Judge sides with Lakewood in fee-in-lieu dispute over controversial apartments

The developer of a hotly contested, legislated and litigated apartment project next to Belmar Park must pay Lakewood $1.5 million in development fees, a judge has ruled.

Kairoi Residential, of Texas, is constructing a 411-unit apartment complex on 5 acres of private property at the park’s eastern edge. That has led to years of protests and, in 2023, a change to a city statute that required developers to set aside some land for parks.

That, in turn, drew a lawsuit from Kairoi, an injunction pausing enforcement of the new statute, and then a vote by the Lakewood City Council to undo the statute. Now, developers can pay the city a fee in lieu of dedicating parkland, as they could before the change in 2023.

So, in May, the Lakewood Planning Commission voted 5-0 to approve of Kairoi’s project at 777 S. Yarrow St. A vacant office building there has been demolished to make way for it.

But rather than drop its lawsuit in the spring, Kairoi rewrote it. This time, it took issue with the dollar amount it would need to pay Lakewood in lieu of dedicating parkland.

“Had (Kairoi)’s plans and permits been approved in the ordinary course similar to how other multifamily attached dwelling developments have been, … there is no question that it would have been entitled to pay the fee-in-lieu amount that existed in April 2022,” its lawsuit said.

That would be $2,100 per apartment, or $863,100. Lakewood disagreed with the math.