July 10th, 2008

Boulder Property Rights Rally

Rights Rally Schedule

Boulder Property Rights Coalition

Boulder Band Shell- at Broadway and Canyon

Saturday, July 26, 2008

1 to 5 pm

Fun, exciting celebration of our American rights!
Music, entertainment, and a chance to exchange views with other people
concerned about our rights and freedoms (and how to keep them!).
Taco feast, watermelon, and soft drinks.

1-1:30
Gather at the Boulder Band Shell
Introductions
Kids Say The Darndest Things Interviews (bring your kids!)
Make Signs
Sign Petition

1:30-2:00
The amazingly hilarious Don Wrege will parody old favorites (ie. Don’t
Fence Me In, This Land Is Your Land…) lampooning the archaic adverse
possession laws, and anything else that pops into his wacky mind.

The Inside Scoop on the new adverse possession cases (25, and counting!
15 in June alone). Personal stories 3-5 minutes each.

2:00-3:00
“Too Much Jones”, the fabulous, incredibly popular band, specializing
in freedom and rights songs and popular favorites.

3:00-3:30
The Gimme-A-Break Dancers.

Lawrence the Magician will magically disappear any and all American
rights you feel are under threat. Just roll them in up in scroll, label
it, and he will Presto Change-o evaporate them!

3:30-5:00
“Too Much Jones” will play until close.

July 9th, 2008

Craig City Council annexes land for subdivision

From the Craig Daily Press:

Craig — The Craig City Council applauds compromise.

And it did so at its Tuesday night meeting after a second public hearing on the proposed Frazier East Annexation.

“It’s great to see the Pine Ridge folks come out and be part of the process,” he said. “It’s nice that two sides can concede back and forth with each other.”

The roughly 59-acre annexation project southwest of town has garnered dispute recently after residents who live near the project in the Pine Ridge subdivision opposed its development plans.

Although Pine Ridge residents still opposed the plans’ inclusion of duplexes and apartment buildings, the council unanimously approved annexing the property, approved the annexation agreement and approved the project’s zoning proposal.

Councilor Byron Willems stepped down from the discussion and vote because he lives in Pine Ridge and he said that could be seen as a conflict of interest.

Read the rest.

July 7th, 2008

Boulder sees influx of adverse possession cases as law changes

From The Daily Camera:

Exactly as some legal experts predicted, Boulder’s courts saw a spike in claims of “adverse possession” filed by people apparently trying to beat the clock on changes to the controversial land law.

Of the 25 active adverse-possession lawsuits in Boulder County — where a person or company claims someone else’s land after trespassing on it for at least 18 years — 15 of those cases were filed in June, said Debra Crosser, head clerk of Boulder District Court.

Some of those cases were filed just hours before changes to the law went into effect last Tuesday, court records show.

The changes, drafted by a bipartisan group of state legislators in the wake of a high-profile adverse-possession case in south Boulder last year, were designed to make it more difficult for people to win such cases by raising the standard of proof and requiring a “good-faith” belief that a trespasser rightly owned the disputed land to begin with.

The changes also could prove financially costly to would-be plaintiffs, as judges have gained the ability under the law to order adverse possessors to pay the losing side for the land, as well as 18 years or more of back property taxes and interest.

Read the full story here.

July 3rd, 2008

Boulder Property Rights Coalition Takes Shape

From the Daily Camera

Dana Marshall’s wounds are still fresh from a lawsuit decided just over a month ago that ordered her to give up a slice of her backyard to her neighbor. But it hasn’t beaten her down. It’s fired her up.

Now Marshall says she wants to make sure no one else in Boulder has to endure an adverse-possession case without support, and so Wednesday night, she convened the inaugural meeting of the Boulder Property Rights Coalition. The meeting at the Boulder Public Library drew about two dozen people, including the south Boulder couple whose own land loss thrust adverse possession into the spotlight — Don and Susie Kirlin.

“This has just happened to me, so I am fresh with indignation,” Marshall said. “But the Kirlins — they’re a lot more Zen. Susie called me every morning of the trial. … I want anybody else who has this kind of problem to have that kind of support.”

Marshall’s case revolved around a dispute about who owned a 60-foot-tall privacy fence that divided her property from her neighbors Mohammad and Gay Salim. When Marshall tore the fence down to enhance her view, the Salims argued the fence and the narrow strip of land it bordered was theirs. A judge agreed and ordered Marshall to replace the fence, which the Salims said was protecting their privacy.

The freshly formed group is drawing inspiration and counsel from the Colorado Property Rights Coalition, which has been up and running for about a year and a half with only a shoestring budget and a whole lot of passion. Tom Wambolt, the group’s president, was on hand Wednesday night to give a little guidance.

Read the full story.

The Boulder Property Rights Coalition is hosting a rights rally from 1 to 4 p.m. July 26 at the downtown band shell. For more information, visit www.landgrabber.org.

July 3rd, 2008

You’re Building What Where?

From Chris Rodriguez at the Longmont Examiner:

There was a front page article in the Daily Times-Call on Sunday June 29, 2008 entitled ” Landowners in Limbo” which tells the story about land and business owners around the area where the FasTracks station is supposed to be built.

I watched with interest the June 3, 2008 Longmont City Council when they talked about this subject. When I saw the map on the screen, it sure looked like the station’s parking lot was located where Budget Home Center currently sits. If you were like me, as you watched this, you probably assumed that some deal had already been discussed and that the land owners were aware of this plan.

Apparently, according to this article, they weren’t.

At about the 55 minute mark of the June 3rd meeting video, you can see the concepts for this area. This information was in a council packet at the time of this meeting, but is no longer part of the PDF on the city’s site. The agenda itself can be found at http://www.ci.longmont.co.us/city_council/agendas/2008/060308.htm

Councilman Brian Hansen did ask about the smaller property owners, to which the answer was that they could pool together and be part of the larger development, but ” they haven’t explored in any detail” this idea - and it sounds like they may not have shared this idea with the land owners either.

I’ve frequented Budget Home Center quite a bit over the years, and figured that the competition from Home Depot, Lowes, and Ace Hardware was just too much for them, and they might fade away for the purposes of this light rail station. According to Budget’s owner Butch Vernon, that is not the case. Besides not hearing anything from RTD, he’s hoping they will relocate his business or compensate him so he can relocate it himself.

Unfortunately, a spokesperson for RTD said they do use eminent domain and will resort to condemnation if no agreement can be made with the land owner. In other words, they’ll just take it if they want it.

Is that what the voters in Longmont really voted for? Light rail at any cost, regardless of the human and business debris it leaves behind? All you anti-big box store (like Home Depot) types who defend smaller local businesses (like Budget Home Center), where are you on this one? (I hear crickets, and hypocrites)

What is with this trend of trampling all over property owners rights in Longmont? Some examples: the attempt to take Emery Street to the detriment of surrounding property owners. The fiasco with Lifebridge and other property owners near Union Reservoir, stalling into oblivion plans to work their own property. George Marxmiller and the city’s virtual taking of some of his property and denial of release of his liability, making him risk everything. The property owners of the Twin Peaks Mall area, and the hoops they’re being required to jump through. And now this.

And who’s making all this noise and doing all this meddling? Little tyrants running around with probably little to not much property of their own, since they probably can’t afford to live in their own little nirvana to the southwest? So if they’re going to be miserable settling for Longmont, the rest of us have to share in their misery? The same types who want to mold Longmont into something other than what it is, and not something better. Some were even elected!

This is what you get when you just let bureaucrats, and their fawning citizen apologists, run roughshod unchecked and not held accountable. Not to worry, what are the odds of this happening to, or affecting, you? Probably higher than you think.

Visit the Longmont Examiner

July 1st, 2008

Grand Junction annexes land from property owner on the run

From the Grand Junction Sentinel

The Grand Junction City Council agreed Monday night to annex nearly 18 acres of land on Orchard Mesa, even as the owner of the property remains on the run from authorities and neighbors voiced concerns that development could threaten an adjacent historic trail.

Council members voted 6-0 to bring into the city nearly 18 acres at 166 Edlun Road and zone it to allow two homes per acre. Councilman Bruce Hill was absent from the meeting.

The eastern boundary of the property runs parallel to a portion of the Old Spanish Trail and is owned by The Shores LLC, a corporation created by Weld County developer Mark Strodtman. A Weld County grand jury indicted Strodtman in March on charges including theft, forgery and racketeering.

Strodtman is accused of deceiving buyers into purchasing homes owned by his real estate company, JS Real Estate LLC, and deceiving lenders into loaning money for the project. He is wanted on a $100,000 warrant, and police believe he is in Mexico.

Neighbors asked the council to postpone annexing and zoning the land, saying they are concerned any development could encroach upon the trail and reduce public access to it. Another corporation owned by Strodtman, Orchard Mesa Estates II LLP, owns another 350 acres in the area, and the property is bisected by the trail.

The two streets that could access the property, Edlun Road and Rainbow Drive, are a little more than 20 feet wide — insufficient to handle the amount of traffic that would be generated by any development, neighbors argued.

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Land Management owns an easement on Sunlight Drive that leads to the trailhead. The BLM has indicated it will not relinquish the easement.

Read the full story here.

June 30th, 2008

Changing the law on adverse possession

From the Daily Camera

It’s not every day that an otherwise ordinary couple living in an upscale, sleepy neighborhood is responsible for provoking national outcry and leading the charge on overhauling a centuries-old legal concept — but that’s exactly what south Boulder residents Don and Susie Kirlin have accomplished.

At midnight Tuesday, several changes to Colorado law will go into effect that increase the legal standards for proving “adverse possession,” a legal maneuver that has allowed trespassers who openly use land for at least 18 years to claim it as their own with relatively little legal burden.

The changes also will give judges the power to force adverse possessors to pay for the land they do win in court, and to compensate the original owner for back property taxes, and interest.

Another law going into effect this week will restrict judges from hearing cases involving other judges from the same jurisdiction, in an effort to avoid conflicts of interest or the appearance of favoritism.

All of the changes are the result of dozens of state lawmakers who signed onto legislation this year aimed at preventing the abuse of adverse possession.

Read the rest.

June 30th, 2008

Annexation tour tops Pueblo council agenda

By JEFF TUCKER
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

After getting a bird’s-eye view from maps and photographs of the proposed 24,000-acre Pueblo Springs Ranch annexation, the Pueblo City Council will get a closer look today.

Council is scheduled to meet briefly at 2 p.m. this afternoon before heading out to the property to take a tour of the proposed annexation north of the city.

In February, council gave preliminary approval to the petitions to annex the property into the city.

Council also has hired Design Studios West, a Denver land planning and landscape architecture firm, to work as consultants during the annexation process.

If annexed, the property would nearly double the area of the city. Because of the size of the proposed annexation area, the tour is expected to be lengthy.

Council is scheduled to start the tour at 2 p.m. and won’t be finished until 8 p.m.

See the original story.

June 29th, 2008

Landowners in Limbo

From the Longmont Times-Call

LONGMONT — Butch Vernon isn’t going anywhere. Not anytime soon. Not that he knows of.

He opened his new Budget Home Center store at 780 Boston Ave. in May 1999. Five years later, voters approved the Regional Transportation District’s massive commuter rail project, FasTracks.

RTD’s conceptual map for the Longmont station now shows Vernon’s 10 acres as a parking lot. But Vernon hasn’t heard anything from RTD, he said Wednesday.

“We don’t know,” he said of RTD’s plans. “It’s kind of up in the air.”

Vernon knows that, whatever RTD’s plans, he doesn’t plan to close the business. He and his wife, Bev, opened Budget Home Center in Longmont in 1984. They bought their land on Boston Avenue in 1998 and opened the new store the next year.

If RTD needs his land, Vernon wants to make sure it doesn’t destroy his livelihood.

“If they have to have this property, they have to either find us another place to go or compensate us so we can,” he said. “That’s a lot of business interruption and time and effort, and things cost a lot more now than when we built this.”

Read the full story here.

June 26th, 2008

This Land WAS Your Land….

Music Please! This land was your land; now it’s my land from the Rocky Mountains to the Front Range highlands. In a stunning State Supreme Court decision, local governments now have the power to condemn property outside their own boundaries just because they don’t like how the land is being utilized. Colorado’s highest court upheld the practice of extraterritorial condemnation while striking down the Telluride Amendment designed to curb such eminent domain abuse. Tonight’s Independent Thinking with host Jon Caldara will discuss the fallout from the decision with guests State Senator Shawn Mitchell and Property Rights Project director Jessica Corry. Tune in tonight at 8:30 p.m. to KBDI Channel 12; repeated the following Tuesday evening at 5 p.m.

(H/T: Photo courtesy of Face the State)