Libertarian ping! To be added or removed freepmail me or post a message here.
Posted on 06/05/2008 6:44:27 PM PDT by george76
A land rush may soon be on in Colorado, and the prospectors could be home-rule cities seeking property outside their boundaries.
At least that's how we read one possible outcome of Monday's state Supreme Court decision letting Telluride use eminent domain to seize 600 acres of private property sitting outside the town limits.
The opinion distorts the straightforward language in the state constitution regarding the relationship between home-rule cities and the state. And in the process, the court has enabled those cities to condemn land in nearby counties or non-home-rule towns, with state lawmakers powerless to stop them.
Using this logic, for example, Denver might even condemn property in Western Slope counties for water reservoirs or pipeline right-of-way.
The dispute arose when Telluride officials condemned the Valley Floor parcel, which frames the entrance to Telluride, to preserve it as open space. The landowner - who wanted to build a golf course and a resort - challenged the condemnation in district court and lost. Last year a jury valued the property at $50 million.
The city came up with the money, but a big problem remained: The Valley Floor is in unincorporated San Miguel County.
A 2004 law ...It can buy the land, but it must involve a willing seller.
The 2004 law shouldn't have been necessary. But it provided clarity, saying the limited public uses allowing Denver to condemn land outside its territory applied to other home-rule cities, too.
Monday's 6-1 majority would have none of this. It struck down the 2004 measure, saying it "prohibit[s] home rule municipalities, including Telluride, from exercising constitutional powers of eminent domain" - as if cities' powers superseded state law outside their territorial limits, too.
(Excerpt) Read more at rockymountainnews.com ...
Lib judges - they see penumbras.
Can we condemn Denver and turn it into a Buffalo Commons?
They can condemn land owned by people who can’t even vote for them. Annexation without representation.
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed freepmail me or post a message here.
Colorado Springs should condemn Boulder and turn it into a sewage treatment plant.LOL!Ft Collins should condemn Telluride and turn it into a garbage dump.
Highlands Ranch should condemn Aspen and turn it into "free range parking space" for Hummers.
The state would be better off that way.
telluride’s
do-do does not stink!
Sounds like the Blob.
Similar thing was tried in Pennsylvania...though the attempt to annex neighboring property was blocked! :-)
It is all over the country.
How was it blocked in Penna. ?
I remember a guy who owned a lot in a subdivision where the city ( in South Carolina ? ) denied him his rights to build his home. He had been paying the taxes, but no.
He took it to the US Supreme Court.
I forgot the outcome, but he spent tons on legal fees.
See http://www.saveourfarm.com/.
Don't let the peanut gallery hear, but it was libertarian/conservative editors of local newspaper(s), in large part, getting the word out.
The dispute arose when Telluride officials condemned the Valley Floor parcel, which frames the entrance to Telluride, to preserve it as open space. The landowner - who wanted to build a golf course and a resort - challenged the condemnation in district court and lost. Last year a jury valued the property at $50 million.Thanks geo.
IIRC, the accompanying quote was “DAMN THEM ALL TO HELL!”
Atlas Puked...
burt and I have about the same feelings on Eminent Domain...
It is too easy. Just a majority.
Are you talking by initiative or legislative action?
Yuck, what a mess that Constitution must be by now. It could be as bad as California's.
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