Colorado Land Use Enabling Act

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The Land Use Enabling Act of 1974 was enacted by the General Assembly in recognition that “rapid growth and uncontrolled development may destroy Colorado's great resource of natural scenic and recreational wealth.”[1]

Contents

Overview

Land use regulatory authority of counties and municipalities emanates from the "police power" of the state; that is, the state delegates this authority to local governments via enabling legislation.[2]

History

During the 1960s and 1970s Colorado experienced incredible population growth. In the 1960s population increased by 25.8 percent in the state.[3] In contrast, national population increased by 9.3 percent. In the mountain counties like Pitkin, the predominate growth concerns centered on impacts to wildlife, the environment, and recreation, while urban area concerns centered on suburban sprawl.

In turn, these concerns triggered widespread public anxiety and anti-growth sentiment.[4] However, legislative attempts to address land use legislation on a statewide basis largely failed. Instead, the General Assembly focused on local government authority.[5]

City and county attorneys complained that the existing power of local governments to control development was inadequate to deal with the full range of contemporary land use conflicts. The General Assembly responded in 1974 by enacting (1) the Land Use Enabling Act, H.B. 1034, which conferred broad authority for local government planning and regulation of land use, and (2) the Areas and Activities of State Interest Act, H.B. 1041, which allowed local government to designate matters of statewide interest for regulation through a permit system.[6]

Effects of the Act

The Land Use Enabling Act broadly empowers local governments to plan for and regulate land use within their jurisdictions:

The general assembly hereby finds and declares that in order to provide for planned and orderly development within Colorado and a balancing of basic human needs of a changing population with legitimate environmental concerns, the policy of this state is to clarify and provide broad authority to local governments to plan for and regulate the use of land within their respective jurisdictions.

§ 29-20-102(1), C.R.S. (2006) (emphasis added). The statute expressly includes a number of provisions identifying particular examples of allowable land use regulation, culminating in a catch-all provision that confers comprehensive local authority to make land use decisions, subject to the constitutional rights of the property owner:

(b) Protecting lands from activities which would cause immediate or foreseeable material danger to significant wildlife habitat and would endanger a wildlife species;

....

(e) Regulating the location of activities and developments which may result in significant changes in population density;

....

(g) Regulating the use of land on the basis of the impact thereof on the community or surrounding areas; and (h) Otherwise planning for and regulating the use of land so as to provide planned and orderly use of land and protection of the environment in a manner consistent with constitutional rights.

§ 29-20-104, C.R.S. (2006). The statutory definition of “local government” includes counties. § 29-20-103(1.5), C.R.S. (2006).

The Land Use Enabling Act also contains a provision that is construed as codifying the familiar rule that a specific provision controls over a more general provision.[7] Section 29-20-107 provides “where other procedural or substantive requirements for the planning for or regulation of the use of land are provided by law, such requirements shall control.”

See Also

References

  1. ↑ Theobald v. Bd. of County Comm'rs, 644 P.2d 942, 947 (Colo.1982).
  2. ↑ Land Use Planning in Colorado
  3. ↑ Christopher J. Warner, Of Growth Controls, Wilderness and the Urban Strip, 6 The Colorado Lawyer 1730, 1734 (Oct.1977).
  4. ↑ Kirk Wickersham, Jr., Land Use Management in Colorado: Past, Present and Future, 6 The Colorado Lawyer 1778 (Oct.1977).
  5. ↑ Barbara J. Green & Brant Seibert, Local Governments and House Bill 1041: A Voice in the Wilderness, 19 The Colorado Lawyer 2245 (Nov.1990).
  6. ↑ Michael D. White and Raymond L. Petros, Land Use Legislation: H.B. 1034 and H.B. 1041, 6 The Colorado Lawyer 1686, 1687 (Oct.1977).
  7. ↑ Bainbridge, 929 P.2d at 707; see also Pennobscot, 642 P.2d at 919.
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