Transportation - Digest of Bills

Digest of Bills - 2006

TRANSPORTATION

S.B. 06-78 Eminent domain - prohibition on use by a private toll road corporation - limit on use by the department of transportation for toll roads. Specifies that a private corporation formed for the purpose of constructing a private toll road or toll highway shall not have the power to use eminent domain to acquire rights-of-way for the toll road or toll highway. Allows such a corporation to enter into a public-private initiative with the department of transportation for the purpose of enabling the construction of a toll road or toll highway, but specifies that in such a case the power of eminent domain shall not be exercised by the corporation and may be exercised by the department only for purposes of acquiring property and rights-of-way necessary for the completion of a toll road or toll highway open to the public that is incorporated into the statewide transportation plan. Requires the department, in exercising the power of eminent domain for such a purpose, to comply with all laws and administrative rules that govern the department's use of eminent domain for state highway projects.

APPROVED by Governor March 31, 2006
EFFECTIVE March 31, 2006

S.B. 06-93 Regional transportation district - limited parking fees and reserved parking.Permits the regional transportation district to charge a fee for a motor vehicle parked at a district parking facility if the facility has an average usage rate of 50% or more and if the vehicle is registered at an address outside the district or it is left in the parking facility for more than 24 hours. Requires a notice be posted for 6 months prior to charging the fee and for the notice to remain posted thereafter while the fee is charged. Prohibits the district from requiring a person to give any type of personal information in administering and enforcing the parking fee. Prohibits the district from providing reserved parking at a parking facility, with certain exceptions.

APPROVED by Governor March 31, 2006
EFFECTIVE August 7, 2006
NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause. For further explanation concerning the effective date, see page vi of this digest.

S.B. 06-115 Private toll road corporations - recording requirements - consent requirements - permit and development fee limits. Specifies that a corporation formed for the purpose of constructing a private toll road or toll highway may not condemn real estate or right-of-way, but allows the department of transportation to do so, subject to limitations specified in current law, in connection with a toll road or toll highway project being undertaken as a public-private initiative between the department and such a corporation. Requires such a corporation to file and record with the county clerk and recorder of each county through which any portion of the proposed toll road or toll highway will pass and update as changes necessitate a map or survey of the proposed route of the toll road or toll highway and to include with the map or survey a statement of the proposed route of the toll road or toll highway, within 3 miles, and a listing of all property over or across which the proposed toll road or toll highway will be constructed.

Requires a corporation to obtain the consent of the appropriate municipal or county authorities before constructing a private toll road or toll highway through, in, upon, under, or over any street or alley of any city, incorporated town, county, or city and county. Allows a political subdivision to levy a tax, fee, or charge for any right or privilege of constructing or operating a private toll road or toll highway subject to the limitations that any permit fees, impact fees, or other similar development charges levied be no greater than necessary to defray the costs directly incurred by the subdivision in providing services; no greater, in the case of impact fees or other development charges, than necessary to defray impacts directly related to the toll road or toll highway; and reasonably related in time to the incurrence of the impacts or costs. In any controversy concerning the appropriateness of a fee or charge, requires the political subdivision to prove that the fee or charge is no greater than necessary to defray the direct impacts or costs incurred by the political subdivision.

APPROVED by Governor April 24, 2006
EFFECTIVE August 7, 2006
NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause. For further explanation concerning the effective date, see page vi of this digest.

H.B. 06-1003 Private toll roads - development - construction - operation - imposition and enforcement of tolls - establishment of private toll road companies. Repeals and reenacts statutory provisions that govern the creation of private toll road companies (companies) and the development, construction, and operation of toll roads and toll highways (toll roads), as well as toll road and toll highway projects (projects), and imposition and enforcement of tolls by such companies to:

● Require that the filed formation document of a company specify and map a 3-mile corridor (corridor) within which a toll road or a project is to be located and to identify the general location of the termini of the toll road within the corridor;

● Grant to a company that complies with all of the repealed and reenacted statutory provisions the power to erect toll gates and set and collect tolls;

● Require the secretary of state to maintain a list of all companies and to make the list and the filed formation documents of all companies available to the public, and require a company to include the designation "PTR" in its official name in order to allow the secretary of state to efficiently compile and maintain the list;

● Prohibit a company from locating any part of its designated 3-mile corridor upon an existing toll road or public highway or within 5 miles of the route or corridor for a future toll road or project that has been designated in any previously filed formation document except as necessary to cross the toll road, project, route, or corridor;

● Give a company whose existing certificate of incorporation specifies the route of a future toll road or the location of a future project the exclusive right for a period of 90 days to file new or amended formation documents that encompass land within the specified route;

● Require a company to commence work on a toll road proposed in its filed formation document no later than 3 years after the filing of the document or one year after receiving all necessary final approvals for construction and to continue such work until at least $500,000 have been expended or forfeit all rights acquired under its filed formation document and be administratively dissolved;

● Grant to a company that has commenced and continued work on a toll road as required the exclusive right to develop or seek approval to develop a toll road within the corridor specified in its filed formation document;

● Limit the existing power of the department of transportation (department) to exercise the power of eminent domain for the purpose of enabling the construction of a toll road pursuant to a public-private initiative between the department and a company by prohibiting the department from exercising eminent domain to acquire a cemetery or property owned by or primarily used by a religious organization, specifying that rights-of-way acquired through the exercise of the power of eminent domain shall form a corridor no larger than that approved by all affected metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), regional planning commissions (RPCs), and the transportation commission (commission), and prohibiting the department from selling or otherwise transferring ownership of property or rights-of-way acquired through the exercise of the power of eminent domain to a company;

● Before commencing the construction of a toll road or any other element of a project, require the review of the toll road or element company by every MPO and RPC that is located in whole or in part within the corridor designated by the company and the inclusion of the toll road or element within the applicable regional transportation plan and the comprehensive statewide transportation plan;

● Allow an MPO or RPC to include a toll road or project in a regional transportation plan only if it has performed an emissions analysis that demonstrates that regional emissions and local project emissions will continue to conform to the state implementation plan if the toll road or project is included, require the company proposing the toll road or project to pay the reasonable actual costs for the emissions analysis, and allow each MPO or RPC to condition its inclusion of a toll road or project into a regional transportation plan upon acceptable environmental mitigation activities and commitments;

● Require a company to provide to an MPO or RPC final environmental documentation, an operating plan, the technology to be utilized, an assessment of project feasibility, and an assessment of long-term project viability at least 30 days before the amendment of a regional transportation plan to include a toll road or project;

● Allow an MPO or RPC to initially amend a regional transportation plan to include only environmental and preconstruction activities, excluding right-of-way acquisition, related to a toll road or project and later amend the plan to include actual construction and right-of-way acquisition for the toll road or project after acceptable environmental mitigation activities and commitments have been met;

● Require a company, upon request from a local government located in whole or in part within the corridor designated by the company, to consult with representatives of the local government and consider available mitigation of demonstrable negative impacts on the local government or its citizens that would result from the construction, operation, or financing of a toll road or project;

● Before constructing or operating a toll road or any other element of a project, require a company to prepare at its own expense environmental documentation that complies with the environmental stewardship guide approved by the commission in May 2005 (stewardship guide) and provides specified information regarding environmental, social, and economic effects of the toll road or project, means of mitigating those effects, and financial costs of mitigation;

● Prohibit a company from beginning work on the required environmental documentation until the executive director of the department has preliminarily approved the scope of the proposed documentation as consistent with the stewardship guide;

● Require a company to provide a copy of any draft environmental documentation it prepares to the department, the departments of public health and environment, natural resources, agriculture, and local affairs, affected MPOs and RPCs, and affected local governments, and to make the draft available to the public and allow the department and other state departments 60 days to analyze the draft and make their analyses available to the public;

● Require a company to prepare final environmental documentation that addresses comments received on any draft environmental documentation and to make the final environmental documentation available to the department and the public at least 30 days prior to any notice of a hearing scheduled by the commission;

● Allow the commission to revise the statewide transportation plan to include a toll road or project only if, after holding a public hearing, the commission determines that:

● Statutory planning, project review, and environmental review requirements, as well as environmental standards, have been met;

● The toll road or project is necessary to meet the transportation needs of the state, consistent with specified statutory requirements pertaining to the statewide transportation plan and the policies of the commission, consistent with a specified federal statute, and in the public interest;

● The toll road or project sponsor has established a reserve fund, performance bond, or other appropriate mechanism to ensure full payment of the costs of environmental compliance and mitigation; and

● The toll road or project sponsor has entered into enforceable agreements with the department, or agreements with affected local governments that are acceptable to the commission, to ensure implementation of mitigation measures;

● Allow the commission to condition its revision of the statewide transportation plan to include a toll road or project upon additional mitigation measures if the commission finds that the measures are in the best overall public interest taking into consideration:

● The need for fast, safe, efficient transportation;

● Public services;

● The costs of eliminating or minimizing the adverse effects for which the mitigation measures are proposed;

● Environmental, social, and economic values; and

● The financial feasibility of the toll road or project;

● Require a company to comply with all department standards for state transportation projects when planning, constructing, and maintaining a toll road or any other element of a project;

● Within 90 days following its filing of a formation document, require a company to cause written notice to be sent to and recorded with the clerk and recorder of each county included in the corridor specified in the filed formation document of the intent of the corporation to construct a toll road or project within that corridor and to mail copies of the written notice to each person who owns real property within the corridor;

● Specify the information to be included in the notice;

● Require a company to file a disclaimer of interest and map of the corridor specified in its filed formation document with the clerk and recorder's office in the county of residence of each person to whom the corporation provided written notice that expressly states that the filed formation document does not effect an interest in the person's real property within the route specified in the filed formation document;

● Grant a preexisting company that has not complied with the notice requirements 90 days to file a new or amended filed formation document that includes all required information and brings it into compliance with the notice requirements;

● Prohibit the use of most real property obtained by a company within the corridor specified in its filed formation document for commercial, residential, or industrial development during the period in which the company or a subsequent purchaser of any interest in a toll road or company is developing or operating a toll road within the corridor;

● Grant a person whose property has been acquired for a toll road through the exercise of the power of eminent domain an exclusive 18-month option to repurchase the property if development or operation of the toll road ceases;

● Require a company to demonstrate to the commission, and the commission to determine, before the sale or transfer of assets or rights generating more than 20% of the revenue from a toll road that resources needed to comply with federal and state environmental standards and to implement previously identified or required mitigation measures will continue to be available for those purposes after the sale;

● Affirm that a company may enter into a public-private initiative with the department for the purpose of enabling the construction of a toll road or project;

● Require the commission to engage in limited review of a company's toll schedule at the time a toll road is submitted for inclusion in the statewide transportation plan and every 5 years thereafter if eminent domain is used by the department to acquire any part of the right-of-way of the toll road for the purpose of determining whether a reduced toll may be imposed on high occupancy vehicles and public mass transit vehicles in order to encourage the use of such vehicles on the toll road;

● Establish toll enforcement procedures that are similar to the existing toll enforcement procedures for public highway authorities and the Colorado tolling enterprise; and

● Specify that a company may not enter into a noncompete agreement with a public entity if the agreement would degrade an existing roadway or either delay or prevent the construction or upgrading of a road or highway that is included in a fiscally constrained regional or statewide transportation plan.

APPROVED by Governor June 6, 2006
EFFECTIVE June 6, 2006

H.B. 06-1039 On-premise advertising devices - comprehensive developments. Allows an on-premise advertising device located within a comprehensive development to advertise any activity conducted in the comprehensive development so long as the placement of the advertising device does not cause a reduction of federal aid highway moneys. Defines "comprehensive development" to mean a group of 2 or more lots or parcels of land used primarily for multiple separate commercial or industrial activities that:

● Is located entirely on one side of a highway;

● Consists of contiguous lots or parcels;

● Has local government approval as a development with a common identity and plan for public and private improvements;

● Has common areas; and

● Has an approved plan of common ownership related to the common areas.

Specifies that a comprehensive development includes only land that is used for a purpose reasonably related to the activities of the development other than an attempt to qualify the land for on-premise advertising.

APPROVED by Governor March 27, 2006
EFFECTIVE August 7, 2006
NOTE: This act was passed without a safety clause. For further explanation concerning the effective date, see page vi of this digest.

H.B. 06-1244 Allocation of the aeronautics division's administrative costs by the transportation commission. Eliminates the requirement that the general assembly appropriate money from the aviation fund for the aeronautics division in the department of transportation, and instead continuously appropriates money from the aviation fund for such purpose. Requires the transportation commission to budget and allocate revenues from the aviation fund for administrative costs incurred by the division. Authorizes the commission to approve the administrative portion of the division's budget that is prepared by the board.

APPROVED by Governor April 24, 2006
EFFECTIVE July 1, 2006

H.B. 06-1257 Noise mitigation along state highways - advanced technology fund - application - funding by local governments - private funding - recapped tires - appropriation. Allows the Colorado commission on higher education to expend moneys in the advanced technology fund on projects involving the use of waste tires for noise mitigation along state highways as prioritized by the department of transportation (department).

Allows a homeowner, renter, or the operator of a temporary housing facility (applicant) in an area adjacent to a state highway to apply to the department for construction of specified noise mitigation measures along the highway if:

● The local government in the area has adopted an ordinance or resolution to mitigate the effects of noise in future residential or other noise-sensitive developments adjacent to state highways; and

● Members of at least 75% of the households in the area who live 0.4 miles or less from the highway sign a petition in support of the noise mitigation measures.

States that if local governments in the area have not agreed to provide at least 50% of the moneys necessary to construct the proposed noise mitigation measures, an applicant may apply for noise mitigation measures only if the area existed as a residential area before the construction or widening of the highway.

Directs the department to consider applications for noise mitigation measures received between November 1 and March 31 for construction during the following fiscal year. Requires the department to prioritize approved measures using a formula that considers:

● The noise level in the area;

● The number of homes in the area that will benefit significantly from noise mitigation measures; and

● The length of time that an area has been eligible for noise mitigation measures.

Directs the department to construct approved noise mitigation measures for which a local government has agreed to provide at least 50% of the necessary moneys, in the order of priority set by the department, using available moneys, including moneys provided by local governments. Allows the department to use any moneys from the waste tire recycling development cash fund provided to the department by the director of the division of local government in the department of local affairs to construct noise mitigation measures using waste tires.

After the construction of noise mitigation measures for which local governments have provided at least 50% of the necessary moneys, directs the department to use any available moneys to construct other approved noise mitigation measures in the order of priority set by the department.

Allows an applicant in an area adjacent to a state highway to apply to the department for approval to construct specified noise mitigation measures along the highway to be privately funded if:

● The local government in the area has adopted an ordinance or resolution to mitigate the effects of noise in future residential or other noise-sensitive developments adjacent to state highways;

● At least 75% of the resident homeowners in the area whose homes are 0.4 miles or less from the highway sign a petition in support of the noise mitigation measures; and

● The applicant specifies the source of the moneys necessary to construct the noise mitigation measures.

Requires the department to consider an application for privately funded noise mitigation measures within 3 months. States that an applicant may construct privately funded noise mitigation measures approved by the department. Requires privately funded noise mitigation measures to:

● Comply with applicable rules and procedural directives of the department and the transportation commission;

● Meet the department's noise reduction standards;

● Be compatible with any existing noise mitigation measures in the area; and

● Comply with applicable zoning and building requirements.

States that privately funded noise mitigation measures may be constructed in the state highway right-of-way with the approval of the department or on private land. Allows the department to sell or grant an easement to any land in the right-of-way for the construction of privately funded noise mitigation measures. States that the applicant shall be responsible for the maintenance of privately funded noise mitigation measures.

Directs the transportation commission to promulgate rules to implement the act, including a list of approved noise mitigation measures.

Allows moneys appropriated to the department of local affairs from the waste tire recycling development cash fund to be spent on projects that use recapped and other previously used waste tires in addition to recycled tires.

Appropriates $3,000 from cash funds exempt received from the department to the department of law to provide legal services related to the drafting and review of the transportation commission's proposed rules.

APPROVED by Governor May 26, 2006
EFFECTIVE May 26, 2006