Opinion ID: 2517173
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Constitutionality of Subsection 4b

Text: Having determined that article XX grants home rule municipalities the power to condemn property extraterritorially for open space and park purposes, we now examine the impact of subsection 4b on that power. Because we conclude that subsection 4b abrogates constitutional powers granted to home rule municipalities by article XX, we hold that the statute is unconstitutional with respect to home rule municipalities. Our inquiry into the constitutionality of subsection 4b need not extend beyond the question of whether the statute purports to deny home rule powers specifically granted by the constitution. City of Thornton, 575 P.2d at 389 (The General Assembly has no power to enact any law that denies a right specifically granted by the Colorado Constitution.). Nonetheless, the Corporation argues that, even if article XX grants home rule municipalities extraterritorial authority to condemn property for parks and open space, we must weigh competing state and local concerns implicated by the exercise of this authority to determine whether the authority can be preempted by the legislature. We disagree. Although we recognize that the analysis of competing state and local concerns is appropriate in evaluating the preemptive effect of a statute on a municipal act, we dispute its relevance in the case at hand, which turns on the conflict between a statute and the state constitution. Our case law dictates that state statutes may preempt home rule municipalities' actions on matters of statewide or mixed state and local concern. In Town of Telluride, we held that if a home rule city enacts an ordinance concerning a matter of local concern and that ordinance conflicts with a state statute, the home rule ordinance takes precedence over the state statute. 3 P.3d at 37. If the matter is one of statewide or mixed state and local concern, we held that the state statute takes precedence over the conflicting home rule ordinance unless the ordinance is authorized by statute or by the constitution. Id. The Corporation urges us to utilize this framework in evaluating the validity of subsection 4b. However, no analysis of competing state and local interests is necessary where a statute purports to take away home rule powers granted by the constitution. City of Thornton, 194 Colo. at 536, 575 P.2d at 389; Bd. Of Comm'rs, 113 Colo. at 156, 156 P.2d at 102-03. This precept is demonstrated in City of Thornton, in which Thornton sought to condemn extraterritorially under article XX for water rights in a nearby lake. 194 Colo. at 536, 575 P.2d at 389. Opponents of the condemnation argued that Thornton's constitutional condemnation powers were limited by the state Water Rights Condemnation Act of 1975. Id. at 531, 575 P.2d at 386. Among other provisions, this act required that a commission decide the necessity for condemning water rights and precluded the condemnation of water rights for future needs in excess of fifteen years. Id. at 532, 537, 575 P.2d at 387, 390. We declined to consider the opponents' arguments about the statewide interests that were purportedly at stake, stating: We fully recognize that . . . in cases of conflict between a statute and the ordinance of a home rule city relating to a matter of statewide concern, the statute must govern. Here, however, there is involved a specific constitutional power granted to home rule municipalities and, even though the matter may be of statewide concern, the General Assembly has no power to enact any law that denies a right specifically granted by the Colorado Constitution. Id. at 536, 575 P.2d at 389. Likewise, we decline here to evaluate the statewide interests implicated by the extraterritorial condemnation of property by home rule municipalities for open space and parks. The legislature cannot prohibit the exercise of constitutional home rule powers, regardless of the state interests which may be implicated by the exercise of those powers. [8] The Corporation next argues that the General Assembly may abrogate home rule powers that are merely implied in the constitution. The Corporation maintains that, although the legislature cannot abrogate or override express provisions of article XX, there is no express authority in article XX for extraterritorial condemnation for open space and park purposes. According to the Corporation, powers of home rule municipalities that are merely implied from the constitution can apply only in matters which are purely local. Thus, unless the constitution expressly authorizes condemnations for open space and parks, the Corporation argues that this court must examine whether such condemnations implicate matters of local, statewide, or mixed concern in order to determine if the legislature can abrogate the implied condemnation authority. We reject the notion that there are two separate echelons of condemnation powers under article XX  those express and those implied. The Corporation asks us to afford constitutional status only to those condemnation purposes enumerated in section 1 of article XX. However, as stated above, the purposes specified in section 1 are merely examples of a broader grant of power. Article XX grants home rule municipalities the power to condemn property, intra- or extraterritorially, for any lawful, public, local, and municipal purpose. This court has adhered to this construction of article XX in home rule cases stretching back over one hundred years. See Hallett, 34 Colo. at 398, 83 P. at 1068. The legislature cannot deny this constitutional condemnation power, even though its use may at times implicate statewide concerns. See People v. Dist. Court, 165 Colo. 253, 260, 439 P.2d 741, 745 (1968) (The interpretation given by the courts to the constitution are [sic] incorporated in the instrument itself and are [sic] beyond the power of the legislative branch of government to change.). We repeat our holding in Town of Telluride, where we stated, If the matter is one of statewide or mixed state and local concern . . . the state statute takes precedence over the conflicting local action unless the action is authorized by statute or by the constitution.  3 P.3d at 37 (emphasis added). Subsection 4b prohibits home rule municipalities from condemning property for parks and open space, thus denying their constitutional power to condemn for any lawful, public, local, and municipal purpose. Subsection 4b provides in part: No home rule or statutory municipality shall . . . acquire by condemnation property located outside of its territorial boundaries for the purpose of parks, recreation, open space, conservation, preservation of views or scenic vistas, or for similar purposes . . . except where the municipality has obtained the consent of both the owner of the property to be acquired by condemnation and the governing body of the local government in which territorial boundaries the property is located. Subsection 4b also provides that the only allowable extraterritorial condemnations are those for water works, light plants, power plants, transportation systems, heating plants, any other public utilities or public works, or for any purposes necessary for such uses. Hence, subsection 4b curtails the condemnation power in article XX by limiting it to the enumerated purposes in section 1, and also by removing certain enumerated purposes from the list-namely condemnation for the purpose of works or ways local in use and extent . . . and everything required therefore. Accordingly, we conclude that subsection 4b is an unconstitutional abrogation of the powers granted to home rule municipalities under article XX. The General Assembly has no power to enact a law that denies a right specifically granted by the constitution. City of Thornton, 194 Colo. at 535, 575 P.2d at 389. The power of home rule municipalities to condemn for any lawful, public, local, and municipal purpose can only be taken away by constitutional amendment. See Four-County Metro. Improvement Dist. v. Bd. of Comm'rs, 149 Colo. 284, 294, 369 P.2d 67, 72 (1962) (holding that constitutionally granted powers may be changed only by constitutional amendment).