Opinion ID: 2331581
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Annexations are Legislative in Nature

Text: ¶ 15 Providing procedures for the setting of municipal boundaries, whether by incorporation or annexation, is a prerogative of the General Assembly. City of Greenwood Vill. v. Petitioners for the Proposed City of Centennial, 3 P.3d 427, 433 (Colo.2000). Article II, section 30 of the Colorado Constitution provides that no unincorporated area may be annexed to a municipality unless (1) the majority of landowners and registered electors in the area proposed to be annexed have voted for the annexation; or (2) the annexing municipality has received a petition for the annexation signed by more than fifty percent of the landowners owning greater than fifty percent of the land in the area to be annexed. In other words, unless more than fifty percent of the landowners petition the municipality, the annexation may not proceed unless a majority of landowners and registered electors have voted for it. ¶ 16 The Municipal Annexation Act of 1965 lays out the procedural framework by which a municipality may annex new land. §§ 31-12-101 to -707, C.R.S. (2011). Proceedings by municipalities under this authority are legislative in nature. City & Cnty. of Denver v. Dist. Court, 181 Colo. 386, 389, 509 P.2d 1246, 1248 (1973). Upon receipt of the annexation petition, the governing body of the annexing municipality must hold hearings to determine whether the petition complies with the requirements of article II, section 30. § 31-12-108(1). Following the hearings, the Act requires the annexing municipality to make findings with respect to whether the constitutional requirements of article II, section 30 have been met, whether an election of landowners and registered electors is required, and whether to impose additional terms and conditions upon the annexation. § 31-12-110. ¶ 17 Once an annexation is complete, any person owning land in the area annexed may seek judicial review of the annexation in accordance with section 31-12-116. Review is limited to the determination of whether the governing body has exceeded its jurisdiction or abused its discretion under the terms of the Act. § 31-12-116(3). [T]he function of the county court in such proceedings is to provide a forum in order to insure first, that the area is eligible, and secondly, that the procedural requirements of the statute have been fully complied with. City of Littleton v. Wagenblast, 139 Colo. 346, 352, 338 P.2d 1025, 1027 (1959).