would allow “missing middle” housing.
But those new policies appear to have been strongly rejected by voters. The repeal campaign argued that it would prioritize “neighborhood character, stability and current residents,” and characterized new development as being driven by corporations.
“I did have goosebumps and I’m teary-eyed right now,” said Penny Sherlock, who voted to overturn the new zoning laws. “It’s emotional and it’s been a lot of work.”
Councilmember Roger Low said earlier that if the repeal passes, the council would face new challenges.
“One of the many reasons we passed (the ordinances) was to comply with state law, so that we would not be competing for important state resources that Lakewood needs,” he said.
The Polis administration has called out numerous Colorado cities for non-compliance with new state housing laws and has threatened to hold back state grant funding for those municipalities, although it hasn’t named Lakewood as a target. Some cities have sued to challenge the state’s authority on zoning issues.
A long fight over growth
Housing development has been a hot topic in Lakewood for years, if not decades. The city includes mostly suburban neighborhoods and the relatively new commercial core known as Belmar, not to mention the restaurant Casa Bonita and a stretch of Colfax Avenue.
In a special election in 2019, voters approved a yearly cap on housing construction.
In 2023, the council voted 8-3 to put an expiration date on the growth cap, setting it to disappear in two years. The change was meant to put the city in compliance with state law, but it left some in Lakewood questioning how to manage growth and development.
In 2025, the Lakewood City Council approved the new zoning changes — made up of 400 pages and split into four votes — which were meant to take effect this year, until the city’s voters intervened.
This story was produced by the Capitol News Alliance, a collaboration between KUNC News, Colorado Public Radio, Rocky Mountain PBS, and The Colorado Sun, with support from news outlets throughout the state. Startup funding for the Alliance was provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
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