Colorado Supreme Court rejects Lafayette’s condemnation suit, potentially derailing Nine Mile Corner deal with Erie

An intergovernmental agreement unveiled last month that would, among other reconciliations, settle the towns’ nearly three-year land spat now appears shakier following Monday’s revelation. The ruling — denying a writ of certiorari and upholding a June Court of Appeals decision that Lafayette had acted in “bad faith” when it attempted to condemn 22 acres of Erie’s land at the southeast corner of U.S. 287 and Arapahoe Road — could strip the majority of Lafayette’s leverage in the final hours of the deal’s deliberation, attorneys say.

Apart from the litigation settlement — which Lafayette would accompany with $440,000 in returned attorney fees to Erie — the deal also would drop two disputes over Erie access permits, draw “influence areas” across the county dictating where both communities can annex and develop in the coming decade, and regulate revenue sharing on a piece of Stephen Tebo-owned property along the communities’ border.

Both Lafayette and Erie leaders already have approved the deal as is, but Erie’s Urban Renewal Authority — a partner on negotiations and whose approval is required — is scheduled to take up the pact on Tuesday. The authority last month tabled a decision on the deal over concerns surrounding a proposed buffer and whether Erie had conceded too much to its neighbor.

Monday’s ruling could give some of the authority’s already skeptical members cause to push for a better deal.