An update on the zoning fight in Lakewood. An update on Greeley Demands Better’s fight.
An update on the zoning fight in Lakewood.
Not too long ago, I wrote about a fight over zoning in Lakewood and how the citizens there were running an initiative to fight what the council was doing. If you need or want that context, check out the first link below.
I saw recently in an issue of the Lakewood Informer (if you live in or around Lakewood and aren’t subscribed yet, do), that the citizen’s initiative survived a campaign finance complaint.
This will likely shock you to your very core, but the complaint, per the Lakewood Informer newsletter linked second below, was filed by a politically-connected supporter of the current city zoning scheme.
Quoting the newsletter from a couple places (with links left intact) lays it out the complaint and the obvious deep concern the complainant has for his beloved city:
“The original complaint was filed on October 20, 2025 by Kip Kolkmeier, former Chair of Lakewood Planning Commission and a vocal supporter of the zoning overhaul.”
and later,
“Kolkmeier no longer lives in Lakewood.”
I’ll leave it to you to read up on the details (as I said above, the effort at stopping the initiative has failed for now), but I do want to make note of something if you or someone you know is considering running a local initiative; it’s a lesson from the case in Lakewood.
Make sure you consult a lawyer and/or investigate the process fully. Time and time again, I’ve seen stories (Littleton, Lakewood, Greeley) where the government being challenged tries to knock down popular opposition to their plans.
Don’t make it easy for them to do so with simple legal errors. Do like the folks in Lakewood did and do your homework!
https://open.substack.com/pub/coloradoaccountabilityproject/p/heads-up-aurora-youve-got-a-packed?r=15ij6n&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
An update on Greeley Demands Better’s fight
I got an email from a PR firm recently, an update about the fight in Greeley.
In case you’ve missed some of the details, Greeley City Council voted to essentially mortgage (see “Related” below) city buildings to set up an entertainment center and hockey rink. Some of these things would remain in public hands, some would be tax breaks and gimmes for a developer.
Skipping a ton of detail, residents didn’t like this and have sought to use their rights in the Colorado Constitution to put the question on the ballot.
Bafflingly, the City Council has fought them tooth and nail. Not as bafflingly, so has the developer.
When I say tooth and nail, I’m probably understating it too. Seriously, I’m beginning to wonder at this point whether or not the developer has pictures of the City Council that they don’t want released or something. The city is pushing way too hard in the face of quite-obvious citizen disagreement. Pushing way too hard at least to keep it from getting on the ballot.
The latest, as of last week per the press release, is that the City Clerk told the group trying to run the initiative (Greeley Demands Better) they were short of the necessary number of signatures for their SECOND** attempt to get this issue in front of voters.
The numbers tell a story that the simple statement above cannot. Quoting the press release:
“Greeley Demands Better submitted 7,739 signatures to give residents a vote on the zoning of the $1.1 billion Cascadia hockey arena and entertainment district. The city’s required number of valid signatures was 4,586, and the timeframe to obtain those signatures was limited to just two weeks. Greeley citizens responded to the call and delivered a count far above the requirement – nearly 70% more – but, still, the Greeley City Clerk disqualified just enough signatures to deny Greeley residents the right to vote on the project. ‘The city rejected 41% of the signatures submitted for the petition,’ said Greeley Demands Better attorney, Suzanne Taheri. ‘This is an irrationally high rejection rate. This continued conduct is unprecedented and a violation of our first amendment right to petition the government. The standard rejection rate in municipal and statewide petition efforts is 20%. Notably, Greeley chooses not to follow the standards and best practices of the Secretary of State in verifying signatures. We plan to cure the signatures by Monday and are confident we can do so.’”
I contacted the City of Greeley Public Information Officer to double check on the contentions above. The PIO pointed me to the city clerk’s statement which I link to first below. In that webpage you’ll find a link to a PDF with a more detailed initial statement by the clerk.
I also asked specifically about the claim that Greeley is not following the standards and best practices of the Secretary of State in their verification process. The statement I received was from the City Attorney. Quoting from my email:
“The legal standards and procedures outlined in Greeley Municipal Code Section 2-88 govern how referendum and initiative petitions are reviewed and signatures verified in the City of Greeley. The City Clerk’s Office has followed these procedures as shown in the statement of insufficiency that was provided.”
In case you’d like to look at those provisions, I included them as screenshots 1a and 1b. These come from the second link below.
Rather than spend more time on Greeley doing their citizens wrong, I will end with what you can do.
Greeley Demands Better put out a call for signatures towards the end of the week last week. I just learned this morning that Greeley residents stepped up big time, providing 500-some signatures to cure the 32 insufficient ones. Good for them.
If you’d like to support this group or know someone you think will, I link to Demand Better Greeley’s FB page third below. I have a feeling the fight is not over and they’ll need it.
**The first attempt was abandoned after a ruling by a hired-gun administrative judge that the initiative was invalid. Again, I point you to the op ed in “Related” for more.
https://greeleyco.gov/statement-of-insufficiency-ordinance-30-2025
https://library.municode.com/co/greeley/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=PTIICOOR_TIT2ADGEGO_CH2EL_ARTIIIINRE_S2-88SIVEAMSTSUIN
https://www.facebook.com/p/Greeley-Demands-Better-61577733696183/
Related:
An op ed with some history and context about the fight up in Greeley.
https://completecolorado.com/2025/10/02/greeley-assault-citizens-initiative-swampwater/
Any ballot measure that starts with the words “Without raising taxes” is an attack on TABOR.