Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Date:02/05/2009
ATTENDANCE
Time:10:10 AM to 01:14 PM
Acree
X
Bradford
X
Place:SCR 356
Liston
X
McKinley
X
This Meeting was called to order by
Middleton
*
Representative Peniston
Schafer S.
X
Tipton
X
This Report was prepared by
Vigil
X
Raegan Robb
Waller
X
Soper
X
Peniston
X
X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call
Bills Addressed: Action Taken:
HB09-1138
HB09-1106
HB09-1070
HB09-1013
Postponed Indefinitely
Postponed Indefinitely
Laid Over
Laid Over


10:10 AM


Representative Peniston, chair, called the meeting to order.

10:11 AM -- House Bill 09-1138

Representative Peniston explained that House Bill 09-1138 was heard by the committee on February 3, 2009 and laid over for action only. She introduced prepared amendment L.003 (Attachment A) and explained the amendment to the committee.

090205AttachA.pdf

10:13 AM

Representative Curry made closing comments on House Bill 09-1138 and requested support from the committee.
BILL:HB09-1138
TIME: 10:15:28 AM
MOVED:Peniston
MOTION:Moved amendment L.003 (Attachment A). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:Soper
VOTE
Acree
Bradford
Liston
McKinley
Middleton
Excused
Schafer S.
Tipton
Vigil
Waller
Soper
Peniston
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


10:16 AM

Members of the committee made closing comments on the bill.
BILL:HB09-1138
TIME: 10:16:29 AM
MOVED:McKinley
MOTION:Moved to refer House Bill 09-1138, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion failed on a 5-6 vote.
SECONDED:Vigil
VOTE
Acree
No
Bradford
No
Liston
No
McKinley
Yes
Middleton
Yes
Schafer S.
No
Tipton
No
Vigil
Yes
Waller
No
Soper
Yes
Peniston
Yes
Not Final YES: 5 NO: 6 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL


BILL:HB09-1138
TIME: 10:31:26 AM
MOVED:Liston
MOTION:Moved to postpone House Bill 09-1138 indefinitely. The motion passed on a 6-5 vote.
SECONDED:Waller
VOTE
Acree
Yes
Bradford
Yes
Liston
Yes
McKinley
No
Middleton
No
Schafer S.
Yes
Tipton
Yes
Vigil
No
Waller
Yes
Soper
No
Peniston
No
Final YES: 6 NO: 5 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

10:35 AM -- House Bill 09-1106

Representative Hullinghorst, prime sponsor of House Bill 09-1106, concerning codification of the pending ordinance doctrine for land use approvals by local governments, presented the bill. Representative Hullinghorst explained that the bill would allow a local government to apply a pending ordinance to an existing development application. The bill would authorize a local government to adopt new or amended land use regulations and changes would apply to a pending land use request at the time of the adoption of a new regulation or ordinance.

10:40 AM

Chris Elliott, representing the Colorado Association of Home Builders, testified against the bill and distributed a handout to the committee (Attachment B). Mr. Elliott discussed reasons why the bill would deter development in cities and counties and provided examples of problems with local moratoriums on development. He addressed questions from the committee concerning bank lending for home builders and explained that House Bill 09-1106 would make it harder for home builders to determine a project budget ahead of time in order to acquire project loans.

090205AttachB.pdf

10:47 AM

Donnah Moody, representing the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry and Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc., testified against the bill and explained that the bill would interrupt development projects and creates regulatory uncertainty for business and development throughout the state.

10:49 AM

Geoffrey Hier, representing the Colorado Rural Electric Association, testified against the bill and explained that projects that involve electric generation and transmission lines would be harder to implement under the provisions of House Bill 09-1106. Mr. Hier explained that the bill would allow local governments to interrupt long-term projects and addressed questions from the committee concerning the ability of local governments to modify ordinances for development projects.

10:53 AM

Thomas Davidson, County Commissioner, Summit County, testified in support of the bill and discussed the need for counties to control rapid development. He talked about specific development in Summit County and the need to change county development regulations while certain developments are going through the land use process. He discussed the amount of timber killed by the beetle epidemic in Summit County and explained that the bill would also permit local governments to adopt emergency ordinances and apply them to existing development applications. Commissioner Davidson addressed questions from the committee concerning county land use codes, the ability to implement moratoriums on development, and the need to adopt new land use regulations on pending developments.

11:04 AM

Jeff Huntley, County Attorney, Summit County, and Larry Hoyt, County Attorney, Boulder County, testified in support of the bill and explained that the bill would allow local governments to have the ability to consider changes to their land use code for pending development. Mr. Hoyt explained the process of a development application and the authority to amend the county land use code proposed under House Bill 09-1106. He explained changes to land use codes that are implemented prior to a final decision on a development application would apply to the development under the bill. Mr. Hoyt and Mr. Huntley responded to questions from the committee concerning the ordinance process under House Bill 09-1106.

11:16 AM

Pat Ratliff, representing Colorado Counties Inc., and the Colorado Municipal League, testified in support of the bill and explained that many home rule cities in the state already have pending ordinance authority. She discussed the benefits for home rule cities to have this authority and talked about the problems for counties without the authority to adopt ordinances on development.

11:20 AM

Representative Hullinghorst discussed prepared amendment L.001 (Attachment C) and entered closing comments on the bill.
BILL:HB09-1106
TIME: 11:21:33 AM
MOVED:Vigil
MOTION:Moved amendment L.001 (Attachment C). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:Middleton
VOTE
Acree
Bradford
Liston
McKinley
Middleton
Excused
Schafer S.
Tipton
Vigil
Waller
Soper
Peniston
Not Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection

090205AttachC.pdf

BILL:HB09-1106
TIME: 11:21:51 AM
MOVED:Vigil
MOTION:Moved to refer House Bill 09-1106, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion failed on a 1-10 vote.
SECONDED:Peniston
VOTE
Acree
No
Bradford
No
Liston
No
McKinley
No
Middleton
No
Schafer S.
No
Tipton
No
Vigil
Yes
Waller
No
Soper
No
Peniston
No
Not Final YES: 1 NO: 10 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: FAIL


BILL:HB09-1106
TIME: 11:25:51 AM
MOVED:Waller
MOTION:Moved to postpone House Bill 09-1106 indefinitely. The motion passed on a 10-0-1 vote.
SECONDED:Bradford
VOTE
Acree
Yes
Bradford
Yes
Liston
Excused
McKinley
Yes
Middleton
Yes
Schafer S.
Yes
Tipton
Yes
Vigil
Yes
Waller
Yes
Soper
Yes
Peniston
Yes
Final YES: 10 NO: 0 EXC: 1 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

11:26 AM

The committee stood in a brief recess.



11:36 AM -- House Bill 09-1070

Representative Fischer, prime sponsor of House Bill 09-1070, concerning lands prohibited from urban renewal authorities (URAs), presented the bill. Representative Fischer explained that the bill modified the urban renewal statutes to limit the use of URAs to include parcels of agriculture or vacant property. He explained that the bill will allow for the preservation of agricultural land, and explained that the urban renewal statutes were originally intended to address areas determined to be slum or blighted. Representative Fischer discussed misuse of urban renewal statutes to include vacant and agriculture for URA projects and tax incremental financing (TIF) projects. He talked about the ability of URAs to implement TIF to develop projects and discussed the large increment created by improvements to agricultural land. He talked about the burden that TIF has on the state due to the obligation to backfill school finance for property tax revenue increases to school districts in Colorado. Representative Fischer addressed questions from the committee members concerning the eminent domain powers of municipalities and URAs and referred to a handout distributed to the committee (Attachment D).

090205AttachD.pdf

11:54 AM

Larry Hoyt, County Attorney Boulder County, and Chip Taylor, Colorado Counties Inc., testified in support of the bill and distributed a handout to the committee (Attachment E). Mr. Hoyt discussed abuse of urban renewal law and TIF to subsidize new development and discussed specific examples in Boulder County. He discussed problems with the broad definition of blight in current law and explained the changes to the definition of "blight" in the bill. Mr. Taylor and Mr. Hoyt addressed questions from the committee concerning exemptions for projects to proceed despite House Bill 09-1070.

090205AttachE.pdf

12:04 PM

Randy Thurston and Mike Tedesco, City of Pueblo, testified against the bill and discussed specific successful projects that were beneficial to the community of Pueblo that would not have been possible with the changes in House Bill 09-1070. Mr. Tedesco discussed the economic benefits of URA projects in Pueblo that utilized TIF and created benefits for the community.

12:08 PM

Erin Goff, Colorado Municipal League, testified against the bill and explained the benefits of urban renewal for the 271 municipalities in the state and the 43 URAs. Ms. Goff addressed questions from the committee members concerning changes to the definitions of slum and blight made by the bill.

12:13 PM

Nancy McNally, Mayor, City of Westminster, testified against the bill and discussed specific projects developed by URAs and TIF in the City of Westminster. Mayor McNally talked about the benefits of urban renewal and TIF that allow Colorado municipalities to redevelop areas of slum and blight.






12:17 PM

Jan Pawlowski, Mayor, City of Brighton and Brighton Urban Renewal Authority, testified against the bill and discussed the benefits of urban renewal for promoting economic growth in the City of Brighton. Mayor Pawlowski talked about the need for cities to expand urban renewal projects into agriculture land that is dormant or unproductive.

12:21 PM

Carolynne White, Commercial Real Estate Development Association, testified against the bill and discussed the need for URAs to have the authority to develop agriculture land. Ms. White discussed the history of urban renewal law, and talked about rural communities using urban renewal authority for redevelopment.

12:26 PM


Karen Berry, City Council Member, City of Wheat Ridge, testified against the bill and discussed specific projects in the City of Wheat Ridge that would benefit from urban renewal. She explained that certain projects would not be able to proceed under the provisions of House Bill 09-1070.


12:29 PM

Larry Small, Vice-Mayor, City of Colorado Springs, testified against the bill and discussed several projects by the five urban renewal authorities formed by the City of Colorado Springs. Mr. Small talked about the importance for urban renewal projects to use vacant and agriculture land and the benefits of TIF.

12:33 PM

Kyle Dalton, Colorado Chapter of the American Planning Association, explained that the association was neutral on the bill and distributed a handout to the committee (Attachment F). Mr. Dalton discussed the consequences of using agricultural land and vacant land for urban renewal projects.

090205AttachF.pdf

12:37 PM

County Commissioners Kathay Rennels, Tom Donnelly, and Steve Johnson, Larimer County, testified in support of the bill and distributed a handout to the committee concerning the need for House Bill 09-1070 (Attachment G). Commissioner Kathay Rennels talked about the negative impacts of specific urban renewal projects in Larimer County and explained the need to redefine blight in Colorado urban renewal law. Commissioner Steve Johnson discussed the misuses of urban renewal and talked about the need for good planning between counties and municipalities for redevelopment projects. He responded to questions from the committee regarding agreements for revenue sharing between local entities and the benefits of implementing infrastructure improvements through redevelopment projects. Commissioner Tom Donnelly discussed issues with the limitations on property taxes when TIF projects are undertaken.

090205AttachG.pdf





12:49 PM

Glen Colton, Larimer County, representing himself, testified in support of the bill and discussed specific projects in Larimer County and explained problems with TIF projects creating urban sprawl. He addressed questions from the committee members concerning municipal TIF projects.

12:55 PM

Jim Sarchet, Poudre School District, testified in support of the bill, discussed the process of implementing a mill levy property tax collection by school districts, and talked about the impact of TIF on school districts.

12:59 PM

Ben Manvel, City Council, City of Fort Collins, testified in support of the bill and discussed problems with urban renewal being used to develop green fields and agriculture land. Mr. Manvel discussed desired changes to the bill, addressed questions from the committee members, and explained that the city council of Fort Collins is the URA authority for the city. He discussed for support for the bill's provisions to clarify the definitions of slum and blight.

01:07 PM

Roger Hoffman, City of Loveland, representing himself, testified in support of the bill and talked about the negative impacts of TIF projects on neighboring local entities.

01:11 PM

The chair, Representative Peniston, laid House Bill 09-1070 over to Tuesday, February 10th.

01:12 PM -- House Bill 09-1013

Representative Sonnenberg, prime sponsor of House Bill 09-1013, concerning exceptions to tax incremental financing for emergency services, presented the bill to the committee. Representative Sonnenberg addressed the committee and requested that the bill be laid over.

01:13 PM

The chair, Representative Peniston, laid House Bill 09-1013 over to Thursday, February 12th.

01:14 PM

The committee adjourned.