LAKEWOOD, Colo. — What started in neighborhoods and library parking lots two years ago turned into a drawn-out legal and political battle for Co-Petitioner Cathy Kentner.
"It's not about eliminating growth or reducing growth," Kentner said in July 2017 while seeking petition signatures to support her ballot measure.
Before the deadline for the November 2017 election, Kentner submitted her petition with the necessary number of signatures. Instead of going to the voters, the issue went to court. First, there was a fight over the validity of the signatures on the petitions. Then, it was a debate about whether the ballot question is constitutional.
After several rulings and appeals, eventually, the legal hurdles were cleared for this election to finally take place this year. As of the latest official returns, Ballot Question 200 passed 53% to 47% with a majority of voters supporting the 1% cap on residential growth.
"We knew it was going to be close and with so much money and so much outside big name influence against this, we really didn't know," Kentner said.
While her grass-roots efforts raised about $10,000, she says nearly all of that money was spent on legal fees to keep Question 200 alive. Opponents to her ballot question raised more than $500,000 according to campaign finance records with big contributions from national associations of realtors and contractors. Yet, the Lakewood mom prevailed.
"City Council can ensure that we have the right type of housing, that we have enough green space in our projects that we're taking care of our infrastructure needs," Kentner said.
The city of Lakewood's Public Information Officer, Stacie Oulton put out this statement when asked about the implementation of the newly passed ordinance:
"We appreciate Lakewood voters participating in the city’s special election on Ballot Question 200, and we understand that there are detailed questions about how this new law will be fulfilled. Given the level of complexity in Ballot Question 200, the city’s departments will work diligently to examine how it will affect all developments in the city."
"We've had more than two years to figure that out," Kentner said.
Kentner feels like even though her ballot measure won, she is still fighting.
"To hear that they're not ready to move forward with this is probably not surprising to me, but I find it very unfortunate," Kentner said.
Lakewood Mayor Adam Paul has been outspoken on this issue in the past. He is currently on vacation and could not be reached for comment. Paul has said that city council already manages growth so a 1% restriction is not necessary, plus he has wondered on the impact on projects that are currently ongoing.
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