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Planning Process

Envision Lakewood 2040 was developed based on input from thousands of Lakewood community members over several years. The planning process started in November 2022 and included four phases, with the last phase continuing after adoption through 2040.

  • Phase 1: Plan for the Plan (Nov. 2022 to Dec. 2023)
  • Phase 2: Develop the Plan (Jan 2024 to Jan 2025)
  • Phase 3: Refine and Adopt the Plan (Feb 2025 to May 2025)
  • Phase 4: Implement the Plan (May 2025-2040)

Phase 1, Plan for the Plan

This phase occurred between November 2022 and December 2023 and was primarily an internal pre- planning phase. This phase involved discussing and reflecting on the previous Comprehensive Plan with staff, researching best practices, establishing public engagement principles, and developing the project timeline and milestones.

Phase 2, Develop the Plan

This phase occurred between January 2024 and January 2025 and involved extensive engagement with the community, coordination and collaboration with City staff, support from consultants, and feedback from Planning Commission and City Council.

Four principles guided the public engagement process during Phase 2:

  • Accessibility: The engagement process will be accessible, understandable, and welcoming to all who wish to participate.
  • Reach: The engagement process will involve and inform as many members of the public as possible.
  • Diversity: Participants will reflect the diversity of age groups, ethnicities, incomes, geographies, and special needs of the Lakewood population.
  • Impact: Participation will influence and inform the decision-making process for the Lakewood Comprehensive Plan.

Based on these principles, the engagement process and activities focused on hearing from as many community members as possible, especially those who do not usually participate.

The public process launched in January 2024 with a four-question Vision and Values survey in English and Spanish that was mailed to every household in Lakewood (approximately 85,000 addresses). This first survey was intended to cast a wide net to engage with as many community members as possible. A total of 2,147 survey responses were received providing over 92,000 cumulative words of extensive feedback. The major themes from the survey responses guided the rest of the process.

After the survey, the project team attended numerous community meetings, hosted open houses, met people where they were at pop-up events and kept the project subscribers informed about updates and ways to get involved through the project website, project newsletter and all other city channels.

To reach out and meaningfully engage with Lakewood’s Spanish speaking community, the City partnered with Community Language Cooperative (CLC). CLC conducted 40 hours of direct outreach to spread the word about the project and to hear from Spanish-speaking community members about their hopes and concerns for Lakewood’s future. CLC also supported the Latino Community Picnic, one of the Comprehensive Plan open houses held at a City park. All materials and activities during the picnic were presented in Spanish.

Advisory Groups

In addition to the broad community-wide engagement activities, three City-Council appointed volunteer Advisory Groups were formed to have in-depth conversations with community members, Planning Commission, and City staff about draft content for the Plan.

The three Advisory Groups were organized by topics:

  1. Community and Quality of Life
  2. Housing and Economy
  3. Transportation, Green Infrastructure and Systems

The Advisory Groups were comprised of the appointed community members and Planning Commission representatives and received support from City staff and project consultants. Jean Gatza and Patrick Teese with CDR Associates facilitated the entire Advisory Group process and Marcia Boyle, Avery Wolfe, and Mark De La Torre with MIG provided planning support.

The forty-seven Lakewood residents who volunteered to serve on the Advisory Groups were integral to the development of the plan and dedicated approximately 1,000 hours collectively attending 13 Advisory Group meetings throughout 2024 and early 2025 reviewing and discussing draft language for the Plan. Their time, thoughtfulness and dedication to this process helped ensure that the vision, values, and priorities outlined in this Plan are reflective of the diverse perspectives throughout Lakewood.

Engagement by Numbers:

  • 85,000 postcards mailed out to Lakewood residents with 2,147 responses received and over 92,000 cumulative words of extensive feedback.
  • 13,668 visits across the three project webpages on Lakewood Together.
  • 800+ conversations with community members at events and meetings.
  • 273 community members subscribed to project email updates.
  • 94 posts on the City of Lakewood’s social media channels, generating 32,669 impressions and 1,340 engagements.
  • 40 hours of outreach to Lakewood’s Spanish speaking community in partnership with Community Language Cooperative.
  • 10 Advisory Group meetings with an estimated 1000 volunteer hours spent from the appointed community members and Planning Commission Representatives reviewing materials and participating in meetings. An additional 3 optional virtual meetings were also held to get final feedback on the drafts.
  • 7 Pop up booths at city-wide events.
  • 4 Open House events with 1 of the events primarily offered in Spanish.

Phase 3, Refine and Adopt the Plan

This phase began in February 2025 and involved a series of meetings with Planning Commission and City Council to review, refine, and adopt the Plan.

Phase 4, Implement the Plan

Phase 4, Implement the Plan, begins with the adoption of the Plan and continues through the lifespan of the Plan, to 2040. The tracking and reporting details will be described in a separate document, the Envision Lakewood 2040 Tracking and Reporting Framework. This document will include data-driven targets for each Guiding Principle as well as qualitative and quantitative metrics to measure and track progress and is intended to be updated on a semi-regular basis. As a separate document, the Tracking and Reporting Framework will allow for greater flexibility in how to achieve community’s adopted vision through iterative refinement based on measured impact and agility to adapt to changing conditions.