Dear (their title),
I am writing to ask for your support of SB-230 to stop private toll road
builders from automatically having the power of eminent domain. I think
CRS
38-2-101 was a mistake when enacted but its impact was minimal at that
time.
When that law was passed a toll road was probably only about 10 feet wide
and carried a few horse drawn wagons each day. The proposed highway would
divide counties and farms and change the character of the land forever.
Under 38-2-101 a road builder only needs to incorporate and he is allowed
to
begin taking property. The government doesn't need to approve the
project.
It doesn't need to be advisable, nor feasible, nor even sane. Just file a
corporation and the State of Colorado says that you can put people out of
their homes, ruin their farms and businesses and destroy the environment.
Surely this doesn't meet the Fifth Amendment's requirement of "public
good"
for property to be taken?
SB-230 does not put a stop to building the roads that will be needed in
the
future. It allows a toll road builder to work with the government to
build a
road. That's the way it should be, E-470 and the Denver-Boulder Turnpike
didn't rely on 38-2-101 to acquire land. The bill also provides that the
transportation legislation review committee will determine the procedures
to
be followed in the building of toll roads. The bill just protects
landowners
from projects that can't pass the test of public scrutiny.
SB-230 should not be considered as a referendum on the Front Range Toll
Road, please consider whether it is constitutional and reasonable to give
this sort of power to private road builders with no control over their
projects. I don't believe CRS 38-2-101 can withstand the legal challenge
that will surely come. But homes will be lost and families bankrupted
before
it is overturned. Please be proactive and undo this ancient misstep by
the
Legislature.
Sincerely,
Rob Dougherty