The Colorado Supreme Court issued its opinion in Citizens for Responsible Growth, Elbert County v. RCI Development Partners, Inc. on May 23, 2011.
Land Use Applications—C.R.C.P. 106(a)(4)—Time for Review—Final Decision.
Citizens for Responsible Growth of Elbert County (Citizens) sought review of the court of appeals’ judgment reversing a C.R.C.P. 106(a)(4) order of the district court. [See Citizens for Responsible Growth v. RCI Dev. Partners, Inc., No. 08CA0890 (Colo.App. May 21, 2009) (not selected for official publication).] Citizens challenged Elbert County’s approval of RCI’s land-use applications, and the district court remanded for further proceedings by the Board of County Commissioners (Board). Without considering the merits of the district court’s order, the court of appeals found that it exceeded its jurisdiction by entertaining a complaint filed more than thirty days after the point of administrative finality. The court of appeals reasoned that the date of administrative finality was the actual date the Board adopted its resolution, rather than the date of its recording with the County Clerk and Recorder, and although Citizens filed within thirty days of recording, it failed to prove that the Board’s resolution was not adopted sometime earlier.
The Supreme Court reversed and remanded the case to the court of appeals. The Court held that (1) Elbert County regulations require a written ruling to finalize the Board’s quasi-judicial action in this case; and (2) depriving Citizens of judicial review without notice of that written ruling would violate constitutional guarantees of due process of law.
Summary and full case available here.
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