As a lawsuit filed against Gov. Jared Polis and the state of Colorado moves ahead, Lafayette City Council member Tim Barnes says the state’s housing laws have already made an impact on the city.
Lafayette announced in May it would join the court fight alongside Aurora, Arvada, Glendale, Greenwood Village and Westminster. At the center of the dispute are state House Bills 23-1255, 24-1304 and 24-1313. The city has called HB23-1255 “one of the first of now many overreaches by the state into home rule authority.”
“Home rule” is a type of governance based on a charter written by residents, giving local officials the authority to make certain decisions for the city. In a statutory municipality — one without home rule — local authorities generally follow state laws…