Undeterred by Gov. Bill Owens’ veto of the same proposal last year, the Senate Transportation Committee on Thursday unanimously approved a measure that would prohibit private toll-road developers from using eminent domain powers to condemn land.
The Republican sponsor of Senate Bill 78, Sen. Tom Wiens of Castle Rock, said negotiations with Owens’ office have so far yielded no compromise on the issue that last spring brought hundreds of activist homeowners to the state Capitol.
The controversy arose when it became known that the Front Range Toll Road Company planned to use a 19th-century law to condemn a swath of land to the east of Front Range communities so it could build a for-profit north-south tollway. Wiens’ bill would do away with the condemnation powers offered in that law, forcing toll-road companies to enter into partnerships with governments.
“When your house and your land is in danger of being taken from you, it changes your whole attitude,” explained Barbara Fillmore, whose ranch straddling the line between Elbert and El Paso counties lies in the proposed transportation corridor.
Fillmore and a handful of other homeowners attended Thursday’s hearing at the Capitol, saying they were gratified to see the committee once again support Wiens’ legislation.
Supporters of the bill are hoping this election year for a change of heart from Owens or a willingness in the General Assembly to override another potential veto, said homeowner Patty Sward-Malczewski of Elizabeth. It takes a two-thirds majority in the House and the Senate to overcome a governor’s veto.
“If you’re up for election or re-election, why would you vote against this?” Sward-Malczewski said. “It doesn’t make political sense.”
Owens vetoed Wiens’ bill last year because he said he didn’t want to preclude private solutions to transportation problems in the state, he said.
But that argument does not hold up to scrutiny, Wiens said Thursday. There are other ways for private companies to build toll roads without condemnation powers, he said.
“Let’s get the pressure off of the people that are being threatened” by the prospect of condemnation, he said. “I don’t think anyone wants a private individual or a private entity to so easily condemn the property of another private citizen.”
Front Range Toll Road spokeswoman Kathy Oatis said she hoped a compromise could be worked out this winter that would reassure homeowners that the state was in charge while also allowing the company to go forward with its plan.
“We don’t want to go out and condemn everybody’s property,” she said.
Wiens’ measure is one of two bills this session dealing with private toll roads. Other lawmakers are seeking other limitations on eminent domain powers.
House Bill 1003, sponsored by Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, would create more state oversight of private toll-road projects. Owens also vetoed a version of that bill last year.
Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, is sponsoring House Bill 1099 , which would bar the use of eminent domain powers for the purpose of economic development. Rep. Al White, R-Winter Park, said he will seek a constitutional amendment doing the same thing. Both lawmakers say they are responding to a U.S. Supreme Court decision that last year that upheld using eminent domain powers for economic development.
Staff writer Jim Hughes can be reached at 303-820-1244 or jhughes@denverpost.com.
