Over 5,000 Lakewood, Denver, and Colorado residents have now signed their names to our Change.Org petition in support of invoking Eminent Domain to protect Lakewood's Belmar Park! 

SaveBelmarPark.com initiated this milestone petition in late 2023 and already over 5,000 outraged citizens have signed on!

Despite stubborn resistance from most Lakewood City Council members including their repeated false claim they have no power to intervene, local and national residents know better and are demanding City Council step up and do the right thing by using their Eminent Domain power to establish a buffer area to protect Belmar Park’s key habitat zone in Lakewood, Colorado.

A key purpose of Lakewood’s Zoning Ordinance as stated on page 1-1 at 17.1.2(C) is to 'protect and enhance the natural environment'.  

Allowing a major construction project to improperly encroach on Belmar Park’s habitat zone will harm wildlife and other lifeforms in violation of this stated purpose of Lakewood’s own Zoning Ordinance.  

How can Lakewood City Council ignore their own zoning ordinance that they expect everyone else to obey?  Are they hypocrites or will they play by their own rules? 

Because many species within Belmar Park’s habitat zone are protected under US Federal law, there is a possibility that Federal law may also be violated.

In response to uninformed media skeptics, expert biologists with advanced academic credentials have visited Belmar Park and reviewed the development proposal and they agree the huge 800,000+ square foot construction project would have significant adverse impacts to wildlife and plant life within Belmar Park’s habitat zone.  

Sadly, we now know that home ownership is out of reach for most Denver-area residents as only 6% of homes sold in 1st quarter 2024 were affordable to households earning a typical income.  And Colorado renters now have to work 87 hours out of the month even to afford rent - compared to only 45 hours in 2011.  This data shows that building more and more luxury rental apartments that are not affordable is truly a fool’s errand.

And Now THIS!!

Did you know Lakewood has a 15-year new housing supply in the pipeline already!

According to p.113 of Lakewood’s own Strategic Housing Plan:  “projects currently under construction, approved, planned, or tentatively proposed represent about a 15-year housing supply”!

And there are also enough luxury rental units now under construction or shovel-ready in Lakewood to meet the luxury rental demand market niche for years to come!

So we can ignore the misleading siren call that building additional unaffordable luxury rental apartments somehow helps mitigate the ‘housing shortage’. 

Therefore, we ask the Lakewood community to contact their city council representatives and turn up the heat on protecting Belmar Park.

Do it, Lakewood!   Find you City Council rep here!   Then make contact!