The beautiful Dakota Ridge, the gentle rolling foothills, the immediate proximity to Denver, quiet and well-configured neighborhoods, a small college, a hospital, streets that are still passable at rush hour, low crime and excellent police services. Lakewood is indeed a very attractive community, especially for families--possibly more attractive in many regards than a University town like Boulder.

Enacting an ordinance to slow down the permit process of high density will lead, as it has in Boulder and other cities, to the protection of land assets and City services.  In the long term, Lakewood residents will be happier, healthier, and better off than surrounding cities who are not carefully watching the extreme growth of the metro area.

Certainly, this will shy away developers, however the Denver area is not equipped at the moment to offer room to all of them.  Development at the expense of public services can lead to real danger for residents.  Many studies have been done on this.