'Colorado's Kelo' comes to a close

Face the State Staff Report

Nearly two years after receiving notice from the Regional Transportation District that their property would be seized for light rail expansion, Kim Snyder and Galen Foster of Pro-Tint Windows in Lakewood are moving on.

FTS File Photo

According to the couple's attorney, Bob Hoban, the couple received $595,000 for their property plus an undisclosed sum for relocation further away from the proposed west corridor FasTracks line.

Snyder and Foster's property is located just south of Colfax on Wadsworth. It not only houses their small business, but also their home of the last 25 years. Snyder and Foster have devoted much of the last two years to a vocal fight to save their land, but just days before a scheduled court hearing this month, they settled with RTD in an agreement they believe is fair and signals the end of their battle.

"We're relieved, glad it's over and we want to move onto the next chapter of our lives," said the couple through a spokeswoman. "But it was a transforming experience."

As part of the settlement, the couple will be allowed to stay in their home through next February, and they are currently working with city officials to relocate their business nearby and along the Colfax corridor. According to Hoban, Snyder and Foster are permitted to take any existing features of their property with them, such as kitchen upgrades, and are likely to donate the remaining features to Habitat for Humanity.

Currently, Snyder and Foster are considering relocating their home at a location separate from their business.

While the settlement marks the end of a long and emotional battle for Snyder and Foster, other property rights advocates were hoping to see the case work its way up to Colorado's Supreme Court.

Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute, watched the case with keen interest, devoting multiple television shows and radio interviews to the case, believing that the case had the potential to be a landmark property rights case in Colorado. The couple was also featured as part of Caldara's "The Human Cost of FasTracks" series.

"What Kim and Galen have done is, unfortunately, is the way the game is played and why governments often win," Caldara told Face the State. "Uncertainty works toward government. In the end, a small family business and a beautiful couple like Kim and Galen don't have the deep pockets of RTD, so they have to make a legally rational decision, which is knowing that they could be outmaneuvered and outlasted in court."

The case centered around multiple legal issues, including whether RTD could take the property for transit-oriented development, as initial plans hinted as the purpose. After Hoban vigorously questioned the transit authority's legal ability to take the property for condos or coffee shops, RTD officials rescinded the plans, subsequently claiming they were only taking the property for transit-specific purposes, as allowed under state law.

Over the last two years, property rights activists, led by the Colorado Property Rights Coalition, regularly hosted rallies outside Pro-Tint, where Galen and Foster also sell totem polls and host a dog rescue. Many compared the case to Kelo v. New London, a controversial 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision where the court upheld a Connecticut government's ability to take a woman's small home for the purpose of transferring ownership to a privately-owned pharmaceutical giant.