Boulder county officials say that before the county’s recent formation of a Subdivision Paving Local Improvement District, the county had at least seven other Local Improvement Districts since 1995. In each of these examples, a lien was placed on each of the properties that was equivalent to the full assessment. The previous LIDs include:
The Tall Timbers LID, a paving district created in 1995 near Sugarloaf and Betasso in the county’s foothills. Each property was assessed $1,800.
The Palo Park LID, a repaving district created in 1995 near 47th Street and Jay Road. Each property was assessed $3,205.
The Valley Lane LID, a paving district created in 1995 west of Old Stage Road. Each property was assessed $10,500.
The Hillcrest Heights LID, created in 1995 for paving roads near North 95th Street and Oxford Road. Each property was assessed $4,361.
The Eldorado Springs LID, created in 2005 for a wastewater treatment system for that community. Each property was assessed $17,547.
Another Eldorado Springs LID, created in 2009 to fund an electric grid to support the wastewater system. Each property was assessed $1,271.
The Alder Lane LID, formed in 2012 to pave gravel roads in Pine Brook Hills. Each property was assessed $3,472.
Colorado counties looking to fund improvements that they say would primarily benefit a specific geographic area have used Colorado laws to create a Local Improvement District and assess those costs to properties that will benefit from the improvements.
Boulder County commissioners have formed a Subdivision Paving Local Improvement District under which the owners of nearly 10,900 properties in almost 120 rural residential subdivisions pay most of the projected $72 million expense of rehabilitating those subdivisions’ 150 miles of paved roads over the coming 15 years.
The county would cover $14.4 million, but the property owners are being assessed the remaining $57.6 million.
Last month, eight property owners filed a Boulder District Court lawsuit contending that Boulder County overstepped when it created the paving LID.
One of the lawsuit’s arguments is that the chip sealing and asphalt overlays of subdivisions’ existing county roads is a form of “maintenance” and that state law doesn’t allow LIDs to be formed for the maintenance of existing infrastructure.
Chuck Wibby, one of those plaintiffs and the co-chairman of Boulder County Fairness in Road Maintenance, an organization opposing the county’s LID, said Sunday that although state law allows LIDs to be formed for such improvements as paving gravel or dirt roads, “bringing roads back to their original shape is not a capital improvement. It’s maintenance.”
Boulder County officials disagree, and commissioners Cindy Domenico, Deb Gardner and Elise Jones wrote subdivision property owners last week that “the county believes the LID will be upheld” by the courts.
The three commissioners also said in their Dec. 16 letter that LIDs aren’t an unusual mechanism for paying for certain types of infrastructure improvements and billing benefiting properties the costs of those projects.
John Taylor, executive director of Colorado Counties Inc., which represents the state’s counties, said “a lot of different counties” have created LIDs to pay for various kinds of improvements, including paving.
Taylor and the Boulder County commissioners’ staff noted last week that the Colorado Department of Local Affairs’ website says there are at least 59 active county LIDs throughout the state.
At least seven other Boulder County LIDs have been created since 1995. Most of them were for paving projects benefiting specific neighborhoods, although two of them were formed to finance a new wastewater treatment system and an electric grid to support that system for the Eldorado Springs area.
“The process of creating LIDs and collecting assessments is well established by state law and has been in place for decades,” Boulder County’s commissioners said in last week’s letter. “Local governments across Colorado and across the country commonly establish LIDs for constructing improvements primarily benefiting the property owners within the districts.”
Wibby said Sunday that as far as FIRM has been able to find, Local Improvement Districts typically are localized to a relatively small geographic area and a short-term project such as paving a dirt road.
Wibby said of the Subdivision Paving LID: “We can’t find any examples of this widespread a district, or an LID being used for maintenance.”
The county commissioners wrote in their letter, however, that “the county believes that the Subdivision Paving LID is no different and that all members of the district will derive a significant benefit of improved roads as a result of the LID.”
John Fryar can be reached at 303-684-5211 or jfryar@times-call.com.
