Erie Urban Renewal Authority tables Lafayette IGA following Supreme Court ruling

The high court’s ruling — upholding a June decision to strike down Lafayette’s attempt to condemn 22 acres of Erie land at the southeast corner of U.S. 287 and Arapahoe Road — has essentially voided the deal’s promise to settle the towns’ nearly three-year land spat, and without it, could give Erie leaders carte blanche to rethink some of the agreement’s other facets.

The litigation has stalled the groundbreaking on Erie’s multi-million dollar commercial development, Nine Mile Corner, since 2016.

The delay in approval, and any potential tweaks to the deal itself, could threaten to derail the communities’ touted path to reconciliation after years (or decades, according to some) of hostility.

Tuesday’s decision does not necessarily suggest the deal will be entirely revamped; the authority’s vote was only to table a decision on the agreement and leaders opted not to comment. However, if a new pact is to manifest, some officials have suggested it minimize a proposed buffer between the project and a Lafayette neighborhood that Nile Mile Corner developer Tyler Carlson has criticized. It also could potentially ask Lafayette for more money in returned attorneys fees.