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Lakewood council approves ordinance to reset parking rules for Lakewood Center Mall as first step toward master plan
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Summary
Council introduced and adopted Ordinance No. 2026-1, revising parking ratios for the Lakewood Center superblock and nearby shopping centers to enable master-planning by Pacific Retail; the measure passed 4–1 after a failed substitute to carve out North of Candlewood.
The Lakewood City Council voted to introduce and adopt Ordinance No. 2026-1, changing the city's parking requirements for regional and adjacent neighborhood shopping centers to support redevelopment planning at Lakewood Center Mall.
The ordinance, which council adopted after public hearing and staff presentation, would establish a 3 spaces-per-1,000-square-foot standard for the mall superblock and a separate 5.25-per-1,000 proposal for the Candlewood shopping area. Supporters said the change is an early, necessary constraint so architects and developers can prepare a master plan; opponents warned it could reduce on-site parking and shift demand to surrounding neighborhoods.
"We're not asking for a 2.43 parking ratio because we understand models could have some inaccuracies. We think 3 is a reasonable number to ask for," said Jason Mahershaw of Kimley Horn, the traffic consultant who presented the 2025 parking analysis. Mahershaw described field counts (August) extrapolated to December peak demand using the Urban Land Institute shared-parking methodology and said the analysis projects a peak utilization of about 2.43 per 1,000 for a fully retail mall. The study reports 8,473 total site spaces, roughly 1,700 within the superblock, and observed peak usage of 4,776 spaces during counts.
Applicant Jonathan Rood of Pacific Retail told the council the company acquired the asset in August 2025 and seeks to "reinvent" the site into a more walkable, mixed-use community hub. "We want to make it a community project that everyone here in this room is very proud of," Rood said, adding that the parking ratios set a baseline to begin design work.
Several council members pressed the applicant on tenant mix and contingency plans. Councilmember Rogers said he shares residents' concern about shopper convenience and stressed that master planning should preserve the mall's role as a regional economic center. "If we do parking first, then we're restricted in terms of the uses we can consider," Rogers said in questions to the consultant; Mahershaw and Pacific Retail staff said parking is a necessary early parameter for architects and that ratios may be revised later.
Two members of the public urged caution during the hearing. Phil Norris said lowering the standard could increase the property's value while creating parking stress and suggested a threshold mechanism that would require structured parking if utilization exceeds a set level. Alan Gafford referenced public-records requests and expressed skepticism about longer-term housing plans for the site.
The council considered a substitute motion from Councilmember Rogers to exclude the neighborhood-shopping-center provision (North of Candlewood) from the ordinance; Vice Mayor Jeff Wood seconded the substitute. The substitute failed on a 2'–'3 vote (Wood and Rogers aye; Croft, Arellano and Mayor Chase no). The original motion to adopt staff's recommendations then passed 4'–'1 (Rogers opposed).
The ordinance was read by title (Ordinance No. 2026-1) before the vote. City Attorney clarified that the ordinance can be amended in the future and that introduction tonight does not prevent later changes during the second-reading process.
What happens next: adoption tonight advances the code change as drafted and allows master-planning work to proceed; any substantial changes to the ordinance would require reintroduction at a later meeting.
