Lakewood voters repealed the city's entire zoning overhaul — and covenants were never at stake
Lakewood voters repealed the city's entire zoning overhaul — and covenants were never at stake
2026-09-10 · Colorado · Legislation · Did not pass
Lakewood voters repealed the city's entire zoning code overhaul on April 7, 2026, by roughly sixty-four percent on all four ballot questions. It is the clearest instance in Colorado of neighbourhood-level opposition to density using a tool associations do not have — the municipal referendum — and it is worth being precise about what it did and did not change.1
It did not change a single covenant. The four questions were about the city's public zoning code, and repeal restored public zoning. A declaration changes only through the amendment process the declaration itself sets out.
The result
| Question | Yes (repeal) | No (keep) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16,717 | 9,343 |
| 2 | 16,632 | 9,447 |
| 3 | 16,682 | 9,373 |
| 4 | 16,649 | 9,400 |
Total votes cast: 35,574, roughly 32% of registered voters.
What was repealed
Ordinances O-2025-27, O-2025-28, O-2025-29 and O-2025-30, passed between August 28 and October 13, 2025. Between them they eliminated the term “single-family zoning” citywide; created low-form residential and mid-form residential districts; collapsed housing types into a single “Residential Dwelling” category; permitted up to four or more units per lot, with a special permit required through January 1, 2027; set maximum floor area at 4,000 square feet for one to two units and 5,000 for three or more; capped buildings at three floors and 5,000 square feet in low-form areas; reduced minimum lot sizes; allowed retail up to 750 square feet in residential areas; and allowed duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes from January 2026 in areas previously reserved for detached houses.
The package was framed as compliance with four state laws: HB24-1007 on occupancy, HB24-1152 on accessory dwelling units, HB24-1304 on parking, and HB24-1313 on transit-oriented communities.
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- How the referendum got there
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Related Colorado HOA Topics
- "Lakewood voters strike down pro-density zoning," The Colorado Sun, April 8, 2026 — the result and the Roger Low quotation ↩
- "Lakewood Puts Zoning Changes to a Vote in Upcoming Special Election," Otten Johnson Robinson Neff Ragonetti — ordinance numbers, referendum chronology and the charter signature threshold ↩
- "Lakewood City Council approves reconfiguring of single-family zoning," Colorado Politics, September 23, 2025 — the 9-2 vote and the district framework ↩
- HB24-1152 signed act, adding C.R.S. 38-33.3-106.5(4) — the ADU covenant preemption and its "reasonable restriction" exception ↩
- Land use preemptions challenged, Colorado Municipal League — the six-city lawsuit ↩
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