Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Jeffco School Board Makes the National News (in a Bad Way)

It's a truism in real estate that good schools support home values. This is particularly the case here in the city of Lakewood.

Much of the city's attraction to would-be residents has come from the fact that our city has the amenities of an urban downtown district but the school system of a well-funded suburb. Consider the fact that the innovative Belmar redevelopment is just a couple of miles from nationally recognized Lakewood High School.

So it might have been a surprise to many when teacher sick outs and massive student protests rocked our county this week.

Interested readers will find an excellent synopsis of the controversy in the New York Times and additional details in Newsweek.

Perhaps more relevant to this blog is that many supporters of the current, conservative Jeffco school board are also ideologically opposed to Belmar and other new urbanist redevelopments. The right-wing Independence Institute is perhaps the best example. The Independence Institute is ardently opposed to mass transit, smart growth, and has even gone out of its way to ridicule Belmar's row homes. They also fully supported the conservative slate in the last school board elections.

Although the current Jeffco school board is not up for reelection at this time, many of their supporters and ideological soul mates are vying for other offices this November. As the election season begins and ballots begin to arrive in mailboxes, I hope that supporters of downtown Lakewood and Belmar do their homework and support the candidates who in turn support the great things we have going for us here in Lakewood.

Photo: 7News Denver reports on today's student walk-outs in 
downtown Lakewood. 

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Townhouses Coming to Block 15 (aka the Belmar Bocce Courts)


David Weekley Homes has filed papers with the city of Lakewood to build nine more townhouses in Belmar-- this time on Block 15 at the corner of Alaska and Saulsbury-- a space currently home to the Belmar Bocce courts.

Long time Belmar residents know that this lot was originally proposed for market-rate condos (the Alaska Flats). With the market for multi-unit condominiums crushed by the Great Recession, the temporary bocce court on Block 15 has been with us for a long, long time-- almost ten years, in fact.

Townhouses make a lot more economic sense right now, and won't compromise the quality of the urban environment (unlike the disappointing designs of the Belmar Chick-fil-A and Best Buy buildings).

The construction will at long last complete the corner's built environment, and will hide the surface parking belonging to the Gallery Apartments that is currently visible from the intersection. It will provide more for more owner occupied housing in Belmar, and brings us that much closer to seeing Belmar built out. It seems like a win to me.