Growth debate goes to overtime

By Trent Seibert
Thursday, May 10, 2001

The promise state leaders made to control Colorado's sprawling growth has been broken.

And a special session of the legislature will called be into order today at noon to continue grappling with the controversial issue.

After months of promises by the governor, the Senate and the House of Representatives to pass meaningful growth legislation, all three failed to come to an agreement Wednesday as the midnight deadline on this year's legislative session expired.

Gov. Bill Owens, who last fall said he would "bust heads" to get growth legislation through, said he will strictly limit the session to the proposals outlined in a compromise on growth he presented Wednesday. Senate Democrats rejected it, saying it failed to stop sprawl in Colorado.

Both houses of the General Assembly wrapped up their lawmaking by 10:55 p.m. - an hour and five minutes before the mandated deadline. Most lawmakers considered the session a success, with compromises reached on hot-button issues such as education and health care. But the failure to reach an agreement on growth disappointed and aggravated many.

Some predicted the debate will go straight to voters in November 2002 with different ballot measures being proposed by developers and environmentalists. Others said the political posturing and bickering of the past few weeks will turn off voters and keep them from the polls.

"The only people happy about this are those who didn't want anything to happen in the first place, and the consultants who have a fortune to make as this goes on," said Larry Kallenberger, executive director of Colorado Counties Inc., a lobbying group for county officials.

Talks about compromise on the legislation lasted until about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

"It's a shame," said Harris Sherman, a attorney for Arnold & Porter who was helping Senate Democrats craft a growth deal. "We negotiated much of the day. We got very close."

Developers and groups supporting them said their attempts at negotiation were slapped away by Senate leaders.

"I don't think they were trying very hard in the end," said Virginia Love with Colorado Concern, a business-oriented lobbying group.

And while lawyers and lobbyists worked up to the last minute trying to broker an eleventh-hour agreement to deal with the 1 million people expected to move to Colorado over the next decade, lawmakers resorted to name-calling and blaming one another for the failure.

"I really think we've been suckered all year long and they never intended to pass a growth bill," said House Speaker Doug Dean, R-Colorado Springs, of the Senate leaders.

Senate President Stan Matsunaka, D-Loveland, called House leaders "disingenuous," accusing them of not wanting a bill.

"They yanked my chain for four months," he said.

At the heart of the controversy, House Bill 1225 would have required Colorado's largest and fastest-growing cities and counties to create plans to channel growth.

It also would have required those growth plans to include "urban service areas" and give developers financial incentives to build there to keep subdivisions from springing up far outside cities.

Much of the disagreement between Republicans and Democrats is over those incentives.

Senate Democrats say the House Republicans want too many perks for developers. The Republicans say that without those perks, developers won't accept growth legislation that limits where they can build.

"This shouldn't be about credit and blame," said Gail Klapper, the head of a group of 50 community leaders called the Colorado Forum that tried to craft a compromise growth plan for legislators. "This should be about what's good for Colorado."

Because of the growth issue, relationships between the Democratic-controlled Senate and the Republican governor and House appear completely frayed.

"We're done talking," Matsunaka said at one point after Dean refused to consider a Senate compromise proposal.

Much happened in the past 48 hours at the Capitol leading up to the breakdown in communication:

House Republicans agreed to key compromises with Senate Democrats but later backpedaled on their deal.

Owens urged Senate Democrats to accept a last-minute deal that Republicans favor, which required most counties to have a comprehensive plan, end leapfrog annexations and provide a way to resolve disputes. "This is not a sham or a blank check for developers," Owens said.

Senate leaders refused, saying that did nothing to solve sprawl. "If the governor thinks that solves growth, he's duping Colorado," Matsunaka said.

Sen. Ed Perlmutter, D-Jefferson County, who initially sponsored the House measure, said he was angry that House Republicans refused to even consider an 86-page compromise the Democrats finished early Wednesday. It outlined areas where development would be allowed in return for developer guarantees.

Dean said he was shown that document just minutes before he had to make a decision on it. "Frankly, I find that offensive," he said.