LAKEWOOD — To accommodate the west corridor light-rail line, RTD has notified seven Lakewood landowners that it wants their properties.
Lakewood Mayor Bob Murphy wants to blunt the blow of relocation, proposing to establish a city fund to help businesses start anew.
The money, an estimated $200,000, would be in addition to money the Regional Transportation District will pay.
“We want to keep the businesses in Lakewood,” Murphy said. “We want to encourage them any way we can.”
The city staff has been directed to research the idea, which will be presented to the Lakewood City Council.
The 10 notified properties are close to the West 13th Avenue light-rail route. The addresses are: 1300, 1310, 1330, 1350 1370 and 1398 Wadsworth Blvd.; 7525 W. 13th Ave.; 7540 and 7450 W. 14th Ave., and 5301 W. 10th Ave. Some landowners hold multiple properties.
Businesses include Pro-Tint, the Psychic Center of Lakewood, the Jefferson Business Center that includes the Ohio Center for Broadcasting as a tenant, and Erico Motorsports.
Kim Snyder, who with husband Galen Foster owns Pro-Tint at West 14th Avenue and Wadsworth, said it would be hard to comment on hypotheticals such as Murphy’s idea.
The couple, whose home is attached to the business, is fighting RTD to keep the transit agency from taking their property to build a four-story, 1,000-space parking garage.
Snyder said she feels “very sour” about how “RTD tries to lay everything on Lakewood, and Lakewood tries to lay everything on RTD. I don’t trust what any of them say anymore.”
The relocation policy states that affected landowners can request to move within a five-block radius. “Where are they going to find us a house this nice on a corner like this that’s not in a redevelopment area?” Snyder asked.
Of 16 letters of intent to purchase properties in connection with the west corridor sent by RTD in September, 10 were for sites in Lakewood.
West corridor spokeswoman Brenda Tierney said the letters are the first step in a lengthy acquisition process.
RTD follows the federal Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisitions Policy Act for property purchases, Tierney said.
Ann Schrader: 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com
