Land Use

As Colorado’s population continues to grow, conflicts related to land use, property rights and development are oftentimes inevitable.

Ireland Stapleton’s land use attorneys work at the forefront of all aspects of land use approvals and challenges.   We work with all types of land use clients, including owners and developers as well as neighbors, neighborhood coalitions, homeowners associations, and public interest groups, through all stages of the land use process.  With experience comes perspective, and Ireland Stapleton’s land use attorneys  are always mindful of our client’s big picture goals and the importance of public advocacy, political concerns, and coalition building.  Our attorneys can seamlessly move from transactional land use issues involving our real estate group to public advocacy, litigation, and land use appeals in state and federal court.

Representative Transactions:

• Successfully challenged a municipality’s urban renewal law, which was ultimately declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.  Court rules in favor of property owner in ‘blight’ dispute with Glendale
• Prevailed before the Colorado Court of Appeals in challenging an unlawful land use approval to convert agricultural land to an incompatible industrial land use.
• Represented a group of homeowners in northern Colorado in an appeal to overturn the county commissioner’s decision to operate an open pit gravel mine in a residential neighborhood zoned for agriculture.  https://irelandstapleton.com/blog/2019/08/15/johnstown-residents-prevail-against-open-pit-gravel-mine/
• Successfully challenged a County’s land use regulation as applied to electric utilities as being unlawful and unenforceable under Colorado law.

Our land use attorneys have handled complex, politically charged land use matters in all phases of land use developments and challenges, including:

• Annexations
• Good Neighbor Agreements
• Development Agreements
• Eminent Domain [INSERT READ MORE ACCORDION]
• Enforcement Actions/Show Cause Hearings
• Entitlements
• Historic Preservation Issues
• Land Use Appeals
• Land Use Hearings
• Private Property Rights
• Regulatory Takings
• Site Plan Approvals
• Subdivision Approvals
• Variances
• Zoning Issues