COLORADO — The Colorado House passed a bill on Monday that would discourage neighborhood groups from filing lawsuits against approved land use decisions.
HB24-1107 would require anyone who appeals an approved land use decision to a higher court under Rule 106 to pay for the city's attorneys fees if the group loses. Under Colorado law, Rule 106 allows parties to appeal the decision of a lower body, like city council, to overturn approved projects.
Multiple neighborhood groups in Colorado Springs have filed 106 Appeals to stop approved projects, including the seven-story Creekwalk Apartments off South Nevada Avenue and The Launchpad apartments on the city's west side.
Jill Gaebler, Executive Director of the Pikes Peak Housing Network, is in support of the legislation. She testified in favor of the bill during a House committee meeting, calling some of the 106 Appeals "frivolous filings."
"This bill tells neighborhoods that if you really want to fight a land use decision to build a residential development, you better be doing it for legitimate reasons," said Gaebler. "Currently, they [neighborhood groups] file these lawsuits regularly just to delay needed projects, which only of course delays but it increases the cost of the projects and those costs are passed on to the ultimate home owner or renter."
Gaebler said developers are starting to look at Colorado Springs as higher-risk because of the number of neighborhood groups opposing housing projects. She said this is concerning because the city is at a deficit of about 11,000 homes along the entire housing continuum, including everything from affordable housing to higher home ownership.
"People in our community are having a lot of trouble affording any sort of housing, so it's really important that we continue to build," said Gaebler.
Kat Gayle, a Northgate resident, said the legislation is unconstitutional. She said neighborhood groups should be able to appeal land use decisions, especially when residents are concerned about wildfire evacuation routes with added housing.
"For any government official to say that safety concerns are frivolous is appalling to me," said Gayle.
Stephen Parrish, a Pine Creek resident, said neighbors plan to file a 106 Appeal against the recently approved232-unit Royal Pine Apartments planned for North Powers Boulevard and North Union Boulevard. He said residents are also concerned about wildfire evacuations and increased traffic in the area.
"Development is a natural progression for any city, but it should never be more important than public safety," he said.
Parrish said another neighborhood group is planning to file a 106 Appeal against the Ovation development, which was approved by City Council last month and would bring nearly 300 homes to Old Ranch Road and Powers Boulevard. The same theme exists: concerns about emergency evacuations as the new neighborhood would use the one egress already in use by the existing neighborhoods.
"Not only are they risking the lives of all these new homeowners, they're endangering the lives of all the people that already lived in this neighborhood," said Gayle.
Gaebler said most neighborhood groups who fight back against land use decisions often ignore the results of traffic studies done by city experts and the approval from the fire department.
"When they fight these projects, they are not agreeing with the experts. They are deciding for themselves that it's not safe," she said.
The bill now moves to the Colorado State Senate for further consideration.
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