Lakewood Small Area Plan

At a glance

Based on auto-generated captions; names and details may be misheard.

What: the draft small area plan for the Lakewood, Weston and Lion Park neighborhoods, centered on the redevelopment potential of the Shops at Lakewood, a transit opportunity area in the 2023 comprehensive plan.
Where it stands: on 2026-10-13 the Planning Commission voted 11 to 0 to continue the plan to its 2027-01-12 meeting.
Next: staff to do more outreach, add clearer language on what the current rules allow, and engage the shopping center owners. The original schedule was a City Council work session on 2026-11-05 and a hearing on 2026-12-21.

Sarah Long, project manager, described five phases from 2025 research through September 2026 engagement. The plan has five chapters, with policy and action recommendations in chapters 3 and 4 and an implementation table in chapter 5.
Recommendations cover sidewalks, traffic calming and transit stops, park amenities, use of vacant public land for a bike and pedestrian link, ground-penetrating radar surveys at two historic Black cemeteries, studying paper streets, a mixed-use zoning district south of Morehead Avenue (through the UDO rewrite or a separate rezoning, not this plan), Heritage Community designation, and neighborhood stabilization.
For the Shops at Lakewood: pedestrian and cyclist priority, more green space and tree canopy, public services such as restrooms and water stations, mixed commercial and residential use with at least 20 percent of new units affordable, structured parking and heights of about three to five stories.

Two speakers for the property owner (a landscape architect and an attorney) said chapter 4's schematic drawings go beyond what the workshops produced, ignore existing recorded restrictions that would make the renderings impossible, and lack any funding plan; they asked that the plan be continued and revised.
A resident said the plan is good but many residents lacked information and the participants did not reflect neighborhood demographics; she did not oppose delay.
Commissioners praised the work but raised: no cost estimates (staff said costs would be set later through the capital improvement process), unrepresentative engagement (staff noted online survey skew and meetings at the Lion Park recreation center), the closed Lion Park due to lead contamination not being addressed (staff said the state environmental agency and parks department will decide), engaging the shopping center owners and long-term retail tenants, and too many "should" statements.
Commissioner Richie cautioned that delay has hurt past plans (Northgate) and asked for a clear ask to staff; Commissioner Clemens, Vice Chair Cameron, Commissioner Chicowski and Commissioner Huarez Maldonado favored more time and different outreach.

Continue to 2027-01-12 (moved by Vice Chair Cameron, seconded by Commissioner Bailey): passed 11 to 0. Staff offered 2026-12-08 instead and warned that costs for the whole plan could not be produced in that time.

About 50 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting	Minutes
2026-10-13 - Planning Commission	50

2026-10-13 - Planning Commission - Staff presented the draft; owner representatives and a resident spoke; plan continued to 2027-01-12 on an 11 to 0 vote.