With the state Senate's Local Government Committee slated to hear House Bill 1278 today, a bill originally designed to curb eminent domain abuses by the Regional Transportation District, property rights activists are now claiming "bait-and-switch."
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“This is another good bill that has been watered down by amendments and now does the exact opposite of what it was originally intended to do,” said Tom Wambolt, president of the Colorado Property Rights Coalition.
Originally, the bill would have restricted RTD's ability to take private property by eminent domain for the the purpose of transferring it to another private party for the purposes of economic development. Wambolt and others now contend that it has been so heavily amended that the original intent has been lost.
Former RTD Chairman Jack McCroskey, known affectionately as the "Father of Light Rail," agrees. "RTD should stick with transportation and stay out of real estate development," he wrote in a press release issued by Wambolt's coalition Tuesday.
In the release, McCroskey urged the Colorado Legislature to kill another bill, House Bill 1354, that would authorize RTD to subsidize loans or grants to developers for commercial projects at light rail stations. The bill passed its second Senate reading Monday.
According to Wambolt, property rights activists now view a possible restoration of HB 1278 as their last chance to protect private property from RTD's larger non-transit development goals. HB 1278 is being heard today at 2 p.m. in Senate Committee Room 353.