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Lakewood council adopts Complete Streets process, creates advisory board
Summary
Lakewood City Council voted July 21 to adopt a Complete Streets ordinance and to create a Complete and Active Streets Education and Advisory Board, formalizing early public review of major street projects and adding an ongoing advisory group.
Lakewood City Council voted July 21 to adopt a Complete Streets ordinance and to create a permanent Complete and Active Streets Education and Advisory Board,Formalizing a two-tier predesign and review process for major reconstruction projects and creating an ongoing advisory and education body to help implement the city’s Active Transportation Plan.
Council President Keppel and Vice President Baker led the council discussion, emphasizing the ordinance’s focus on establishing process rather than dictating design outcomes. The ordinance requires that large, priority “Tier 1” projects identified in the city’s Active Transportation Plan go through a Planning Commission predesign briefing to surface design options and public comment early in project development. Smaller “Tier 2” projects remain primarily an administrative responsibility but include additional internal review steps intended to improve coordination across public works, planning and other departments.
The council also adopted an ordinance creating the Complete and Active Streets Education and Advisory Board. The board will include members with lived experience as pedestrians, cyclists, transit users and people with disabilities; it will help prioritize projects, coordinate public outreach and support education initiatives such as crash-analysis training and school-focused walk/bike events.
Why it matters: Supporters said the change gives the public and Planning Commission an earlier, clearer voice when major street projects are designed. Opponents at the council meeting said the ordinance does not change the final decision authority — the administration and city engineer still make the ultimate design calls — and urged the city to ensure the process does not itself be used to block routine maintenance.
Public comment split along expected lines. Bike- and pedestrian-advocates praised the new process; neighbors from specific corridors pressed caution, saying proposed multimodal features (for example a shared-use path on a residential corridor) could bring safety, parking and environmental tradeoffs. Speakers who asked to be recorded in the public record included Rick Flair, who urged the council to move forward, and Amy Herberger, who described safety and notice concerns related to a proposed path on Bunts Road.
Council members stressed the ordinance does not guarantee any specific design outcome and removed emergency language from the ordinance text so it would not take immediate effect; instead, it will be implemented according to the schedule and triggers in the ordinance (for example, 2027 application to certain Tier 1 streets). The advisory board ordinance passed in the same meeting; sponsors said it will be a resource for planning staff and a bridge to neighborhood groups.
What’s next: The administration and Planning Commission will implement the predesign review process for qualifying projects. The council and administration said they expect continuing dialogue on particular corridors (several were referenced in public comment) as predesign materials are presented to the Planning Commission and open to public comment.
Speakers and attributions in this story were taken from the July 21 council meeting transcript.
Ending: Council members who supported the measures framed them as process reforms intended to expand early public input and departmental coordination; those who raised concerns urged careful, project-level outreach before design decisions are finalized.
