In Lakewood, we have it all. We have great amenities and an ideal location between Denver and the mountains. Most importantly, families can still afford to live here. With careful thought and hard work, our community has grown in a smart way, making new housing available, bringing new businesses to the area and preserving the beloved character of our city.

Unlike some cities in Colorado, we have deliberately not become an enclave for the wealthy. We are a welcoming city, and as Lakewood’s mayor, I want to keep it that way. Lakewood’s history of inclusiveness makes it special.

That’s why I oppose the recently filed ballot measure to cap residential growth in Lakewood. It’s a misguided and convoluted measure, more than 4,800 words long and rife with unintended consequences. If passed, it will make life more expensive for people already living in Lakewood.

Let’s understand why we have growth and new construction in the first place: Lakewood is a highly desirable place to live and work. That’s a good thing, not a bad thing. Yes, there are growing pains, but our city is managing growth in a responsible, calculated and balanced way.

City officials carefully review new proposals for residential and commercial developments on their merits and reject anything outside the vision and character established for our community. We have over 100 parks and more than 180 miles of trails and bikeways. In fact, we have 11 square miles of parks and open space — over 25 percent of the city’s land mass. And to maintain our balanced approach to growth, Lakewood has a long-term comprehensive plan, which new proposals are always measured against on a case-by-case basis. No exceptions.

New growth has brought new essential amenities: shops, restaurants, recreational opportunities, light rail and more. Can you imagine living in Lakewood without places like Colorado Mills or Belmar? Those developments would not have happened under a growth cap. Looking ahead, the revitalization of West Colfax and other worthy projects will be threatened by growth caps or moratoriums, which are also favored by anti-growth campaigners.

Our city council recently debated — and rejected — a proposed moratorium on multi-family housing projects. The discussion was in many ways a preview of the fall campaign over the anti-growth ballot measure.

I vividly recall the testimony of a Lakewood teacher who has struggled and sacrificed to live near her school and her students. At one point, she was “living on someone’s couch trying to save money — in Edgewater instead of Lakewood.” Eventually, she found an affordable place in Lakewood, but she worries about new housing restrictions driving up rental costs.

“I live very frugally … but I can barely afford to live here,” she said. “You want to talk about traffic congestion? What’s going to happen when I have to commute 20, 30, 40 minutes to be here?”

She’s right. Arbitrary limits on the supply of available housing will drive up rental costs, mortgage payments and property taxes in Lakewood. In cities like Boulder and San Francisco, restrictions on development have dramatically increased the cost of housing, pushing working families and senior citizens out. Only the rich can afford to stay.

We don’t want that in Lakewood, which is why the anti-growth ballot measure makes no sense. It would cap growth at 1 percent a year and impose a bizarre new “allocation system” for building permits.

The ballot measure itself entails 14 pages and 4,800 words — three times longer than the Declaration of Independence. There’s a complex formula for setting the cap on allocations and even a new banking system for building rights. In the extra fine print, the ballot measure also allows the city council to tighten the cap “at will” to lower than 1 percent, but any increase requires a costly special referendum by the voters.

Simply put, this anti-growth ballot measure would make life harder in Lakewood, not easier. Please vote no.

Adam Paul is the mayor of Lakewood.

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