Heads-up: HB 24-1313, and the Lafayette & Erie IGA
Council discussions
Another sidestep from my reports on the potential new projects under consideration for Lafayette, so I can fill you in on a few interesting items on the city council’s agenda for April 1.
The city is planning outreach to the community about those projects and to determine if there is support for funding via a tax increase. At the council meeting, Magellan Strategies, a polling firm, will give a presentation of the polling questions.
EXECUTIVE SESSIONS
Some executive sessions will be of interest to many of you.
Executive sessions allow the council to discuss specific topics in private. These sessions are used for a handful of topics, such as legal negotiations (you don’t want to discuss strategy in public), real estate transactions (you don’t want to reveal how much you are willing to pay in public), and personnel issues (privacy).
SESSION ONE - HB24-1313 - HOME-RULE AUTHORITY
The agenda says:
“Pursuant to Section 24-6-402(4)(b) of the Colorado Revised Statutes to confer with the City Attorney for purposes of receiving legal advice on specific legal questions regarding state preemption and the City’s home-rule authority to regulate zoning and land use.”
This is clearly related to HB 24-1313, the transit-oriented communities bill requiring rezoning certain areas of the city to allow for 40 dwelling units per acre. This is of concern to many of us. I have been writing about the effect the city staff says this will have on Lafayette. Many of you expressed your thoughts to the council. I gave an update on that meeting here: What did the council do about HB24-1313? I also gave a shoutout to everyone raising their voices lately. You are so bringing it! At the meeting council asked city staff to plan an executive session.
Council is now taking a step to discuss the state’s action to override our home-rule authority and tell us how we must zone our city in an executive session. What will they do? I have no idea, but at least they are talking.
NEW ACTION FOR YOU TO TAKE ON HB 24-1313
In my report on the March 4th council meeting, when the city staff explained the effect this bill would have on Lafayette, I included a handout from Mayor Pro-Tem Brian Wong.
That vacant SD-17 senate seat is now filled by Katie Wallace. I recommend letting her know your thoughts about this bill. Here is her contact information.
Email: katie.wallace.senate@coleg.gov
Capitol Phone: 303-866-5291
You might also contact Representative Brown if you haven’t done so yet. He voted against the bill in 2024. Here’s a reply I received from him in mid-March.
“Hi Karen,
I am closely working with the Department of Local Affairs to understand exactly how 1313 will apply to Lafayette and what changes it would require.
While I appreciate that there are many concerns, I also want to make sure we have the right context for Lafayette residents about what it will look like.
At this point, I think it's best we wait to have that context before we and City Council talk further about what moving forward looks like. Just yesterday I was texting with Councilor Fridland about possible changes to the law. But since HB25-1313 was a priority of the Governor, it will be difficult to make significant changes to the law for the next 2 years but I am happy to continue to engage with folks and think about ways we could make it more manageable.
I'll reach back out when I have more information from DOLA.
Thanks,
Kyle”
SESSION TWO - THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT (IGA) WITH ERIE
Here’s what the agenda says:
“Pursuant to Section 24-6-402(4)(e)(I) of the Colorado Revised Statutes to determine positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations, developing strategy for negotiations, and instructing negotiators regarding the Intergovernmental Agreement between the City of Lafayette, Town of Erie, and Town of Erie Urban Renewal Authority dated June 4, 2019”
This is interesting. I’ve also been writing extensively about this IGA.
In December of 2024, I wrote Deep diving at 287 and Arapahoe! giving you background on the rocky relationship between Lafayette and Erie.
I followed that report with Lafayette and Erie come to an agreement, gasp! That agreement was the IGA which put in place, among other things, a line between our two communities that determined who gets what if a Boulder County landowner wanted to develop their property. Boulder County allows only one dwelling unit per 35 acres, so annexing to Erie or Lafayette is the only way for a larger development to occur.
The IGA also put in place a revenue-sharing agreement between the two communities to share sales taxes collected at Erie’s Nine Mile Corner and the as yet undeveloped Tebo property at the southwest corner of 287 and Arapahoe. This property is currently in Lafayette’s area of influence due to the IGA and a developer has plans for “The Range at Lafayette”. Kensington, the developer, has submitted a petition for annexation to Lafayette.
I wrote about the revenue sharing in January 2025: Sharing the money pot.
In November, Erie voters elected a new Town Council, bringing back former Mayor Andrew Moore. I don’t know if that has anything to do with this executive session or what the negotiation or strategy might be, but I’ll let you know if there is any public information.
SESSION THREE - PROPERTY ON N. PUBLIC RD.
I can hazard a guess about what property this refers to, but I’ll keep that to myself for now.
“Pursuant to Sections 24-6-402(4)(a) and 24-6-402(4)(e)(I) of the Colorado Revised Statutes to consider the potential acquisition of a parcel or parcels of real property located on N. Public Road in Old Town, Lafayette, Colorado, and to determine positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations, developing strategy for negotiations, and instructing negotiators regarding the potential acquisition of such property”
Want to offer more support? Awesome!
hello karen,
thankyou for your written updates that are so detailed, understandable, and comprehensive.
to regress somewhat. for myself I did not read anywhere what the take away was from the initial contact with the kairoi corp. was on feb. 27th ie: did kairoi feel lafayette residents were putting out
the welcome mat for them?
my 1st thought about this whole issue of annexing is. why are the commissioners even considering giving up even more land to this insidious foreign, out of state investment corp., just so they can further increase the return on their bottom line. I thought the commissioners expressed the desire to keep the eastern undeveloped land of lafayette an open space/ park.
this especially when the BHA is building 400 housing units at willowby, and erie township commissioners have permitted an avarice farmer, and greed driven developer to build 800-1,000
houses on a single piece of land on n 119th almost across from each other. not to mention the
construction taking place further east under the auspices of broomfield county whose motto is,
'there isn't a developer they don't like'.
the uncontrolled drive to push housing development between boulder, broomfield, and now weld county, and every type and kind of developer has 'now' become detrimental to the overall
well being, and quality of life to the residents of lafayette and 3 counties mentioned above. let alone the hidden political agenda of denver related to home rule, highway funding, and housing density to mass transit???
I will be writing the township commissioners before the may 20th meeting. my wife says (no comment necessary), that she doesn't want me attending these meetings, as it is bad for my health, and mental well-being. j.s.
Hello Karen. Thank you once again for keeping the ongoing evolution of our community in our sights as it is being massively impacted by state legislation. It’s bad enough that we have to spend our time fighting to stop national leaders from crushing our democracy, but now we have to fight state leaders to stop them from crushing our community. Infuriating does not even begin to describe it. Here is a copy of the letter I sent to all city council members and to our city manager. I’d like to strongly encourage others to keep making their voices heard at the local and state level. Don’t forget our new state senator Katie Wallace. My first take is that she seems sympathetic to our concerns.
Dear Councilor,
I’m writing to contribute my thoughts on the executive session scheduled for the April 1 meeting regarding receiving legal advice on questions related to home rule authority and land use and zoning. I’m sure my input on this is just preaching to the choir here, but want to make sure my expectations are known about these questions and legal advice. I would expect council to ask any legal questions necessary to compare the costs and consequences of doing nothing to comply with HB24-1313 compared to the costs and consequences of allowing high density development that would exponentially increase our population and create huge permanent structures that could never be “unbuilt” and would create long term ongoing and unmanageable costs and burdens to the city. I would also expect that questions would be asked regarding a potential lawsuit to force the state to overturn this legislation, either on our own or in conjunction with the other targeted communities interested in joining forces. My goal as a resident is for one or the other of these two approaches (either ignoring the legislation or suing to overturn it), or a combination of both, would be the ultimate way this gets handled by local leadership, as opposed to working with the state to somehow meet them halfway and reach some compromise, which would not defend our home rule authority and still leave us with high density development in some form that we do not want. I look forward to hearing whatever outcomes of this meeting that council is able to share, or at least the leadership decisions that result from it. Thank you so much for supporting Lafayette residents in their outrage at this massive overreach by state legislators.