Struggling social media site Nextdoor published and raved about these 13 recent posts on their site.  They described the author as a ‘trusted neighbor’ who was ‘making a difference in the neighborhood’!  They also repeatedly encouraged the author to keep posting and asked ‘What will you share next?’ and displayed a large button to create a new post.  Then suddenly, the exact same posts that neighbors were ‘really interested in’ were banned with no notice and no warning as being SPAM even though Nextdoor had repeatedly encouraged the author to post such content on their site.

How could invited posts that were praised by Nextdoor become spam a few days later as alleged by Nextdoor?

A quick visit to an Internet search site revealed that Nextdoor has garnered media attention due to their horrendous content moderation typically by volunteers who rarely have related credentials and may have a personal agenda.

The three links below go into the content moderation nightmare at Nextdoor.

Toxic Moderators

Election Misinformation

Antithesis of Community Building

WARNING – Do not mention this article or post anything even remotely related to how Nextdoor ‘moderates’ the site in their main feed.  Doing so could result in account suspension or termination.

You can view the censored posts by selecting the category Banned Posts from the Deep Diving page at: https://savebelmarpark.com/deep-diving/

(As with all articles on SaveBelmarPark.com, some of the 13 recovered articles may be updated or corrected.)

The 13 posts that have been BANNED from Nextdoor received at least 20,000 to 30,000 views.  One post received over 6,000 views!  They also received hundreds of comments and hundreds more positive reaction icons from readers.  The author challenged the bans but without success so far.

Here is a list of 13 posts that Nextdoor raved about, asked for more and then banned!

1. Skinny Home in Lakewood costs ONE MILLION DOLLARS!
2. Is There A Glut of Luxury Housing?
3. The Action Center Move Raises Questions
4. Why Give a Month Free?  Why Not Lower The Rent?
5. 1/7th Acre Lot in Lakewood Costs Over ONE MILLION DOLLARS!
6. City of Lakewood Says There Is A Housing Surplus
7. Lakewood’s Up-zoning Reform Explained
8. Addenbrooke Park Mentioned As Site of New Mega Rec Center
9. Could the Pacific Palisades Fire Happen in Lakewood
10. Rec Center Subsidies vs Homeless Transitions
11. 10 to 20 Years for Affordable Housing?
12. Denver to Convert Unused Office Space to Housing
13. Rec Center Closure Facts – Part 2

The content moderation disaster gets worse!

Apparently, in the dark world of Nextdoor, it is not socially acceptable to shine a light on Lakewood city hall.  As you can see if you review these titles or read the posts, they may shed light on behavior that city hall might prefer does not get much attention.

But why would city hall have anything to do with posts on Nextdoor that are banned?  Well…….

Nextdoor actually suspended the author’s account temporarily for submitting the following comment simply asking for clarification from a city council member or anyone.

First, they removed the comment as disrespectful.  The author then posted the comment on Nextdoor’s main feed asking neighbors if they thought the comment was disrespectful.  Nobody thought so.  However, by discussing ND moderation in the main feed, the account was suspended.

For added context, various members of city hall had also been posting on Nextdoor that some people were spreading ‘rumors’ and ‘misinformation’ regarding possible rec center closures.  Although, the proposal to explore closing rec centers is clearly documented in City Council’s own master plan for Lakewood.  So simply quoting from that master plan risks being labeled by city hall as spreading ‘rumors’.  Simply trying to get the Ward 3 council rep to admit what is in the master plan resulted in the comment being banned and the Nextdoor account being suspended!

Further, city hall has multiple avid boosters who are also Nextdoor moderators or ‘team’ members.  There is even an unverified concern that one of these team members could be a hired lobbyist working on behalf of city hall interests.  Let’s just say the deck may be stacked against anyone who is not always totally in line with city hall when it comes to having a discussion.

The author escalated the concerns about this type of biased moderation to a supposedly separate Nextdoor communication channel and as of this writing has not received a response from that escalation channel.

So why use Nextdoor in the first place?  Because it has a focused local audience and is fairly convenient to publish on the site.

Also of note, the site is struggling financially.  For the first nine months of 2025, Nextdoor reported a loss of over $50 million dollars.  Since going public in 2021, they have not shown a profit.

Alleged Violations of the Law

Nextdoor is also suspected of violating state and federal privacy laws by allegedly sharing users’ location data with Microsoft.  There is a possible class action currently under consideration.

If you had a Nextdoor account and a Microsoft Office or Outlook account anytime since 2022, you may be able to join the proposed class action at: https://www.classaction.org/nextdoor-data-privacy

(Note: This and any posts from SaveBelmarPark.com are sometimes updated with new information or corrections at SaveBelmarPark.com typically on the Deep Diving page.)

Perhaps you already know, a portion of Belmar Park is designated for grading on the developer’s grading plan.  We estimate the area of the park to be graded amounts to thousands of square feet assuming the grading plan mentioned does not change.

However, Lakewood’s Planning Department states the opposite: “The proposed development of this property does not involve or include any parkland…”

Obviously, any area of the park destroyed by heavy equipment activities related to the Kairoi market-priced housing project will have to be fully restored to original or better condition, right?  Wrong again.

According to the Erosion Control Report submitted to Lakewood by Kairoi’s civil engineers, only 70% of a restored area needs to be restored with ‘vegetation visible’ according to p.22.  There is no requirement that the park be fully restored to original or better condition!

Let’s say someone crashed into your parked car and does significant damage.  After body shop repairs, only 70% of the damage is repaired.  Are you OK with that?  If you are, apply for a job at the City of Lakewood where that level of completion is apparently acceptable when it comes to requiring developers to do the right thing.

Once an area has been graded, the developer will usually attempt to restore the area.

During the process of restoring an area, grass seed is planted and watered.  To improve water retention and plant absorption, the seeded areas are mulched.

According to specifications from Kairoi’s civil engineers accepted by the City of Lakewood, it is allowed to use mulch even if it contains ‘non-native grass species’!

Here’s how Kimley-Horn engineers explain it from page 124:

“Grass hay may be used in place of straw; however, because hay is comprised of the entire plant including seed, mulching with hay may seed the site with non-native grass species which might in turn out-compete the native seed. Alternatively, native species of grass hay may be purchased, but can be difficult to find and are more expensive than straw.”

As mentioned non-native grass seed contained in the mulch may out compete native grass.  If that happens, the non-native plants would be considered ‘invasive’.  Once invasive plants become established, they can then reproduce and migrate into other areas of Belmar Park.

The video below shows invasive cheatgrass which can be a fire hazard and is already established in some areas of Lakewood, CO.

Do homeowners near Belmar Park mind if the city recklessly allows an invasive grass species that can be a fire hazard?  If so, please get your neighbors involved and speak up.

How likely is it that a company that started demolition of the Irongate Complex without being legally permitted to do so will recklessly seed Belmar Park with invasive grass seed or other invasive plants?

How likely is it that same company will use the least expensive mulch they can find which may be contaminated with invasive grass or weed seeds?

We believe Belmar Park is at high risk of invasive plants being introduced as a result of the proposed housing project.  It is even permitted by Kairoi’s own engineering specifications.  We are very concerned the City of Lakewood will not be proactive in preventing that outcome.

Keep in mind that according to Lakewood’s official 67 page ‘Natural Areas Plan’, Belmar Park is not mentioned even ONCE!

We hope the city wakes up and joins the many citizens who enjoy and appreciate Belmar Park and who would not allow the park to be recklessly seeded with invasive plants just to enrich a wealthy developer.

We also hope Lakewood requires any disturbed areas of Belmar Park to be restored to original or better condition rather than the ridiculous 70% is OK standard.

We can always hope.

As background, it might be worthwhile to consider that the 777 S Yarrow proposal appears to include a re-plat in connection with the lot line adjustment and that the party proposing the re-plat is therefore the developer of 777 S Yarrow Street who may have to comply with various Colorado state statues.

(9) “Subdivider” or “developer” means any person, firm, partnership, joint venture, association, or corporation participating as owner, promoter, developer, or sales agent in the planning, platting, development, promotion, sale, or lease of a subdivision. CO Rev Stat § 30-28-101 (2023)

Therefore, Kairoi Properties LLC and Belmar Owner LLC are the subdivider because they are undertaking a lot line adjustment which requires a re-plat of 777 S Yarrow Street.

It is a Colorado requirement that the subdivider submit proof to the Planning Commission that subdivision utility easements have been approved by the respective utility providers as noted below per CO Rev Stat § 31-23-214 (2023:

(3) Subdivision regulations adopted under provisions of this section shall require that a subdivider, as defined in section 30-28-101 (9), C.R.S., submit to the (planning) commission evidence that provision has been made for facility sites, easements, and rights of access for electrical and natural gas utility service sufficient to ensure reliable and adequate electric or, if applicable, natural gas service for any proposed subdivision. Submission of a letter of agreement between the subdivider and utility serving the site shall be deemed sufficient to establish that adequate provision for electric or, if applicable, natural gas service to a proposed subdivision has been made.

The Belmar Park West (BPW) project is the 411 unit multifamily project proposed at 777 S Yarrow Street in Lakewood, CO adjacent to Belmar Park.

The goal of our petition at Change.org is to achieve a wildlife buffer area between Belmar Park and the proposed huge apartment complex.

Now the City of Lakewood has moved in our direction thanks to YOUR support.

The city council and the planning department are aware that thousands of you have signed this petition and keep signing it.  The updated list of signatures has been provided to Lakewood City Council multiple times now because the petition size continues to grow as we approach 6,000 supporters.  And we have received thanks from some on city council.

Lakewood has professional planners that review any major site plan (MSP).  Professional planners look for deficiencies such as areas where a huge building does not have a reasonable transition zone to an adjacent park.

As a result, we have reached an inflection point where the developer’s proposal is simply ‘not approvable’ without that transition zone.   The city now requires the developer’s project design team to revisit options to provide an appropriate park transition area!

The city even says if the transition zone is not possible, the developer should be prepared to explain to the Planning Commission why the building footprint and site layout were not modified to address staff’s comments.

Folks, please congratulate yourselves.  We have gotten this far without expensive attorneys or asking people to donate thousands of dollars.

One local group even asked people for a quarter of a million dollars!

Frankly, we don’t think people need to be giving a lot of money to anyone because they say it is to benefit Belmar Park unless there are specific details explaining how much and exactly how the money will be used to benefit the park.

Please be careful whenever donating money to any charity for any cause.  Not every charity uses your money efficiently.

With your support and just one person volunteering for free here sponsoring this petition and providing the website for this cause, together we have gotten this far and without asking for donations.

The Planning Department is awaiting that revised proposal from the developer.  Please stay ready to respond when that proposal is revealed.

The following was transcribed from public comments of Attorney Kenley Brunsdale who lives in Lakewood, CO in Ward 4.

(Please scroll down to hear comments from Attorney Pat Mellen.)

Mr. Brunsdale provided these comments as a private citizen and as an attorney with decades of experience in administrative law.

Listen up, Lakewood.  Attorney Brunsdale explains why they rarely get sued over land use issues at the Federal level and what Lakewood should do.  He is also the second attorney of the evening with similar advice.

No more excuses, Lakewood.  Quit complaining developers will sue you.  Take this advice and get the job done.

February 21, 2024 Lakewood Planning Commission Meeting.

Kenley Brunsdale Ward 4

I’ll try to be prospective in some of the ideas that come to mind. I spent my life as a lawyer working in administrative law arena. And so some thoughts come to mind.

First of all, I’d like to say that on administrative law, and this could be communicated to developers right up front, either through a waiver or through a provision that simply says, yes, there’s many sub decision decisions that have to be made. Here.

And nothing is final until everything is final.

And that’s the way it’s done at the federal level and federal administrative law and everybody knows, and therefore you never get in this. This chicken and egg problem where the developer comes in. But yeah, but yeah, but yeah, we spent this money and we’re going to sue you and they in this bullying tactic, and play starts and that’s avoided completely in the federal process, and it should be here too. I mean, they’re big boys, they, they know their eyes are open, they can read the encumbrances, they can read the process and they can make their investment.

But this has been a really classic case of of that game that developers play and that should be eliminated.

Secondly, I want to endorse what Pat (Mellen) was saying.

Without going into the current Belmar case, I do think it is an excellent case study of when it’s totally inappropriate for a staff-only secret closed door process to take place.

I don’t know where the line is, but clearly this is way past it, and isn’t exemplary and in the public angst that it’s cost.

One trigger could be anytime you are going to be expecting the city to give you waivers and boundary changes and waiving Parkland dedication and waiving easements and making boundary changes and waving tree ordinances waiving… Wow, all those things are negotiations.

And usually you expect to get something back as a city.

Those negotiations all took place in secret. The public cares about all of them. Those should have been happening in this body. With all of us watching, and anytime a park is involved, something of this size is involved. This level of public resources and public values which are being waived or traded away. That automatically should trigger no discretion. No option for a secretive private staff process. Your body was created for the very purpose of creating public involvement and public installation and allowing the public to accept the negotiations, the trade offs and feel like that they were part of the design and in the process, so that when it’s done, they can feel good about it.

So I don’t want to bemoan the current project.

But I do think it is an outstanding case study of what should never ever happen again.

Kirk Kolkmeier 3:20
Your time has expired, but I guarantee you good questions. I very much appreciate your statement because it is the very thing we are grappling with, right? Where is that line and you feel that it’s been crossed clearly here? How do we on a fairly consistent basis, decide what projects need to have a full public hearing? Versus

Kenley Brunsdale – There’s two obvious triggers in this case study. One is if it’s next to a signature Heritage Park, that the whole the whole city values that should automatically trigger it. Bingo. Okay, another one would be where the city is going to be giving things away. waving, waving easements changing boundaries.

These things have value. You’re supposed to get something back. You don’t you don’t…

These negotiations took place in secret and quiet. Who knows what the city gave away for nothing.

Kip Kolkmeier 4:24
Okay, other questions? Thank you so much. Oh, I’m sorry. You do have one? Yes.

Commissioner 4:34
How many things do you think are appropriate to give away before you hit that threshold?

Kenley Brunsdale 4:38
Anything of value. Okay, anything normally that a developer would expect to pay for? Okay, thanks. Thank you.

During the same meeting, local land use attorney Ms. Pat Mellen also addressed the commission.

Over 5,400 Belmar Park supporters have signed our Change.Org petition.

Thousands of these citizens are Lakewood voters!

Hundreds of public comments have been posted by these concerned citizens.

Attention Lakewood City Council Members:

The number of Lakewood petition signers greatly exceeds the typical margin of victory in a Lakewood city council election.

Based on Lakewood’s Community Survey of April 2022–

The top 5 reasons residents chose to live in Lakewood were: location of the city (87%), parks and recreation opportunities (61%), quality of its neighborhoods (36%), local friends and family (31%) and safety of the community (24%).

As in 2018, parks and recreation was the second most mentioned thing that residents liked about living in Lakewood.

Participation in community parks and recreation offerings also continued at high levels. The most frequently visited amenities were Lakewood parks in general (80% participated/used regularly or occasionally), Bear Creek Lake Park (75%) and Heritage Lakewood Belmar Park (70%).