{"id":113293,"date":"2015-04-13T17:28:26","date_gmt":"2015-04-13T23:28:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/building-measures-face-vote\/"},"modified":"2015-04-13T17:28:26","modified_gmt":"2015-04-13T23:28:26","slug":"building-measures-face-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/building-measures-face-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Building measures face vote"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Homeowners
Homeowners at Rivergate Lofts, south of downtown Durango, won a $26.4 million settlement in 2011 after it was determined there were significant stabilization and support problems associated with defective construction. The state Senate gave initial approval to a measure that would make it more difficult to sue over construction defects, but the bill now faces an uphill battle in the Democratic-controlled House.<\/span>Steve Lewis\/Durango Herald file photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

DENVER \u2013 The Colorado Senate on Friday gave initial approval to a measure that would make it more difficult to sue over construction defects.<\/p>\n

Sponsors said Senate Bill 177 is a step in the affordable-housing effort, pointing out that developers say the fear of facing a lawsuit is holding back development of low-cost condos and townhomes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a panacea, it is not a silver bullet, it does not solve the affordable-housing crisis,\u201d said Sen. Jessie Ulibarri, D-Westminster, a co-sponsor of the bipartisan bill. \u201cBut if we\u2019re not seeing the construction of multifamily, owner-occupied housing, we\u2019re going to continue to see our housing stock diminish.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill still must face a final vote in the Senate before heading to the Democratic-controlled House for consideration, where the bill will face an uphill battle.<\/p>\n

It would require mediation, or arbitration, and the majority of homeowners in an association to agree to file a lawsuit before legal action can be taken.<\/p>\n

Critics of the measure say it erodes homeowners\u2019 rights by making it more difficult to sue. They add that developers should be encouraged to build quality properties, and that a lawsuit may be the only legitimate remedy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do know that ultimately the only answer to this is building a quality product in the beginning,\u201d said Sen. Rollie Heath, D-Boulder.<\/p>\n

Homeowners have also rallied against the proposal, worried that it would establish unfair community governing rules and restrict homeowners\u2019 ability to consult with experts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve actually lived through trying to get a builder to fix horrifying defects in our condo development, and it shocks me that the Senate would vote to strip our consumer rights,\u201d said Jonathan Harris, chairman for Build Our Homes Right.<\/p>\n

The bill has bipartisan support, though it split Democrats.<\/p>\n

The issue is not isolated just to the Front Range. A memo dated Dec. 9 from Durango\u2019s Community Development Department cites the threat of lawsuit as holding back development.<\/p>\n

The vacancy rate in Durango hovers around a very low 2 percent, and the city will need about 900 additional housing units within the next eight years, according to city planners.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just stuns me the price of a condo or townhome,\u201d said Sen. Ellen Roberts, R-Durango. \u201cI wonder how could a young person possibly do this?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Senate on Friday also advanced a measure that would lower the overall length of time homeowners have to sue from eight years to six years.<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 91 passed the chamber on a Republican party-line vote of 18-17. It now heads to the House, where it likely will die.<\/p>\n

pmarcus@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

curbing defect lawsuits<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":113294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5742,5735],"tags":[94,459,13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-113293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-news","tag-colorado-state-government","tag-construction-and-property","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113293"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=113293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}