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Lakewood Zoning Ordinance 2025

UPDATE - Jan. 29, 2026

The Referendum Election Date Has Been Set

Lakewood City Council voted to send the referendum on the new zoning ordinance to a special election on April 7.

The election will be by mail as usual. All active registered voters in Lakewood will receive a mail ballot. The ballot will have four questions, each to keep or repeal different sections of the new zoning code. The Board of DWNA approved a resolution effectively supporting repeal on all four ballot questions, which would repeal the new zoning code. If the new code is repealed, Lakewood would keep the old zoning code, which the Board believes is important to maintain the character of both Daniels Gardens and Mountain View. City Council could then pass a new code, but must wait for six months after election day. We would use that time to encourage the City to work with neighborhood groups to identify ways to improve the zoning code so that it creates more and affordable housing without dramatically changing the character of established neighborhoods.

We encourage the residents of Daniels Gardens and Mountain View to get involved in the campaign to defeat the new zoning code to prevent allowing much higher density housing in those neighborhoods. There are two ways to get involved.

  • Visit the website of Lakewood Citizens Alliance - the committee running the campaign against the new code - at lakewoodcitizensalliance.org. It needs all the support it can get to go against big money developers will be spending.
  • Send an email to us at danielswelchester@gmail.com to get on a special email list for updates.

Board Resolution

This is the resolution passed by the DWNA Board of Directors. It calls for repealing the new code and enacting a code that will achieve the goals of more and affordable housing while preserving the character of our neighborhoods and other established neighborhoods in Lakewood.

Background

A group of Lakewood citizens volunteered their time to collect some 16,000 signatures on petitions to give Lakewood voters the opportunity to decide whether they want to eliminate single-family neighborhoods in the city by allowing developers to build multi-family housing on any lot in any neighborhood. Those buildings can be 35 feet tall and 5,000 square feet, even next to one-story houses. And buildings less than 4,000 sq. ft. can be built with NO PARKING, so all parking would be on the street.

What's at stake

If you own a home in Lakewood, your house and your neighborhood were rezoned by the City on Oct. 13 without you being notified. A developer can now buy your neighbor's house, scrape it, then build as many housing units that will fit under the new, generous, building standards. It could be one 35-ft-tall building of 4,000 or 5,000 sq. ft. with multiple housing units, including apartments. Or the property can be subdivided into multiple lots with a home built on each. Here's an example of what it could look like with new construction towering over existing houses, disrupting lives, forever changing the character of the neighborhood, and filling the street with parked cars.

This is a development Lakewood approved just last year at 1751/53 Harlan St. Under the new zoning ordinance, this is the kind of housing that will be allowed in neighborhoods around the city.

Below Left: A developer purchased this house and vacant lot for less than $400,000 each in 2019.

Below right: The developer built these four houses. They went on the market a few months ago at a not-really-affordable a price of $1 MILLION EACH. Turning a $400,000 house into two $1,000,000 houses does not make housing in Lakewood more affordable. And it permanently damages our great neighborhoods.

Under the new zoning ordinance, this is what can be built on the lot next door.

The new zoning ordinance goes into effect in December unless enough signatures are collected this month to force an election. After that, the kind of housing you see in Denver and Edgewater will come to Lakewood.

Overview of New Zoning Ordinance

In August, the Lakewood City Council ignored massive citizen opposition to approve a new zoning ordinance that will devastate neighborhoods throughout the city. Under the new ordinance, neighborhoods that are currently zoned for single-family homes and duplexes will all be rezoned to allow multiple homes on all properties. A developer may purchase any lot in a neighborhood, scrape the existing house, and construct a new building that is 35-feet tall with five, 1,000 sq. ft. townhomes.

The new zone districts are R-L-A, R-L-B and R-L-C, with R-L-C allowing the most density. On Monday, Oct. 13, the city council approved a new zoning map that designated all of Mountain View as R-L-B. Most of Daniels Gardens is R-L-A. We tried to get all of Daniels Gardens designated R-L-A, but the properties on W. Independence, W. 14th Ave. and W. Security Ave. are designated R-L-C due to the smaller size of the lots and their proximity to Colfax.

Neighborhood Zone Districts

(Language from new Lakewood Zoning Ordinance)

  • R-L-A: This zone district is intended to support incremental development that aligns with the City’s rural character. Development primarily consists of mostly small residential dwellings on large lots. Consistent with low-form residential areas, this zone district allows housing options that reinforce the rural landscape while allowing a variety of housing options beyond single-unit homes.
  • R-L-B: This zone district is intended to maintain the residential character of traditional suburban neighborhoods, while expanding the range of housing options available. Development primarily consists of small residential dwellings on medium to large-sized lots. The shape of a typical lot varies widely and may be square, trapezoidal, rectangular, or irregular. This zone district allows for multiple units with a single house-scale building, and on larger lots, multiple house-scale buildings on a lot.
  • R-L-C: This zone district is intended to support compact, walkable neighborhoods with a range of housing options. Development includes small-scale attached and detached housing, and lots are typically deeper than they are wide. This zone district controls the building form over the number of units, allowing for gentle density increases without drastic changes to the neighborhood scale.

Building Standards

NOTE: The new standards are confusing and the city has distributed misinformation about what they mean. If you believe any of the information on this webpage is inaccurate, please send an email to the address at the bottom of the page.

Link to full standards - approved in August (Article 5 - starts on page 97)

Here's what the standards mean.

  • Minimum Lot Size and Width - A developer can purchase an existing home and subdivide the lot into individual parcels as long as they meet the minimum size standards below. In R-L-C districts, each subdivided lot would have to be at least 1,500 sq. ft. and 25 feet wide. A home could then be built on each lot. (An acre is 43,560 sq. ft.) Both R-L-A and R-L-B require larger minimum lot sizes and widths, making it more difficult to subdivide properties.
  • Maximum Primary Structure Size - The "primary structure" is the house. In all of the R-L districts, a developer can buy a house and replace it with a building with multiple units. If it's a duplex, the maximum gross floor area is 4,000 square feet. if the building is divided into three or more dwelling units, the maximum GFA rises to 5,000 sq. ft.
  • Maximum Accessory Structure Size - An accessory structure is either an ADU - basically a small house - or a shed or detached garage.
  • Maximum Height - The main building on any lot can be up to 35 feet tall. The new ordinance, to comply with state law, allows an ADU (accessory dwelling unit) on any residential lot. ADUs are limited to a height of 20 feet.
  • Minimum Open Space - There is a requirement that 50% of the lot be "open space." But the definition of open space appears to have loopholes. (We're trying to get some clarification of what that means.)

©2026 Daniels Welchester Neighborhood Association