In July, voters in Lakewood approved a one percent per annum cap on residential unit construction.  Now, a proposed ballot measure aiming to require counties along the Front Range to follow suit is one step closer to appearing on Colorado’s 2020 ballot.
Continue Reading Front Range-Wide Residential Growth Cap One Step Closer to Colorado’s 2020 Ballot

This post was authored by Alexandra Haggarty.  Alex is a summer clerk at Otten Johnson, and a rising 3L at the University of Colorado Law School.

This post is an update on three earlier posts about a citizen initiative to limit residential growth in Lakewood, Colorado.

With a near 53 percent majority, voters in the City of Lakewood approved Ballot Question 200, capping growth of residential unit construction by one percent annually and requiring city council approval of projects with forty or more units.  The city joins Boulder and neighboring Golden in responding to Colorado’s population growth by capping development.

Proponents of the initiative argue that it will preserve Lakewood’s culture and environment.  Specifically, the initiative was pitched as a way to preserve open space, protect single-family development, ensure that infrastructure and services are not overburdened, and curb alleged problems of unmanaged growth, such as crime and urban decay.
Continue Reading Lakewood Voters Pass Strategic Growth Initiative

This post follows up two earlier posts about a citizen initiative to limit residential growth in Lakewood, Colorado.  Details about the proposal can be found here.

On Monday night, the Lakewood City Council voted 10‑0 to call a special municipal election for July 2 to allow voters to decide whether to impose a

This post follows up on a post from August about a citizen initiative to limit residential growth in Lakewood, Colorado.

In Lakewood, Colorado’s fifth largest city, citizens associated with Lakewood Neighborhood Partnership submitted a petition for a “strategic growth” initiative last July. The initiative aims to limit the growth of residential housing units to 1% annually, and would require that the Lakewood City Council approve all projects with forty or more housing units. The unelected planning commission currently has final decision authority over multifamily site plans and subdivisions in Lakewood.
Continue Reading What happened to “strategic growth” in Lakewood?

Last week the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that seeks to delineate what causes a commercial real estate loan to be classified as a “high volatility commercial real estate loan,” or, as it’s more commonly referred to, as a “HVCRE loan.”  Since the rule regarding HVCRE loans was promulgated, there’s been much debate and confusion around that fundamental question.  A synopsis of HVCRE loans and the implications of HVCRE classification can be found here.
Continue Reading House Passes Bill to Clarify HVCRE Rule