Opinion ID: 2615617
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Defeat Of Legislative Purpose

Text: The majority defers to the Board's decision here to seek updated comments from some, but not all, interested agencies. Deference to the Board's experience and specialization, see maj. op. at 40-41, should not obviate the role of the consulting agencies especially as to matters outside the Board's expertise and experience. It is the various agencies to which the board must refer the subdivision plannot the Board itselfthat possess the expertise with which section 30-28-136 is concerned. Allowing the Board to ignore agencies and information that the legislature intended to inform its deliberations defeats the purpose underlying the mandatory submissions required by section 30-28-136. The statute requires that the Board receive comments from diverse agencies precisely because the General Assembly recognized that county commissioners do not themselves have the resources to correctly discern or predict how problems of particular concern to, and within the expertise of, the reviewing agency may be presented. Although Park County's relatively sparse population makes it plausible that its Board of County Commissioners might be well-informed regarding changes that have taken place in the community over time, even there it is more prudentand consistent with the legislature's purposeto require the Board to hear from the experts than to rely exclusively on its own judgment and perception of current circumstances. Thus, the majority's conclusionthat the Board complied with the statute and was free to exercise its discretion as to whether re-referral was requiredmakes sense only if the passage of time has negligible impact on the legislative purpose of encouraging intelligent, coordinated growth. Given the reality that growth pressures accumulate over time, it is not reasonable to conclude that a more than ten-year delay in granting final approval of the subdivision plan from the date of initial agency comments has no bearing on the natural resources and infrastructure needs that the various reviewing agencies are called upon to address and protect under the statute. Specific components of the statutory scheme illustrate the importance of how the passage of time can affect evaluation of a subdivision proposal. Section 30-28-136(1)(h)(II), for instance, requires municipalities to report how much water is available to a subdivision, and the state engineer's office makes its own approval under that section contingent on a satisfactory demonstration that the municipality or water district can and will provide that supply. See State Engineer, Guidelines for Subdivision Water Supply Reports. [4] Clearly, the amount of excess supply held by a municipality or water district can diminish over time as other developments proceed. Much the same can be said of reports relating to potential flood hazards required under section 30-28-136(1)(f); available sewage treatment capacity and water quality under section 30-28-136(1)(g); and, of course, available school capacity under section 30-28-136(1)(a). The legislature has made especially clear that the subdivision approval process is the context for examining the ability of the local schools to serve the residents of the new subdivision: the General Assembly has designated subdivision regulations and subdivision review, taking into account recommendations of the commenting agencies, as the context for evaluating the educational opportunity which will be afforded to the future residents of the platted lots. See County Comm'rs of Douglas v. Bainbridge, 929 P.2d 691, 701 (Colo.1996). Section 30-28-136(2) provides that the waiver of comment imposed upon other agencies if the very limited review time expires specifically does not apply to school districts: The failure of any agency to respond within twenty-one days or within the period of an extension shall, for the purpose of the hearing on the plan, be deemed an approval of such plan; except that, where such plan involves twenty or more dwelling units, a school district shall be required to submit within said time limit specific recommendations with respect to the adequacy of school sites and the adequacy of school structures. With respect to schools, the General Assembly could not have been clearer. The ability of the schools to handle the new growth is so important as to require the local school district to provide information to the local government land use decisionmaker; necessarily implied is the duty of the decisionmaker to ask the school district for current information before it gives final subdivision approval when the subdivider has caused an unreasonable delay in the Board's consideration of final subdivision plan and plat approval. The use of outdated school district comments, especially in a time of rapid growth, undercuts the legislative purpose that focuses on the subdivision approval process as the context for addressing school availability for the new residents.