As duly elected representatives of the citizens of the Town of Monument, Colo., we want to fervently declare our opposition to Senate Bill 23-213, regarding land use authority. When it comes to matters that should be of local concern—specifically related to land use authority, SB23-213 has been characterized as an attempt to provide affordable housing while, in fact, it is a sweeping attack on local decision-making authority. This is both an attack on home rule authority and an unfunded mandate as it requires the town to expend what will be an inordinate amount of funds for studies that will not actually solve the problem that the bill purports to address. Our community will be directly impacted by the components of this staggering legislation by:
- Eliminating our ability to zone multi-family housing to locations where the infrastructure is in place to provide the necessary services.
- Removing our discretion to place certain criteria on multi-family housing, such as parking requirements, along with other infrastructure improvements necessary for the high-density development envisioned by the bill.
- Allowing the character of neighborhoods to be destroyed by forcing incompatible land uses directly adjacent to single-family homes.
- Mandating expensive studies relative to housing and water resources, much of which is already duplicated in existing local planning documents.
- Shifting the burden and responsibility of what have traditionally been local decisions up to a state agency, thus removing local accountability to voters.
The entire bill reflects the state’s belief that it knows far more about what’s best for the quality of life in our communities than our own citizens do. It removes decision-making from the people who are impacted by those decisions and shifts it to a bureaucratic entity that has no vested interest in the Town of Monument, our families, or our character. For those reasons, we strongly ask our legislators to reject this state government power grab.
Mitch LaKind, Mayor, Steve King, Mayor Pro Tem
Sana Abbott, Ken Kimple, Jim Romanello, Marco Fiorito, and Laura Kronick, Town Council Members
Other Letters to Our Community
- Letters to Our Community – Grace Best demolition (3/1/2025)
- Letters to Our Community – D38 chaos (3/1/2025)
- Letters to Our Community – Thanks to OCN for its support (2/1/2025)
- Letters to Our Community – Wildfire call to action (2/1/2025)
- Letters to Our Community – Opposed to proposed Buc-ee’s (12/5/2024)
- Letters to Our Community – Lodging tax issue rebuttal (12/5/2024)
- Letters to Our Community – Tax, spend, and tax some more (11/2/2024)
- Letters to Our Community – Vote no on Prop. 127 (11/2/2024)
- Letters to Our Community – Back to school (9/7/2024)
- Letters to Our Community – Freedom of speech (8/3/2024)