They came by the hundreds to an Adams County court, filling overflow rooms in a show of solidarity against an attempt by a developer to seize through eminent domain a swath of historic Brighton farmland for a flood control project.
But last week, a judge ruled she would grant “immediate possession of the Subject Property” — an easement across the 95-year-old Palizzi Farm — to Parkland Metropolitan District No. 1, the entity behind the development of a nearby neighborhood called Bromley Farms.
Adams County District Judge Sarah Stout ruled that eminent domain, a practice allowing governments can condemn property for the public good, is warranted because “the taking at issue is for public benefit” — namely a stormwater outflow to prevent flooding in the city.
And the fact that the condemnation is being done by a metro district — a quasi-governmental entity under Colorado law — and not a full-fledged governmental agency or subdivision is not enough to halt it, Stout ruled.
“Public purpose has been liberally construed in Colorado courts,” the judge wrote in her June 26 opinion. “The fact that private interests may benefit from the condemnation does not defeat a public purpose.”
Parkland’s eminent domain claim against Palizzi Farm earlier this year prompted the farm’s owner, Deb Palizzi, to warn that if the easement were granted to the metro district she would have to shut down the farm. The dispute brought dozens of people to the farm on East Bromley Lane and to Brighton City Hall to show support for the farm.
Palizzi could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
But on the farm’s Facebook page, Palizzi Farm wrote that people should “let your city councilors know it’s in their hands for them to make sure Palizzi Farm can actually farm over their pipes, as Parkland testified to, AND they make sure the drainage outfall as proposed will actually work.”
At the heart of a May court hearing on the issue was whether Parkland would bury its stormwater pipe deep enough across Palizzi Farm so as not to interfere with the farm’s ability to plant and harvest its vegetables. Brighton City Council granted Parkland eminent domain powers as part of a metro district service plan it approved for Bromley Farms last September.
Attorneys for Parkland Metro District No. 1 didn’t immediately respond to a request from The Denver Post for comment Wednesday.
Stout said in her opinion that the public benefit of Parkland’s proposed stormwater project is indisputable, and that it is a project that Brighton has been unable to fund for four decades.
“…It is clear to this Court that the taking meets the great needs of the City and residents of Brighton, that for the reasons stated above a benefit is bestowed upon the City who cannot otherwise finance this type of improvement, and that the Project is necessary for the long-term safety of the Brighton community as development continues,” she wrote.
She noted that Parkland had made two good-faith offers to Palizzi Farm to compensate for the easement it is requesting, “one with a purchase price of double the market value and one with a purchase price of five times the market value of the Subject Property.”
“Both of these offers were rejected by Respondent Landowners,” the judge wrote.
She ordered the parties in the case to set a date for a trial to determine fair compensation for the easement. In the meantime, Stout ordered Parkland to make a deposit of $57,000 ahead of a compensation hearing to gain access to the land for its project “without interference from the Respondent Landowners.”
