John Aguilar’s article in The Denver Post covers the political and policy mess left after Lakewood voters rejected sweeping zoning changes in a special election. The piece frames that vote as a setback for city leaders and housing activists who wanted denser housing options, including duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes, while also showing how deeply residents care about the character of their neighborhoods and the right to weigh in on big local land-use decisions.
Aguilar reports that the vote was a real blow to Lakewood officials after months of work rewriting hundreds of pages of zoning code. He quotes Mayor Wendi Strom calling the result a “kick in the gut,” while also laying out the broader argument from state-level housing advocates who say Colorado’s affordability problems require more density and more statewide intervention. At the same time, the article gives real space to opponents who said the city went too far, too fast, and failed to respect what residents actually wanted for their own neighborhoods.
The article also highlights the larger fight now brewing across Colorado. State lawmakers passed housing laws aimed at pushing cities, especially along the Front Range, toward zoning changes and denser development. That puts Lakewood’s local election in the middle of a bigger tug-of-war over who gets to decide what communities look like: the people who live there and elect local leaders, or legislators at the Capitol who seem awfully convinced they know best from 30 miles away.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Lakewood voters rejected the city’s zoning overhaul after council spent months rewriting more than 350 pages of land-use rules. That is called democracy, even when the planners need a stress ball afterward.
- Supporters wanted more dense housing types across the city, arguing it could help address affordability and housing shortages. Opponents heard “neighborhood planning” and got handed “blanket upzoning with a smile.”
- The article says Colorado had an estimated housing shortfall of 106,000 homes in 2023, and state leaders have responded with laws pushing local governments to change zoning, reduce parking requirements, and allow more units near transit. Because nothing says “local input” like a state mandate with a deadline.
- Kevin Bommer of the Colorado Municipal League calls the idea that local governments should defer to the legislature on housing policy “hogwash,” and he is dead right. Planning, zoning, and land use are local matters because local people are the ones who have to live with the consequences.
- Even the article admits the tension is not going away. State pressure remains, cities risk compliance fights, and activists want another bite at the apple. Translation: the people spoke, and the bureaucracy responded by checking its calendar for the sequel.
My Bottom Line
I tend to agree with Kevin Bommer on this one. The state legislature inserting itself into a local government process is pure, utter, absolute hogwash. Planning, zoning, and land use are local matters. Period. The people in a city ought to be able to work through those issues with their city council, planning commission, and neighbors without the state barging in like it owns the deed to every block in Colorado.
What jumped off the page for me in this article was the arrogance. Not from every person quoted, but from the worldview behind a lot of this debate. That smug belief that the experts, the advocates, and the Capitol crowd know better than local residents how a neighborhood should grow is exactly what Lakewood voters rejected. Citizens are not a speed bump in the process. They are the process. Participatory democracy is not a problem to be managed. It is the whole point.
Here’s what matters for Colorado families. Government cannot mandate affordability into existence. It can absolutely mandate confusion, delays, compliance costs, parking fights, design headaches, and more bureaucracy. And then it acts surprised when the price of housing keeps climbing. Forms tend to breed in the dark, and housing policy is no exception. The more rules, mandates, and top-down requirements you stack onto builders and local governments, the more expensive it gets to put a roof over somebody’s head.
If the state were serious about housing affordability, it would start repealing the restrictive building codes, legislative mandates, and regulatory clutter that drive up the cost of construction in the first place. Let the market work. Let builders build. Let local governments govern locally. And let citizens have a real say in the future of the places they call home. That is not radical. That is called self-government.
Lakewood voters sent a message. It was not subtle. The answer should not be to lecture them, override them, or wait for lower-turnout semantics to rescue a bad idea. The answer is to listen. We will measure this in homes built, prices paid, and neighborhoods preserved, not slogans.
Source: The Denver Post
