Town of Telluride v. San Miguel Valley Corp.

185 P.3d 161, 2008 Colo. LEXIS 575, 2008 WL 2230875
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedJune 2, 2008
Docket07SA101
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 185 P.3d 161 (Town of Telluride v. San Miguel Valley Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Town of Telluride v. San Miguel Valley Corp., 185 P.3d 161, 2008 Colo. LEXIS 575, 2008 WL 2230875 (Colo. 2008).

Opinions

Justice RICE

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

This appeal raises the question whether section 38-1-101(4)(b), C.R.S. (2007) ("subsection 4b"), unconstitutionally denies home rule municipalities their eminent domain power under article XX of the Colorado Constitution. The Town of Telluride, a home rule municipality, sought to condemn 572 acres of real property located adjacent to Telluride for open space and park purposes. The owners of the property contested the condemnation, asserting that Telluride was barred from condemning the property by subsection 4b, which prohibits home rule municipalities from condemning property outside municipal boundaries for parks, recreation, open space, or other similar purposes. Today we affirm the decision of the San Miguel District Court that subsection 4b is an invalid abrogation of the eminent domain power granted to home rule municipalities by article XX of the Colorado Constitution.

I. Facts and Procedural History

The Town of Telluride filed an eminent domain action in March 2004 in San Miguel County District Court against San Miguel Valley Corporation; Boomerang Holdings, LLC; Alley Oop Holdings, LLC; and Cordillera Corporation (collectively, "the Corporation") to acquire 572 acres of real property located adjacent to Telluride. Telluride sought to condemn this property, commonly known as the Valley Floor, for open space, parks, and recreation. The eminent domain [164]*164proceeding was set in motion by the citizens of Telluride, who for years have allocated twenty percent of the town's annual revenue to fund the acquisition of the Valley Floor, and who initiated and passed Ordinance 1174 to condemn the land. Ordinance 1174 declared that the town "has duly determined that it is of critical importance that it acquire {the Valley Floor] through eminent domain for public open space park purposes."

While the eminent domain action was pending, the Corporation lobbied the state legislature, which was at the time considering a bill that would limit the ability of municipalities to condemn property and transfer it into private ownership, to attach an amendment that would block Telluride's ability to condemn the Valley Floor. The Corporation's proposed amendment, eventually signed into law as subsection 4b of seetion 38-1-101, prohibits home rule municipalities such as Telluride from condemning property outside municipal boundaries for parks, recreation, open space, or other similar purposes. After the bill's passage, the Corporation filed a motion to dismiss Telluride's eminent domain action, asserting that pursuant to subsection 4b Telluride had no authority to proceed.

The trial court denied the Corporation's motion, ruling that subsection 4b constitutes an invalid abrogation of home rule municipalities' constitutional eminent domain power. The court set a valuation trial, and a jury awarded the Corporation $50 million in compensation for the property, a sum equal to the Corporation's own appraisal of the property's value. Telluride was then granted limited possession of the Valley Floor pending the outcome of this appeal. We review the judgment of the district court pursuant to our jurisdiction over cases in which a statute has been declared unconstitutional, as set forth in section 13-4-102(1)(b), C.R.S. (2007).

II. Analysis

The Corporation asks us to review whether the trial court erred in holding that Telluride had the authority to condemn the Valley Floor under article XX of the Colorado Constitution and that subsection 4b is an unconstitutional abrogation of that authority. We first review our cases examining the scope of the eminent domain power under article XX, reiterating that the constitution grants home rule municipalities the power to condemn property for any lawful, public, local, and municipal purpose. We next address whether the condemnation of property for parks and open space constitutes a lawful, public, local, and municipal purpose within the seope of article XX, concluding that it does. Finally, we examine the impact of subsection 4b on home rule municipalities' power of eminent domain. Because the General Assembly cannot deny home rule municipalities the eminent domain power conferred to them in the constitution, we hold that subsection 4b is unconstitutional with respect to home rule municipalities.1 We thus conclude that Telluride's condemnation of the Corporation's property was lawful and affirm the judgment of the trial court.

A. Scope of Article XX

The threshold question in this appeal is whether the condemnation of property for open space and park purposes falls within the seope of the eminent domain power granted to home rule municipalities in article XX of the Colorado Constitution. Telluride claims that, pursuant to article XX and its home rule charter, it is empowered to condemn the property in the Valley Floor for open space and park purposes. Telluride argues that because subsection 4b prohibits extraterritorial condemnations for open space or similar purposes, the statute represents an unconstitutional abrogation of home rule municipalities' eminent domain power. The Corporation counters that the constitution does not provide home rule municipalities with the authority to condemn extraterri-torially for open space and park purposes, and that subsection 4b is carefully tailored not to interfere with powers granted by article XX. As both parties recognize, the General Assembly has no power to enact a law that denies a right specifically granted by the constitution. City of Thornton v. Farmers [165]*165Reservoir & Irrigation Co., 194 Colo. 526, 534, 575 P.2d 382, 389 (1978). Therefore, the constitutionality of subsection 4b depends on whether article XX grants home rule municipalities the power to condemn property for open space and park purposes. We hold that it does.

Eminent domain is a sovereign power granted to home rule municipalities by article XX of the Colorado Constitution. Section 1 of article XX provides that a home rule municipality:

shall have the power, within or without its territorial limits, to construct, condemn and purchase, purchase, acquire, lease, add to, maintain, conduct and operate water works, light plants, power plants, transportation systems, heating plants, and any other public utilities or works or ways local in use and extent, in whole or in part, and everything required therefore ... and ... the same or any part thereof may be purchased by said city and county which may enforce such purchase by proceedings at law as in taking land for public use by right of eminent domain.

Section 6 of article XX gives each home rule municipality all powers "necessary, requisite or proper for the government and administration of its local and municipal matters." These article XX powers are vested in municipalities through their home rule charters. Telluride's charter gives it the "full right of self-government on local and municipal matters," and further provides that the town has "the right of eminent domain to acquire property both within and without the boundaries of the Town for any purpose deemed by the Town council to be in the Town's best interest." Telluride, Colo., Home Rule Charter, §§ 14.1-14.2 (1997).

The Corporation first argues that the constitution does not provide Telluride authority to condemn extraterritorially for open space and parks because these are not purposes enumerated in article XX, section 1.

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Town of Telluride v. San Miguel Valley Corp.
185 P.3d 161 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2008)

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Bluebook (online)
185 P.3d 161, 2008 Colo. LEXIS 575, 2008 WL 2230875, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/town-of-telluride-v-san-miguel-valley-corp-colo-2008.