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Science Forum Index » Environment Forum » Owners cry foul at developer's land grab - Reservoir law let
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| Aozotorp |
 Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2003 9:22 am |
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http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~1845787,00.html
Headline:
Article Published: Monday, December 22, 2003
Owners cry foul at developer's land grab
Reservoir law lets builder 'take' road
By Alicia Caldwell
Denver Post Staff Writer
EMPIRE - For years, the Norsemen of the Rockies had refused all offers from a
developer who wanted a piece of their mountainous land for a road.
But when the developer formed a private water company and applied to build a
reservoir, state law allowed the company to use condemnation to forcibly buy
the roadway easement from the neighboring Norsemen.
"What they did was a mockery of the statutes," said Tim Knapp, lawyer for the
fraternal group, which celebrates Norwegian heritage. "As a developer, they
didn't have the right to condemnation. As a water company, they do."
State statutes give certain private entities, such as water companies, a
limited power of condemnation if the company needs the property for its project
and cannot agree with the landowner on sales terms.
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But legal experts say this power, which dates from the days of telegraphs and
railroad expansion, is more often used for projects that have a clear and
defined public benefit - not a proposed private reservoir that likely will be
used for one development.
"Colorado statutes give a fairly wide range of private entities the power to
condemn," said Malcolm Murray, a Denver lawyer who has practiced condemnation
law for 25 years. "I'd be curious to know whether the access would then be used
for general development purposes."
Mark May, the developer's lawyer, said his client absolutely has the right to
use the road for other purposes. The wide range of condemnation powers written
into the state constitution and statutes were designed, he said, to promote
development in the state.
Local governments have increasingly resorted to using condemnation as an urban
renewal tool, a practice that has captured the attention of several state
lawmakers who have proposed limiting its use.
As other revenues have dried up, Colorado cities have condemned homes and
businesses in favor of high volume retailers, which generate significant sales
tax dollars.
The developer who wants to build the reservoir said his project will bring some
of the same benefits to Clear Creek County. Harlan Pals, president of Harlan
Pals & Associates, based in St. Charles, Mo., said the sparsely populated
county needs jobs, revenue and water, and that's what he plans to bring to the
table.
The condemned road, he said, is the only "high quality" access to his land,
which he plans to develop, possibly for homes, a golf course and other
ventures.
The reservoir, he said, will provide water for that project. But the reservoir
plan has yet to get local approvals.
Using the road acquired through condemnation, which is 200 feet from the
Norsemen's lodge, is better for the group than the alternative, Pals said.
If he had to use his existing road to his mountainous property, he said, he
would need more switchbacks to accommodate the semi- trailers hauling tons of
excavated rock. That would bring the road even closer to the lodge than the
road built through condemnation, he said.
Pals, who grew up in Denver and owns a vacation home in Clear Creek County,
said he has known some of the Norsemen for years. They have refused what he
called a land trade beneficial to them.
But Adrian J.I. Lewis, the Norsemen's vice president, said Pals' offer wasn't a
fair trade. Furthermore, he said, he thinks the developer all along has been
trying to get better access to the higher-elevation property, where 24 homes
and a nine-hole golf course are being contemplated. The road, he said, ought to
only be used to build and maintain the reservoir.
"I'm not opposed to eminent domain for hospitals and public projects," said
Lewis, who lives in Lakewood. "But to take other people's private property like
this - it gets my Norwegian dander up." ... (cont) |
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