We turn to the Judicial branch to defend our rights

Delta County quietly enacted its first Land Use Code(LUC) and county-wide zoning in January 2021, amidst the chaos of the pandemic. Some may recall that zoning was something the community specifically opposed during the latest update of the county Master Plan in 2018. The people of the county said this so many times during those update meetings, our government had to issue a FAQ (you can read it here) stating that all Future Land Use Planning would not be zoning in disguise. 

However, the chaos of those times should not be used as an excuse for the public's lack of knowledge. The truth is, that the first land use and zoning regulations were passed with little to no notice to the county residents. Delta County Commissioner, Mike Lane and the Delta County Public Information Specialist, Lindsay Mitchell confirmed that Delta County chose not to notify the land owners about the new LUC by mail because it would cost $6,500 (41:30). This was a violation of the public notification requirements for legislations of this magnitude.  These requirements were outlined in established legal precedents, such as the Colorado Supreme Court case Holly Development, Inc. v. Board of County Com'rs 342 P.2d 1032 (1959). 

In light of these discoveries, the concerned citizens began attending regular Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) meetings, wrote letters in protest, put ads in the local papers and online, created a Facebook group, and took every legal avenue available to them in an attempt to bring public attention to the new laws and to void the Code. In February of 2023, two years after the first LUC was enacted, a public hearing for the new version of the Code took place. At the hearing, over 700 Delta County residents participated and an overwhelming majority spoke out against the original LUC and the proposed update. The resounding message was to STOP the update, REPEAL the previous LUC, and let the public VOTE on the new land use laws. The people wanted an opportunity to participate in the LUC development process in a similar way that they participated in the Master Plan Update. At the 2023 public hearing, BoCC opted against the passing of that iteration of the LUC update and spent another year remaking the document by themselves.

In February of 2024, the BoCC held another public hearing on the second version of the LUC update. This was after the Planning Commission, a volunteer body of Delta County residents tasked to advise the BoCC on county planning matters, voted to reject this rendition. Even though the 2024 hearing displayed unanimous opposition to the LUC and its updates, the County Commissioners decided to defy the will of the people and they updated the LUC via Resolution R-2024-03.

Legally, citizens have thirty days to circulate a petition to put the newly enacted legislation to a public vote through a process called a Referendum Petition. This right is constitutionally guaranteed to the people by Article V Section 1(9) of the Federal Constitution, as well as Colorado State Revised Statute § 30-11-103.5. The power of referendum has never been limited in all of the Colorado case law. It is well protected and a fundamental check on the legislative powers of any government, big or small. Despite this legal framework and the collection of over 1400 signatures on the petition, both the Delta County Clerk, Teri Stephenson, and the Delta County Attorney, John Baier, have asserted that Delta County citizens do not possess the right to subject this law to a vote.
Therefore, on April 18th, 2024, Plaintiffs, Ewelina Bajda, Jacob Dahlman, and James McCain Jr., filed a lawsuit against Stephenson, Baier, and the Delta County Commissioners, Don Suppes, Wendell Koontz, and Mike Lane requesting the judicial branch to compel the county government to follow the Constitution and State Laws. The Plaintiffs also requested for a stay on Resolution 2024-R-03 until the legal dispute is resolved. The complaint is available publicly here.

Now is a critical juncture for Delta County, one that demands a course correction towards accountable governance, genuine public engagement, and respect for the fundamental rights of every resident.

Link to the Press Release on this issue here.

You can download this Op Ed as a pdf here.