Owens said lawmakers still have a backup plan, House Bill 1305, which would require most local governments to adopt binding master growth plans. It passed the House Local Government Committee on Wednesday. James Mulligan, an attorney chosen by Senate Democrats to mediate over disputes, said there are still disagreements on how to phase in growth limits, whether to allow moratoriums to put the brakes on growth, and allowed uses outside urban service areas where growth is targeted. We're not done. Owens said Senate Democrats violated public trust by meeting secretly with developers and other special interest groups to try to reach a compromise.
Growth is the people's business.
Senate President Stan Matsunaka, D-Loveland, said the meetings were closed to the public because time was running short and so were tempers. Matsunaka said Owens had representatives at several of the meetings and they stopped attending. Matsunaka said the closed meetings allowed the participants to speak candidly and fully air their positions. Susan LeFever, spokeswoman for the Sierra Club, said environmentalists were not part of the discussion. She said environmentalists were told they could have one member on the 19-member negotiating panel, and the Sierra Club was not included.