Court Opinion

ID: 9782712
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 19:07:03.281852+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:35:08.302475
License: Public Domain

Justice EID,
dissenting.
The Regulatory Impairment of Property Rights Act ("RIPRA") provides that in the land use approval process, "no local government shall require an owner of private property to ... pay money or provide services to a public entity in an amount that is determined on an individual and discretionary basis," unless certain conditions are met. § 29-20-203(1), C.R.S. (2009). RIPRA *567makes clear, however, that its requirements do not apply "to any legislatively formulated assessment, fee, or charge that is imposed on a broad class of property owners by a local government." Id. The majority finds that the drainage fees imposed by the City of Colorado Springs ("Colorado Springs") on Wolf Ranch, LLC ("Wolf Ranch") fall within the "legislatively formulated assessment" exception because they are publicly promulgated and imposed on a standard per-acre fee basis on all property owners. Maj. op. at 566. Yet the fees imposed on Wolf Ranch were the product of the standard per-acre fee schedule as modified by the Anmexation Agreement between the developers and Colorado Springs. That Annexation Agreement provides that Colorado Springs retains the discretion to impose the drainage fees on a particular property or exempt the property from payment, depending upon the cireumstances. In other words, while the standard per-acre fee may, when considered in isolation, qualify as a "legislatively formulated assessment," that characterization is defeated by the discretionary, individualized regime adopted by the parties in the Annexation Agreement. Under the majority's interpretation, a local government satisfies the exception merely by publicly promulgating a uniform fee schedule, even though it has elsewhere retained the discretion to impose the fee on an individualized, case-by-case basis. In my view, the dictates of RIPRA cannot be so easily evaded. I therefore respectfully dissent from the majority's opinion.
The Annexation Agreement binds Colorado Springs and the property owners who own property within the 10,000-acre Briargate annexation area, including Wolf Ranch. That Agreement provides that as property is developed, property owners may apply to Colorado Springs for their property to be designated as being located in an "integrated," or closed, basin-that is, where drainage issues may be handled within the basin itself "without materially increasing historic off-site flows." Colorado Springs, Colo., Annexation Agreement § 5.6 (1982). If such designation is "practicable," the property owners then are responsible for building their own drainage facilities, "and no portion of the Property will be subject to any City drainage fees." Id. If such a designation is not practicable, "the property that an integrated basin approach cannot be applied to will be subject to the City's drainage ordinances and policies." Id. In other words, the Annexation Agreement provides that the standard per-acre drainage fee will be imposed on a particular property only if, under case-by-case consideration, that property cannot be deemed part of an integrated basin.
In this case, Wolf Ranch brought an action against Colorado Springs seeking to be declared part of an integrated basin and therefore exempt from drainage fees. Wolf Ranch's request was first considered by the City Drainage Board, which denied the request. Wolf Ranch then appealed the denial to the City Council, which held two hearings on the matter. Wolf Ranch argued that it had met the Annexation Agreement's criteria for integrated basin status (and an exemption from drainage fees) because, according to its expert, development of its property would have no drainage impact on downstream users. Certain members of the City Council took the position that Colorado Springs had the discretion to deny the exemption even where there was no downstream drainage impact, and expressed alternate grounds for imposition of the drainage fees on Wolf Ranch. For example, these council members believed that the fees could be imposed to mitigate general downstream drainage issues even where Wolf Ranch's development did not increase downstream drainage, and that the fees could be used to reimburse previous developers for drainage infrastructure they had made. Ultimately, the City Council voted 4-8 to deny Wolf Ranch's exemption request.
Setting the merits of Wolf Ranch's application for an exemption aside, the above-described process amply demonstrates that the drainage fees imposed in this case were determined on an "individual and discretionary basis" as those terms are used in RIPRA. See § 29-20-2083(1) (act applies when fees are imposed in "an amount that is determined on an individual and discretionary basis"). Indeed, as the district court below observed, "the parties agree that Colorado Springs had *568discretion to grant or deny the Wolf Ranch request for an exemption"-in fact, Colorado Springs argued that its discretion was so broad that "the exemption decision [was left tol its discretion even when the qualifying criteria [i.e., no downstream impact] existed." Wolf Ranch, LLC v. City of Colorado Springs, No. 06CV4394, slip op. at 6-7, 2, (El Paso County Dist. Ct. Oct. 24, 2007) (Order and Judgment) (emphasis added). The district court further found that the fee determination had been made on an individualized, case-by-case basis, as contemplated in the Annexation Agreement. It noted that Colorado Springs had previously decided to exempt other parcels of property within the annexation area, including property located in the Kettle Creek and Pine Creek areas, and that the exemption determination was made specific to a particular property, rather than on a basin-wide basis.
The court of appeals reversed the district court's determination that the imposition of fees on Wolf Ranch was made on an individual and discretionary basis based on the language in RIPRA requiring that the "amount" of fees be determined on an individualized, discretionary basis. The court concluded that the fee determination was not individualized and discretionary because the "amount" of fees Wolf Ranch was required to pay was determined according to the standard drainage fee schedule. Wolf Ranch, LLC v. City of Colorado Springs, 207 P.3d 875, 881 (Colo.App.2008). I disagree with the court of appeals' interpretation and would reverse its ruling. In my view, the "amount" of fees imposed on Wolf Ranch was in fact determined on an individualized, discretionary basis because, based on the evidence regarding Wolf Ranch's particular property, Colorado Springs had the discretion to impose an amount of zero in drainage fees, or an amount according to the standardized fee schedule. The court of appeals' reasoning simply ignores the fact that Colorado Springs, under the Annexation Agreement, had the discretion to impose zero drainage fees on a case-by-case basis.
The majority does not address the court of appeals' interpretation, stating that it "need not consider the merits of [the] interpretation," because it finds that Wolf Ranch's claim falls within RIPRA's "legislatively formulated assessment" exception. Maj. op. at 560. But the central issue of the case 27 cannot, in my view, be sidestepped in this manner. If a decision is made on an "individual and discretionary" basis, it is by definition not a "legislatively formulated assessment." The two concepts are simply two sides of the same coin. See generally Krupp v. Breckenridge Sanitation Dist., 19 P.3d 687, 696 (Colo.2001) (a development fee is either a "generally applicable, legislatively formulated feel ]" or an "adjudicatively imposed development exaction| ]" determined on an individual and discretionary basis); maj. op. at 565 (citing Krupp, 19 P.3d at 696). Thus, by deciding that the fee imposition in this case would fall within the "legislatively formulated assessment" exception, the majority finds that the fee was not imposed on an individual and discretionary basis-an interpretation that fails for the reasons described above.
While the majority attempts to avoid the court of appeals' reasoning that the determination here was not made on an "individual and discretionary" basis (as well as the district court's determination to the contrary), it makes the same error exhibited by the court of appeals. Both the court of appeals and the majority fail to take into account the individualized, discretionary regime put into place by the Annexation Agreement. The majority essentially concludes that because the Agreement incorporates the drainage fee system, the drainage fee system controls. Maj. op. at 566. Yet, as the district court properly concluded, the Annexation Agreement contains the very individualized, discretionary regime for determining drainage fee exemptions that was followed in this case. In my view, the drainage fee schedule lost its *569character as a "legislatively formulated assessment" once Colorado Springs considered, on an individualized basis, whether it should impose the drainage fees on Wolf Ranch or exempt the property pursuant to the Annexation Agreement.
Under the majority's interpretation, a government entity is immune from RIPRA as long as it has put a standardized development fee on the books. Then, onee the fee is in place, the government entity may retain the discretion to impose the fee by virtue of contract (as in this case), practice, or other means. In my view, the strictures of RIPRA cannot be evaded so easily. Instead, the determination of whether a fee is a "legislatively formulated assessment" requires an examination of the entire regime under which the fee is assessed-including, in this case, the discretion contained in the Annexation Agreement.
Although the majority cites a number of grounds in support of its interpretation, none of them is convineing. First, the majority relies heavily on our decision in Krupp, finding the facts in this case to be "largely analogous to those in Krupp." Maj. op. at 566. Yet there is a critical difference between this case and Krupp-namely that, unlike in this case, the government entity in Krupp did not retain by contract the discretion whether to impose the fee. See Krupp, 19 P.3d at 697.
Second, the majority places emphasis on the fact that Colorado Springs has imposed the drainage fee on all development in Cottonwood Creek, the basin in which the Wolf Ranch property is located. Maj. op. at 565-66. According to the majority, the fact that landowners in the Kettle Creek and Pine Creek Basins were exempted from paying the drainage fee is beside the point. Id. In my view, the appropriate comparison for determining whether the fee imposed is a "legislatively formulated assessment" in this case is the annexation area itself, which includes land located in all three basins. That is because the Annexation Agreement defines the area subject to the discretionary regime to include all three basins. As the district court concluded, Wolf Ranch was simply following the process that landowners in Kettle Creek and Pine Creek followed to obtain an exemption from the drainage fees.
But even if only the property located in Cottonwood Creek is used as a means of comparison, the result would be the same. Again, the Annexation Agreement itself provides that the drainage fees will be assessed on a discretionary basis. Simply because other landowners in the Cottonwood Creek Basin have been assessed the drainage fees does not change the character of the assessment from an individualized, discretionary determination to a generalized one. As the district court concluded, Colorado Springs has considered exemption requests on a case-by-case basis according to the particular land for which the exemption is sought. Thus, Colorado Springs' own practice contradicts its assertion that the fees have been imposed on a generalized basis.
The majority also emphasizes the fact that Wolf Ranch had plenty of opportunity to make its case-first before the Drainage Board, then before the City Council, and finally in court. Maj. op. at 565. Yet RI-PRA guarantees more than simply an opportunity to be heard. It provides that "no local government shall require an owner of private property to ... pay money or provide services to a public entity in an amount that is determined on an individual and discretionary basis," unless certain conditions are met. § 29-20-203(1). That the Drainage Board and the City Council gave Wolf Ranch's exemption request lengthy consideration merely reinforces the fact that it considered the request, pursuant to the Annexation Agreement, on an individualized, case-by-case basis.
Finally, the majority seems to stray into the merits of Wolf Ranch's claims. For example, it concludes that Colorado Springs' "decision to deny Wolf Raneh's request for an exemption was not an attempt to single out Wolf Ranch so that it must make extraordinary concessions as a condition of development." Maj. op. at 566; see also id. at 565 (same). Wolf Ranch, of course, disagrees with the majority's assessment of its argument on the merits, and argues that Colorado Springs denied its exemption because it had already exempted too much property *570and needed to make up the fees from the only remaining undeveloped land-that is, Wolf Ranch. But the merits are simply not before us at this point. Rather, the issue is whether Wolf Ranch's claim, as a preliminary matter, falls within RIPRA's purview. On this issue, I would agree with the district court that the imposition of fees in this case was made on an individualized, discretionary basis, not as a "legislatively formulated assessment." I therefore would reverse the court of appeals' conclusion to the contrary, and remand the case to that court to consider Wolf Ranch's arguments on appeal challenging the district court's determination that its claim under RIPRA fails on the merits. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent from the majority's opinion.
I am authorized to say that Justice MARTINEZ joins in this dissent.

. We granted certiorari on the following issue: Whether the court of appeals erred in ruling that the Regulatory Impairment of Property Rights Act, C.R.S. sections 29-20-201 to 205 is not applicable when a governmental body legislatively adopts a uniform fee, but then determines on an individual and discretionary basis whether or not to apply the fee to specific properties.