BONKERS: A 1% Growth Limit Across The Front Range Could Be Up For Vote On Your 2020 Ballot.
The state Title Board, which determines how measures appear on ballots, approved Golden resident Daniel Hayes’ Initiative 122, an updated version of a measure he introduced earlier this summer. It would limit the number of residential building permits local governments could issue from Weld County in the north through the Denver metro to El Paso County in the south.
Hayes’ initiative would cap them to just a 1 percent rise every year. The measure, which would be a state law, couldn’t be repealed or adjusted until 2023. The new version of his measure includes an additional .15 percentage point allotment for affordable and senior housing.
“I think it’ll make it more popular,” Hayes said.
Opponents have a week to file a request for a rehearing with the Title Board. Hayes said he expects that will happen, and is girding for petitions to the state Supreme Court challenging the measure’s compliance with the single-subject rule and the sovereignty of home-rule cities.
“It’s just delay tactics,” he said.
Hayes argues the Front Range is growing too fast, and putting too much pressure on public schools and public water and transportation infrastructure. His measure is similar to Lakewood’s Question 200, which voters passed in July.
Let’s just call this what it really is: The Existing Homeowners Value Protection Act.
Then there’s the conceit that there is some “correct” rate of growth, and that government is competent to manage it without unintended consequences, which would be funny if it weren’t so destructive.
Prediction: If passed, Denver’s already crazy real-estate market will get even crazier, and we’ll end up with a totally unexpected housing crisis.
h/t SG