2018 Colorado Revised Statutes
Title 19 - Children's Code
Article 2 - the Colorado Juvenile Justice System
Part 4 - Juvenile Facilities
§ 19-2-403.5. Legislative declaration - eminent domain - detention facility site
(1) The general assembly hereby finds and declares that:
(a) The juvenile detention facilities currently located within the city and county of Denver are inadequate to house the dramatically increasing number of juveniles being held in detention by or committed to the custody of the department of human services and this inadequacy poses a serious and immediate threat to public safety;
(b) During the 1994 legislative session, the general assembly attempted to address this situation by appropriating additional state moneys for a new sixty-bed juvenile detention facility to be located in the city and county of Denver;
(c) Although the city and county of Denver was to select a proposed site for this juvenile detention facility, the city and county of Denver had refused to do so until just recently;
(d) Due to numerous factors, the two proposed sites that the city and county of Denver finally recommended are not suitable for a juvenile detention facility;
(e) Due to Denver's delays and refusal to recommend a suitable site, the situation regarding the number of juvenile detention beds located in the city and county of Denver has reached a critical point and it has become necessary for the state of Colorado to take action in order to address this situation;
(f) Granting the department of human services the power of eminent domain to acquire private or public property for juvenile detention facilities in the city and county of Denver is reasonably related to the legitimate state interest of providing a sufficient number of juvenile detention beds within the city and county of Denver so that the department can adequately house the number of juveniles held in detention or committed to the department's custody; and
(g) A general law cannot be made applicable to address the provision of juvenile detention facility beds within the city and county of Denver.
(2) (a) Subject to the provisions of subsection (3) of this section, the department of human services has the right to acquire by eminent domain any real property that is located within the Denver metropolitan area that is necessary for the establishment of one or more juvenile detention facilities. Such real property shall be acquired in accordance with articles 1 to 7 of title 38, C.R.S.
(b) Any real property specified in paragraph (a) of this subsection (2) that is already devoted to a public use may be acquired by the department of human services pursuant to this section; except that no property owned by the federal government may be acquired without the consent of the federal government.
(3) Prior to the acquisition of any real property pursuant to subsection (2) of this section, the proposed acquisition must be reviewed and approved by the joint budget committee established pursuant to section 2-3-201, C.R.S.
