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Legislative Review Committee Agenda
January 19, 2:30 p.m.
Commons Conference Room
1. Approval of minutes from December 8, 2015 meeting
2. Discuss Construction Defects Law Reform
Proposed City ordinance – Tom Leeson
3. Review new Colorado General Assembly bills
4. Other business
National League of Cities, Congressional Conference planning
February 19 meeting (3:30-5pm) with State Legislators
Next meetings: February 9, February 19, and March 1
City Manager’s Office
City Hall
300 LaPorte Ave.
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.221.6505
970.224.6107 - fax
fcgov.com
Legislative Review Committee Agenda
Meeting Notes
December 8, 2015, 4:00 p.m.
Commons Conference Room
Present: Ross Cunniff, Councilmember; Gino Campana, Councilmember; Carrie
Daggett, City Attorney; Wendy Williams, Assistant City Manager; Dan
Weinheimer, Legislative Policy Manager
Absent: Ray Martinez, Councilmember
Guests: Mark Jackson, Planning, Development and Transportation; Ann
Hutchison, Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce; Dan Betts, Senator Cory
Gardner; Elisa Rivera, Sustainability Services; Lindsay Ex, Environmental
Services
The meeting came to order at 4:03 pm.
Councilmember Cunniff moved approval of the minutes from the November 10,
2015 meetings, Councilmember Campana seconded. Minutes were adopted
without amendment.
Dan briefly reviewed the 2016 Legislative Priorities and 2016 Legislative
Policy Agenda. He pointed out that the proposed City priorities have been pulled
into a separate document that will be printed in a glossy format and shared with
legislators and their staff. LRC did not recommend edits to either the policy
agenda or priorities.
Mark Jackson, Deputy Director of Planning, Development and Transportation
(PDT) presented information about Fort Collins’ participation in regional
efforts to improve Interstate 25 (I-25). Mark noted that the City Council and
staff have been participating for years in coalition efforts to address traffic
pressure, road maintenance and resilience of the roadway. A resolution of support
for continued coalition efforts will be shared with City Council.
Mark also discussed the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST)
Act. This newly adopted (signed into law December 4) federal law is the first
long-term reauthorization of surface transportation funding in a decade. Mark
discussed initial impressions and that he was in process of reviewing details of the
law.
2
Dan reviewed anticipated bills and legislative actions ahead of the 2016
General Assembly session. Topics expected to be considered with a potential
impact on Fort Collins are:
A red light camera and photo radar ban
Urban renewal authority clean-up
Homelessness and low-income assistance
Use of unmanned aerial vehicles by government
Regulation of downtown development authorities
Transportation funding
Dan provided a brief summary of the ongoing Colorado Oil and Gas
Conservation Commission (COGCC) rulemaking hearing. He shared that
there has been some progress made on the definition of a large scale facility and
on sharing of information between operators and government. A January 25
hearing has been added where deliberations are expected. Staff from the City
Attorney’s and City Manager’s Offices have participated throughout the hearings.
Lindsay Ex, Environmental Program Manager, joined LRC to discuss the
Colorado Climate Future Coalition. Dan and Lindsay shared that this coalition
is an attempt to develop an advocacy coalition of local governments to cooperate
on advocacy strategies to help achieve climate action plans. Discussion focused
on costs, measurement of an effort and ensuring that the coalition includes a broad
set of perspectives. Staff will continue developing the plan and share updates with
LRC.
LRC briefly discussed logistics surrounding the March 2016 National League of
Cities’ Congressional Cities Conference.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:11 pm.
CONSTRUCTION DEFECTS
Climate shifting after cities move
to reform law
BY JOHN AGUILAR
THE DENVER POST
As state lawmakers take another crack at reforming the state’s
construction-defects law this legislative session, they will be doing so
in a shifting legal environment that promises to remain in flux in the
absence of state action.
A dozen communities — including Colorado’s three largest cities —
have taken action on their own to make it harder for homeowners to
sue for faulty building practices. Most did so in the months following
the legislature’s unsuccessful attempt to pass a construction-defects
reform bill last spring.
And in May, the Colorado Court of Appeals handed down a decision
in Vallagio vs. Metropolitan Homes that buttressed the use of
arbitration as an alternative to litigation in defects cases. That ruling
has been appealed to the state Supreme Court.
“The landscape is complicated,” said Sen. Jessie Ulibarri, a
Democratic sponsor of last year’s Senate Bill 177. “It’s a different
landscape than last year.”
Meanwhile, there is some question as to how effective the various
municipal measures will be in luring condo builders back to Colorado.
Lakewood passed the first such measure in October 2014 and has yet
to receive an application for a condo project.
Mayor Adam Paul said there have been many inquiries from
builders, but getting that initial commitment has been difficult.
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“There’s some hesitation to be first,” he said.
Sen. Mark Scheffel, R-Parker, said after so many years of dealing
with the state’s construction-defects law, many builders have become
“gun-shy” about moving forward with condominium projects.
“It’s not going to turn on a dime,” he said.
That’s why the senator thinks state legislation on the topic of
construction defects is still necessary. He is helping craft a bill for the
2016 session, which begins Wednesday. It is the fourth attempt at such
legislation in as many years.
“Personally, I still think this is an issue of statewide concern,”
Scheffel said. “This is incredibly important topic to the state, and the
economy is getting talked about a lot.”
A lack of condo units has caused extended concern as housing prices
and rents have soared.
According to a report from Patricia Silverstein, chief economist with
Development Research Partners in Jefferson County, only 3.4 percent
of single-family home starts in metro Denver in 2015 were condos.
Nine years ago, that share was 25 percent.
In downtown Denver, 870 townhomes or condos went up in 2007.
That number had fallen to 59 by last year, according to the Downtown
Denver Partnership.
Reform proponents blame Colorado’s construction-defects law for
the condo shortage, saying the law makes it too easy for homeowners
to sue over cracked foundations, leaky windows and other structural
problems.
In turn, they argue, insurance companies have jacked up rates for
condo builders, and builders have stayed away. Those seeking
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affordable housing, like young families in search of a starter home,
have suffered most, they say.
Molly Foley-Healy, an attorney who serves as legislative liaison for
the Community Associations Institute’s Legislative Action Committee,
said those pushing for changes in Colorado’s construction-defects law
are making specious arguments.
She said condos will come back when the market calls for it. Right
now, she said, apartments and rental properties are commanding top
dollar.
“As the economy continues to rebound and housing is on the
upswing, they’re going to build more condos,” Foley-Healy said.
“Obviously, destroying homeowner rights is not the panacea to getting
condos built.”
The legislature should leave the issue alone, she said.
Scheffel concedes that a bill this year would have to look different
from last year or risk defeat again.
“We’re looking at different approaches,” said Scheffel, who wasn’t
ready to divulge details.
Last year’s bill would have made mediation or arbitration, rather
than litigation, the preferred method of dispute resolution in
construction-defects cases. It also would have required that a majority
of all homeowners in a condo or homeowners association approve any
legal action before it is taken.
House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, D-Boulder, was one of the
top Democrats to block construction-defects legislation last year. She is
not convinced that another bill would do much to improve the
affordable housing challenge, but she does fear it could let builders off
the hook for shabby work.
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“We have to be very careful that we don’t interfere with the rights of
people who are making one of the very biggest investments they will
ever make — their home — that they wouldn’t have the ability to get
redress if there are serious concerns,” she told a Denver Metro
Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting last week.
Leaders of multiple cities around the metro area, especially those on
the Regional Transportation District’s burgeoning commuter rail
system, say they can’t wait for the state to make the condo market
healthy again.
Centennial Mayor Cathy Noon said “we hear from our residents that
ownership other than single family housing is very limited — especially
from our aging population and young professionals.”
The southern suburb is the most recent Colorado city to embrace
construction-defects reform, passing a measure last month. The area
hasn’t seen a condo built within its borders for years.
“With limited vacant land remaining in Centennial, we needed to do
what we could as a city to help provide choices,” Noon said.
But just passing measures locally doesn’t guarantee they will stand
up to legal scrutiny.
“I expect that all of these local measures will be challenged in court,”
said Bruce Likoff, a real estate transaction attorney with the law firm
Bryan Cave.
The basis for the legal argument against cities taking the matter into
their own hands, Likoff said, is that such action unlawfully preempts
state control over the issue.
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That’s just as well, said Jonathan Harris, president of Build Our
Homes Right. The Denver resident wrestled for years with the builder
of his Five Points home, trying to get major structural issues fixed.
He called the defects ordinances passed by Lakewood, Denver and
others “a backdoor erosion of homeowner rights” that eventually will
get struck down in the courts.
Harris urged state lawmakers not to go down the same path.
“It’s not popular to take away people’s rights — especially in an
election year,” he said.
John Aguilar: 303-954-1695, jaguilar@denverpost.com or
@abuvthefold
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