The owner of the Valley Floor at the entrance to Telluride has appealed the town’s right to acquire the land through condemnation.
Attorneys for the San Miguel Valley Corp. filed an appeal Tuesday with the Colorado Supreme Court arguing that Telluride should not have been allowed to use an eminent-domain taking because the town plans to maintain the 570 acres as open space.
The appeal is based on a 2004 state law that prohibits Telluride and other home-rule towns from condemning land outside their boundaries for open space or parks.
That law was deemed unconstitutional at the district court level because the Colorado Constitution grants home-rule municipalities the right to take land through condemnation without stipulations on use.
The appeal was filed three days before the town’s self-imposed deadline to finish raising the $50 million to acquire the land.
A jury last month decided the land was worth that during a valuation trial that was part of the condemnation action.
