The Lakewood land swap with the Action Center was supposed to be voted upon Monday, but has been pushed to Wednesday due to an ongoing legal case.

The Monday Lakewood City Council meeting was planned to include three ordinances involving the handshake deal struck with the both Jeffco Public Schools and the Action Center — a nonprofit that works to provide services, free food and clothing to those in need.

Due to an ongoing lawsuit filed by Anita Springsteen — an attorney and former Lakewood councilmember — an injunction was placed on the planned voting, with the trial occurring Tuesday. Jefferson County Judge Meegan Miloud ordered the injunction last week, stopping the voting.

The voting will be moved to a special session on Wednesday evening, following the verdict.

“It’s a crying shame that we can’t all vote on this tonight,” Councilmember Roger Low said. “But we believe the rule of law around here and we’re certainly going to follow the injunction.”

Ultimately, the idea includes the city buying the Action Center’s current location at 8745 and 8755 W. 14 Ave. for $4 million with the intention to continue to lease to the Action Center while eventually turning it into “permanent supportive housing.”

In April, the City Council also unanimously approved the city’s $4 million purchase of the 17-acre Emory Elementary School property at 1275 S. Teller St. It still needs to be approved by Jeffco Public Schools in November.

The city would then sell 10 acres of the Emory Elementary School, including the school building, to the Action Center for $1 million, keeping the rest of the seven acres to itself.

The Action Center plans to turn the former school into a one-stop community center, teaming up with different organizations like Jefferson County Public Health, Skyhawks Sports Academy and Red Rocks Community College to offer education programs, recreational activities for children, food, clothes and health services.

The plan would not include an overnight shelter for homeless people and would include security, though many residents balked at the possibility during the April vote. The idea is to provide services to help people from becoming homeless.

“We need places to come together. We need places where communities can get all kind of supports,” Pam Brier, CEO of the Action Center, told the council Monday. “We need places to come together to grow together, to support one another, to celebrate, to learn, to help.”

All three of these movements — buying the Action Center, leasing it to the Action Center and selling Emory — would all have been voted upon Monday, barring the ongoing injunction.

The legal battle was about the public notifications involving executive sessions, not about the specific land transactions.

Springsteen alleged that the city violated Colorado’s Open Meetings Laws by making deals about the property swaps behind closed doors.

“Allowing defendants to simply ratify their illegal conduct by proceeding with an ordinance for the sale of the land, at taxpayer detriment, to be given away to a Non-Governmental Organization without a vote of the people or participation by the people, will cause additional injury,” according to Springsteen’s motion.

In a public statement, the city said it has made every step to make its work as public and clear as possible.

“Given the complexity of land transactions, it’s understandable that this process can be confusing, which can cause residents to raise concerns,” the city said. “With any potential purchase or sale of a property for governments, negotiations are conducted confidentially to reach tentative terms.”

Low said the two executive sessions mentioned in the lawsuit were not substantive.

Another question has been of the overall cost and profit involved.

Resident Lenore Herskovitz asked on the city’s website why “Jeffco Schools would sell Emory assessed at $12M in 2024 and $9M this year to Lakewood for $4M? This is a considerable financial loss at a time when there is no money to give Jeffco teachers raises. Lakewood in turn is spending $4M to buy the present Action Center assessed at half that amount. Then the city will sell Emory to the Action Center for $1M. What is going on here?”

During Monday’s meeting, Planning Director Travis Parker assured the public that the assessments of the properties are legitimate and the sale of the school for cheap is normal.

“The vast majority, if not all, have been at a significant discount,” Parker said of sales from the school district to the city. “Looking at just the neighboring property, the Link Rec Center, that was basically given to the city by the district for $0 in 1994.”

Regarding the $1 million sale opposed to the $4 million purchase, the city will retain seven acres of open park space, which Parker said is valued at more than what they got it for.

While residents shuddered at the Action Center’s idea during the April meeting, all public speakers were in favor of the idea on Monday after multiple community meetings and discussions between local residents and the Action Center.

“I think this is a great opportunity for Lakewood to help its residents. Especially, in these times, we need to do what we can to help the JeffCo Action Center and make more services available,” Joshua Comden said.

“Those of us who were elected two years ago, we probably all ran on, ‘yes, we want to do something about the homeless,'” Councilmember Glenda Sinks said. “I see all of this as a win-win.”

Depending on the outcome of the trial, the ordinances are set to be voted on Wednesday evening.