Representatives of cities and counties across the state are bracing for an expected onslaught of legislation restricting their ability to use eminent domain to condemn property following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that left regulation of the practice to state and local governments.
On Thursday, a coalition of citizen groups applied for a spot on the 2006 ballot for a proposed constitutional amendment that would ensure that private property cannot be taken for economic improvement, to increase sales taxes or to provide economic gain.
The coalition includes a group fighting a proposed “Super Slab” toll road on the Eastern Plains.
“We are fighting for the private-property rights of every Colorado citizen,” said Marsha Looper, a member of the Eastern Plains Citizen Coalition fighting the toll road.
Steve Nadler, a member of Colorado Citizens for Property Rights, said he’s fighting attempts by officials in Sheridan to seize his property for a strip mall.
“I’m really mad as hell about this and it’s not right,” he said, as the coalition prepared to deliver its initiative to legislative staffers to review before setting out with petitions.
Once the language of the initiative is approved, the coalition would have to gather 67,829 valid voter signatures to get it on next year’s ballot.
