Opinion ID: 2615617
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Purpose of the Agency Review Provision

Text: Section 30-28-136, as the majority notes, is silent on the issue of whether the agency review specified in that section must occur reasonably contemporaneously with Board approval. I disagree, however, that the statute's silence indicates the legislature considered this issue and resolved not to include a provision regarding outdated agency review. We must construe the statute to give it effect under a variety of circumstancesincluding those that the legislature did not specifically address, yet nonetheless intended to be covered. See Park County Sportsmen's Ranch LLP v. Bargas, 986 P.2d 262, 268 (Colo.1999); Buckley v. Chilcutt, 968 P.2d 112, 117 (Colo.1998); In re Estate of Royal, 826 P.2d 1236, 1238 (Colo.1992) (Since the statute is silent, we must abide by the well-settled rule of statutory construction that statutes should be construed to effectuate the General Assembly's intent and the beneficial purpose of the legislative measure.) Our land use cases have recognized that legislative silence on a particular issue does not require courts to cease their efforts to ascertain legislative intent and purpose, and construe the statute reasonably to address the issue at hand. See Beaver Meadows v. Board of County Comm'rs, 709 P.2d 928, 935 (Colo.1985). The purpose of section 30-28-136 is clear. The legislature has required counties to obtain the opinions of interested agencies; implicit in this legislative design is that the consultation must be reasonably contemporaneous with the land use decisionmaking process, so that current circumstances inform the agencies' opinions, and, ultimately, the Board's decision. The legislative concern with intelligent, coordinated, and effective growth management is visible not only in section 30-28-136 and the larger Article 28 of which it is a part, but throughout Colorado's land use statutes. Section 30-28-107, 9 C.R.S. (1999), for instance, relates to preparation of county and regional master plans; it states that the plans are to be made with the general purpose of guiding and accomplishing a coordinated, adjusted, and harmonious development. (Emphasis added.) Section 24-65-102(1), 7 C.R.S. (1999), the legislative declaration section of the Colorado Land Use Act, recites that an increasing mutuality of interest and responsibility between the various levels of government in the state ... calls for coordinate and unified policies in planning for growth and development. (Emphasis added.) The statute clarify[ing] and provid[ing] authority to local governments in the land use context provides that [l]ocal governments are authorized and encouraged to cooperate or contract with other units of government ... for the purposes of planning or regulating the development of land. §§ 29-20-102 and 29-20-105(1), 9 C.R.S. (1999). These statutesand, of course, section 30-28-136 itselfmake clear that coordinated, well-informed decisionmaking is at the heart of the exercise of land use authority by local government, not merely a technical procedural requirement. The majority correctly notes that section 30-28-136 does not specifically provide for re-referral of subdivision plans when a considerable period of time lapses between preliminary subdivision approval and submission of a final plat. This is not surprising. The General Assembly required under section 30-28-136(2) that the reviewing agencies respond within twenty-one days of the local government referral. It thereby anticipated that the local decisionmaking process would proceed expeditiously. Thus, the purpose of section 30-28-136 is manifest: to (1) require counties to consider the views of those agencies with expertise in the various resources that are impacted by subdivision growth, and (2) ensure that the information provided by the agencies is current, expeditiously provided, and considered by the land use decisionmaker.