Magness v. State ex rel. Department of Highways

844 P.2d 1304, 16 Brief Times Rptr. 1940, 1992 Colo. App. LEXIS 435, 1992 WL 358304
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 3, 1992
DocketNo. 91CA1892
StatusPublished

This text of 844 P.2d 1304 (Magness v. State ex rel. Department of Highways) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Magness v. State ex rel. Department of Highways, 844 P.2d 1304, 16 Brief Times Rptr. 1940, 1992 Colo. App. LEXIS 435, 1992 WL 358304 (Colo. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge RULAND.

Plaintiff, Kim Magness, appeals from the judgment of the district court upholding the determination of the Administrative Law Judge (AU) that the Department of Highways (Department) properly approved [1306]*1306a limited access permit to plaintiff for Belleview Avenue. We affirm.

Plaintiff owns a large tract of land on the south side of Belleview Avenue in the City of Greenwood Village. Belleview was originally constructed as a two-lane street for access to this area. However, construction plans were approved by the Department to widen Belleview to a four-lane highway divided by a raised median.

Prior to commencement of the construction project, plaintiff and three other property owners in the same area were using a portion of vacated Colorado Boulevard as access from their properties to turn either right (east) or (west) left onto Belleview. Upon learning of the construction project, plaintiff inquired as to the likelihood of obtaining a “full movement” (left and right turns) access permit at vacated Colorado Boulevard in connection with the project to widen Belleview.

Plaintiff was informed by a right-of-way agent from the Department that a full movement access at vacated Colorado Boulevard would not be granted because it was too close to a planned full movement intersection at Albion Street. The agent suggested that plaintiff might have a better chance to obtain access at a location further to the west.

Plaintiff filed an application for a full movement access permit 495 feet west of vacated Colorado Boulevard at a point approximately 880 feet west of the Albion Street intersection. He committed to providing a roadway across his property enabling the other property owners to reach this new access location. If all the other property owners agreed, the access at vacated Colorado Boulevard was to be closed once the new access was granted. The area to be served by the new access contained four residences, and it had a potential under then current Greenwood Village regulations for construction of nine additional residences.

Greenwood Village approved the proposed access plan and forwarded the application to the Department for review pursuant to the State Highway Access Code. See 2 Code Colo.Reg. 601-1 § 2.4.6. Thé

Department reviewed the application and approved the permit limited to right turns in and right turns out only. This limitation required vehicles leaving plaintiffs property to make a U-turn on Belleview at Albion Street in order to proceed west on Belle-view. Vehicles proceeding west on Belle-view would have to make a U-turn at Steele Street in order to access plaintiffs property.

Plaintiff appealed, and a hearing was held before an ALJ. The AU affirmed the issuance of the limited access permit as consistent with the provisions of the Highway Access Code concerning private direct access to a category three highway. Category three highways:

have the capacity for medium to high speeds or medium to high volume traffic movements over medium and long distances in a efficient and safe manner, providing for inter regional, intercity, and intracity travel needs. Direct access service to abutting land is subordinate to providing service to traffic movement.

2 Code Colo.Reg. 601-1 § 3.6.1 (1985).

The design standards for category three highways provide that private direct access:

shall be limited to right turns only unless, (1) the access does not have the potential for signalization, (2) a left turn would not create unreasonable congestion or safety problems and lower the level of service and, (3) in the determination of the issuing authority, alternatives to the left turn would cause unacceptable traffic operation and safety problems on the general street system.

2 Code Colo.Reg. 601-1 § 3.6.3.C. (1985).

Plaintiff appealed the AU’s decision to the district court, and the district court affirmed the AU’s decision.

I.

Plaintiff first argues that the Highway Access Code is unconstitutional on several grounds.

[1307]*1307A.

Plaintiff argues that the enabling act for the Highway Access Code violates Colo. Const, art. V, § 39, because it unlawfully delegates the law-making function to an administrative agency. We lack jurisdiction to review this contention. People In the Interest of County of Sonoma, 797 P.2d 806 (Colo.App.1990); see § 13-4-102(l)(b), C.R.S. (1992 Cum.Supp.) (effective for notices of appeal filed on or after July 1, 1992).

B.

Plaintiff argues that the Code as applied here violates the principles of equal protection by dividing access permit applications into private and public categories. This scheme, he maintains, lacks a rational basis and is therefore unconstitutional. We do not agree.

The equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment and Colo. Const, art. II, § 25, require persons similarly situated to be treated equally. Requirements for access to a category three highway from a public street under the Code are different than the requirements for private access. Cf 2 Code Colo.Reg. 601-1 § 3.6.5 and 2 Code Colo.Reg. 601-1 § 3.6.3.

If we assume, for purposes of the constitutional challenge, that this creates a type of classification, it is, nevertheless, subject to the lowest level of scrutiny. That is, the classification is presumed constitutional and will be upheld if it bears a rational relationship to legitimate governmental objectives. Bath v. Colorado Department of Revenue, 758 P.2d 1381 (Colo.1988).

Under the rational basis standard of review, a classification must be rationally founded on real, and not illusionary, differences reasonably related to a legitimate state interest. Tassian v. People, 731 P.2d 672 (Colo.1987).

The state interests served by the Code are protection of the public health, safety, and welfare, maintenance of smooth traffic flow, maintenance of highway right-of-way drainage, and protection of the functional level of public highways. These interests are impacted differently by private access than by public access because of differences in vehicle loads, traffic patterns, and other considerations. Hence, we conclude that any distinction created by the Highway Access Code for private direct access as applied here is rationally related to the objectives of the Code.

C.

As to plaintiffs remaining constitutional claims, even if we assume they are not limited to a challenge to the facial constitutionality of the Highway Access Code, those contentions were not raised in the trial court and, thus, will not be addressed for the first time on appeal. Wilson v. Board of County Commissioners, 703 P.2d 1257 (Colo.1985).

II.

Plaintiff also contends that certain procedural safeguards contained in the Code were not followed relative to his application.

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844 P.2d 1304, 16 Brief Times Rptr. 1940, 1992 Colo. App. LEXIS 435, 1992 WL 358304, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/magness-v-state-ex-rel-department-of-highways-coloctapp-1992.