Neighborhood leaders say they’re prepared for another round of fighting a developer’s proposal to rezone 15 acres of vacant land on the southeast corner of Kipling Street and West Alameda Avenue.
Eight years ago, residents successfully overturned a city staff rezoning recommendation that would have allowed Milestone Partners LLC to build a 264-unit apartment complex on the land.
In response to a “legal protest” petition challenging the rezoning,
Lakewood City Council didn’t garner a supermajority vote in support of the rezoning and the project never moved forward. Now Milestone is facing the same opposition in a similar request.
“Our request is to rezone the entire parcel to (mixed use-neighborhood-urban),” wrote Paul Campbell of Kephart Architects — the firm representing Milestone — in a letter to the city. “We believe that this rezone will bring this parcel into conformance with surrounding zoning that now exists along Alameda Avenue.”
The requested zoning change would allow for a mix of uses including residential, office and commercial.
The response of the is the same: There’s no need for retail development; traffic, parking and noise concerns haven’t changed; and the change wouldn’t comply with the neighborhood’s West Alameda corridor plan.
The HOA will petition again and probably litigate if the city approves the rezoning request without detailed development plans, said association vice president Roger Merriman, who cited concerns that rezoning without a site plan could open the door for undesirable use.
“We’ve repeatedly told the city that we’re not interested in watching the Alameda corridor ,” Merriman said.
Campbell said Milestone is not in a rush to develop the property and it could be a while before any movement takes place.
“We want to move forward with the best foot possible,” Campbell said. “We’ll look at different options and how that will happen.”
Lakewood associate planner Kara Mueller said provisions are in place to ensure any development fits in with surrounding areas and detailed site plans aren’t required for rezoning.
“Right now it’s in the formal application stage … they’ve agreed to another neighborhood meeting so hopefully that can be scheduled shortly before they proceed forward toward public hearings,” Mueller said.
Merriman and other association members said they’d like to see the corner developed under its current residential designation.
Glennon Heights Homeowners Association president Robert Kelly said the proposal hasn’t been a major issue with any members.
“Certainly we want to see it developed wisely,” said Kelly, whose association is across Kipling from the development. “We’re aware of the concerns they have, and it can be frustrating from an HOA perspective when it comes down to ‘we support anything that makes the neighborhood better, just don’t change anything in the process.’ “
Austin Briggs: 303-954-1729 or abriggs@denverpost.com
