Lakewood’s long-running zoning fight is headed for a spring showdown at the ballot box, spearheaded by a new resolution from the City Council.

The Lakewood City Council amended and confirmed a resolution on Monday expressing the councilmembers’ desire for residents to vote against the repeal of zoning code ordinances 2025-27, 28, 29 and 30 on April 7.

“Vote ‘no’ on ballot questions 1, 2, 3 and 4,” the resolution reads.

The resolution passed 9-2, with Councilmembers Jacob LaBure and Paula Nystrom voting no.

“The intention here is to give people more time to be informed in front of the election,” Mayor Pro Tem Jeslin Shahrezaei said, adding that special elections are often close in results.

The battle regarding the zoning changes started last summer when the council decided to spread the approval of a nearly 400-page zoning code update across separate meetings. The proposal, in its entirety, was approved on Oct. 13 and took effect at the beginning of the year.

Four petitions were then turned in to the city at the end of last year by groups like Lakewood Citizens Alliance and Lakewood Stronger Together to repeal the aforementioned ordinances.

Due to the number of signatures, the council could either repeal the ordinances based on the petition or send the ordinances to a special election. They chose the latter.

Meanwhile, Make Lakewood Livable has worked to promote the changes, claiming the opposing groups used fear-mongering and incorrect information regarding the changes.

Just like the zoning itself, the resolution drew mixed opinions on the city’s website.

“I am upset that the city council and mayor are even considering a resolution to tell the Lakewood citizens how they are supposed to vote on a ballot question regarding the zoning ordinance,” resident Leanne Thompson wrote.

“I support the no position on repealing the new zoning,” resident Joshua Comden wrote. “This is a vote on whether housing in Lakewood will be flexible to meet the quality of life needs of all economic classes or whether we continue the tradition of only serving the economically gated communities in Lakewood.”

WHAT IS ON THE BALLOT?

The debated ordinances — 2025-27, 28, 29 and 30 — include multiple changes that have drawn ire from the opposition.

The biggest issue raised by the opposition (Ordinance 2025-29) was the changing of the term “single-family zoning,” which does not appear in the new document. Instead, the city will use the term “residential dwellings.” A residential dwelling could be a single-family home, duplex, tri-plex or townhome in an effort to create more affordable housing.

Lakewood has never had single-family-only zoning, with all areas allowing some type of different usage like group homes or duplexes, but now all areas will allow multi-family residences.

The other debate, focused on Ordinance 2025-27, included a lack of parking minimums for residences in transit areas and affordable housing units.

Required parking in residential areas for non-affordable housing is based on square footage of the residence. For example, in a residential neighborhood, there needs to be three parking spaces per 1,000 square feet. 

The other two ordinances included zoning definitions and planning procedures (Ordinance 2025-28) and changes to the city map (Ordinance 2025-30).

All of these changes, along with the council’s reasoning for the changes, are detailed in the resolution.

While Nystom and LaBure did not support the resolution, they both said there are many positives to the zoning code.

LaBure said that the most concerning issue overall is the city not being able to get citizens to buy into the concept of affordable housing, potentially leading to a lack of development in the future.

Also, residents raised questions on social media regarding the way the ballot will be structured when it is mailed to registered voters before April 7.

“Confusingly, the question on the ballot is whether to repeal the 2025 zoning ordinances. So vote no if you’re in favor of the zoning changes,” one user wrote on the city’s Reddit page.

All four of the ordinances will be separate votes on the ballot.