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Tag: Property Rights

Property Rights Violated? GJ Business Says City Crossed the Line
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Local, The Business Times

Property Rights Violated? GJ Business Says City Crossed the Line

By Brandon Leuallen | The Business Times This article is a follow-up to “CDOT Sells Used Car Dealer a Lemon,” published June 4 in The Business Times. In that story, we reported about CDOT acquiring the GJ Auto Sales property through the threat of eminent domain for a planned mobility hub. This expanded report traces the project’s timeline, revealing a process — jointly coordinated by CDOT, the City of Grand Junction and Mesa County’s Regional Transportation Planning Office — that began before the property owners ever found out and ended only after the property owners accepted a final offer just before condemnation proceedings could begin. For 22 years, Mike and Amber Martinez had operated GJ Auto Sales from a downtown Grand Junction corner, building up their small family business ...
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State transportation project shutters 22-year-old Grand Junction auto sales business via eminent domain
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Approved, Local, The Business Times

State transportation project shutters 22-year-old Grand Junction auto sales business via eminent domain

By Brandon Leuallen | The Business Times For 22 years, GJ Auto Sales was a fixture in the Grand Junction community, a family-run business operated by Amber Colunga Martinez and Mike Martinez. But now, the lot at 320 S. First St. will be transformed into a state-led mobility hub, part of Colorado’s climate-focused transportation plan. Selling the property to the state of Colorado, the City of Grand Junction and Mesa County due to impending eminent domain has left the couple without enough to financially open up again in a viable location. The Martinezes said they first learned of the Colorado Department of Transportation’s plans not through official communication, but by reading a story in The Daily Sentinel. “We found out about it through the Sentinel posting an article about i...
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Walcher: It’s not just Chinese farmland—it’s unchecked federal control over 700 million acres
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Approved, GregWalcher.com, National, Rocky Mountain Voice, Top Stories

Walcher: It’s not just Chinese farmland—it’s unchecked federal control over 700 million acres

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com An article BBC Science Focus highlights the difficulties of “multi-tasking,” handling several things at a time, which apparently most of us don’t do very well. “In an ideal world, we’d focus on one task at a time, get it finished and only then move onto something else.” But in real life, “It’s all too common for you to be making great progress on one thing, when… BAM! You suddenly need to deal with something else.” That is common, not only in our personal lives, but also in government. In the decade I worked on Capitol Hill, no crisis happened on any Monday morning. Instead, whenever we were winding down some big project, a new crisis would appear, usually at 4:00 pm on Friday. Multi-tasking wasn’t a popular term back then, but it apt...
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Minary: Common principles of Conservatism and why they matter in Colorado
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Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Minary: Common principles of Conservatism and why they matter in Colorado

By Russ Minary | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The majority of Coloradans have become disengaged and disillusioned with Party politics and rhetoric, for good reasons. Both major parties, R and D, have lost their way. So, the largest bloc of voters in CO is now “Unaffiliated.” In political discussions, we often use ‘labels’ to describe ourselves and others. These labels include terms like Republican, Democrat, Moderate, Right, Left, Liberal and Conservative. Unfortunately, if you ask 10 people to define exactly what their own political label means, only one can do it with any clarity. That leads very quickly to stereotyping, misunderstandings and disagreement. Rather than listening, we talk over, rather than with, each other. For the record, I am a Constitutional Conservat...
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HB25-1169 would strip local control, override zoning to force housing on church and school property
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Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

HB25-1169 would strip local control, override zoning to force housing on church and school property

By Tori Ganahl | Rocky Mountain Voice A bill making its way through the Colorado legislature—HB 25-1169, the “Faith and Education Land Use” bill—is under growing scrutiny from local officials, school communities, and everyday Coloradans who see it as a sweeping override of local zoning authority. The legislation, supported by Democratic lawmakers and Governor Jared Polis’s administration, mandates that cities and counties allow residential development on land owned by churches, K-12 school districts, and public colleges–regardless of existing zoning restrictions or community input. Framed as a solution to the state’s housing crisis, critics argue the bill does nothing to guarantee affordability, and instead hands over local land-use control to the state under the guise of housing ...
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From Wyoming to Colorado: courts say corner crossing is legal
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Approved, National, The Fence Post

From Wyoming to Colorado: courts say corner crossing is legal

By Rachel Gabel | The Fence Post A ruling by a federal appeals court has concluded that a congressional act preempts a state’s power to impose and enforce its own trespass laws. Corner crossing, accessing public land from one piece to another where two parcels meet with two privately owned parcels without stepping foot on privately owned land, is now legal in the 10th Circuit’s six states: Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Oklahoma and Kansas. A Carbon County, Wyoming, ranch owner sued hunters in 2022 for doing just that, arguing that he owns the airspace above his land, which they passed through to access public land during an elk hunt. The checkerboard pattern dates back to the days of railroad construction in the 1800s, when railroads raced to lay track, thereby laying cla...
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Linnebur: A look at Sackett v EPA’s rechanneling of water governance in America
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Approved, Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Linnebur: A look at Sackett v EPA’s rechanneling of water governance in America

By Tyler Linnebur | Commentary, ConservAmerica A year has passed since the Supreme Court's ruling in Sackett v. EPA and its impact on America's water regulation is unmistakable. For decades, Western states have grappled with the complexities of water rights and regulations, given the resource's immense value and critical importance to the region. This landmark decision, which narrows the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA's ) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE’s) authority and shifts more responsibility to the states, has triggered significant changes in both the ongoing debate and the ways states protect their water resources. By clarifying the constitutionally limited scope of federal authority, the Sackett ruling aligns with Congress's original intent to reg...
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Polis Promise made; promise denied. Property taxes to spike 25%
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Approved, coloradopeakpolitics.com, State

Polis Promise made; promise denied. Property taxes to spike 25%

SOURCE: COLORADO PEAK POLITICS The bill is coming due for living in a state controlled by a tax-and-spend political party and homeowners will be paying the brunt of it this year when property taxes are projected to spike an average of 25%. PeakNation™ will recall Gov. Polis and his Democrat buddies in the state legislature promised us property tax relief last year, but instead gave us a tax hike ballot measure that failed miserably. Because it was a tax hike, not a tax break. Then Polis called a special session of his cronies to hold a special session and he promised to seriously cut property taxes that time, but it was just a drop in the bucket. Again his word meant nothing. Promises made, promises denied. You know the old saying, fool us once, shame on you, fool us...
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Douglas County sues to overturn state board’s decision to block property tax relief plan
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Approved, Denver Metro, Local, The Colorado Sun

Douglas County sues to overturn state board’s decision to block property tax relief plan

By Jesse Paul, Colorado Sun Douglas County is suing a state board that last month blocked the county’s creative attempt to offer a $28 million property tax break to homeowners by making an across-the-board reduction in previously determined home values.  The 15-page lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Denver District Court against the State Board of Equalization. It argues that the board didn’t have the authority to block the tax break and that it didn’t follow Colorado’s open meetings laws in doing so.  The county is asking a judge to overturn the board’s unanimous decision to stop the reduction in home values.  The Douglas County Commission voted in September to reduce the county’s valuations, determined in May, of single-family homes, townhomes an...
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COLUMN: Management of public lands shouldn’t be for sale
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Approved, denvergazette.com, State

COLUMN: Management of public lands shouldn’t be for sale

By Rachel Gabel | SOURCE: THE GAZETTE The Securities Exchange Commission’s (SEC) proposed rule allowing for Natural Asset Companies to be traded on the NYSE is reckless and politically motivated, exactly the opposite of the purpose of the SEC. The management of public lands ought not be for sale. The SEC was created by Congress to ensure transparency, fair prices for trading, and a high degree of liquidity for traders following the 1929 Stock Market crash. The creation of NACs will harm the economy, especially in rural areas. The SEC has no authority to peddle the management of public lands. According to the proposed rule filing, NACs will be corporations that hold the rights to the ecological performance (i.e., the value of natural assets and production of ecosystem services) pro...
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