HomeMy WebLinkAboutPLATINUM AUTO BROKERS PUD - PRELIMINARY & FINAL ..... 9/26/1994 P & Z BOARD HEARING - 36-94 - CORRESPONDENCE - MEMO / P & Z BOARDPlanning and Zoning Board Members
September 12, 1994
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property itself) and the annual return to be expected from the PUD operation as a condition
precedent to the board being able to determine whether a two-year limitation was reasonable.
The Court stated that the time limitation must afford a long enough time to allow the applicant
the opportunity of amortizing the investment made in the PUD.
In the case of Platinum Autobrokers, I would recommend that the Board elicit evidence from
the applicant as to the cost of the improvements that the applicant is required to construct in
order to obtain approval of the PUD to ensure that whatever time limitation the Board might
consider would be reasonable in relation to that cost.
WPE: whm
cc: Greg Byrne, Director of CPES
Ron Phillips, Director of Planning
Ted Shepard, City Planner
City of Fort Collins
DATE:
TO:
FROM:
RE:
ISSUE:
City Attu_ney
CONFIDENTIAL
MEMORANDUM
September 12, 1994
Planning and Zoning Board Members
W. Paul Eckman, Deputy City Attorney
Time Limitations on Approvals of Planned Unit Developments
Can the Planning and Zoning Board ("the Board") legally impose a time limitation on the
approval of a planned unit development?
RISKS:
If an improper time limitation is imposed, the City could be enjoined from enforcing the
condition and/or be liable in damages for enforcement of the condition. If the condition were
deemed to be confiscatory, the City could be liable for a regulatory taking of the property.
CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS:
A time limitation can properly be imposed upon the approval of a planned unit development,
provided that the limitation is:
. . . sufficient to enable the applicant to secure a reasonable yield through
devotion of the property to the use permitted, and to amortize the owner's
investment in the improvements necessary to the utilization of the grant [approval]
over a reasonable period. Rathkopf. The Law of Planning and Zoning, Section
40.08.
If a reasonable time period is not allowed, then the condition essentially swallows up the
approval and nullifies the approval. For example, the approval of a PUD for an apartment
complex for only one day would be no approval at all. In Bernstein v. Board of Appeals, 302
N.Y.S. 2nd 141 (1969), the Court required the planning and zoning board to elicit evidence
concerning the applicant's cost investment in the PUD improvements (not the cost of the
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