Department of Rendundancy Department

The City of Peoria, AZ, still in a panty-bunch over citizen's demanding their property rights by overwhelmingly approving Prop. 207 last general election, has passed an ordinance outlining in their opinion, "who can file a claim" and "defines certain terms and prohibits the approval of a project if the applicant fails to sign a Proposition 207 waiver."

What a bunch of arrogant buttercups. The City cannot decide "who can file a claim," the citizens who passed Prop. 207 decided that issue. Moreover, the arrogant buttercups think they can still whip-saw property owners, especially if the property owner refuses to sign a Prop. 207 waiver.

Most of those waivers are likely to be litigated in favor of the property owners for the simple fact that said waivers appear to be an illegal "adverse contract," whereby one party has the upper hand in the negotiations to the point where it is a take-it-or-leave-it negotiation.

While that might be fine for buying milk at the local grocery store, the property owner still has a bundle of rights at his disposal to use against such ham-handed buttercups. Prop. 207 was about property owners not getting pushed around by the local commissars.

Again, we pay their salaries and they should quit trying shove property owners around. They pushed too far and got shoved back with Prop. 207. Don't think the property owners won't shove back again against the arrogant Peoria buttercups come next election.

Here is the news story and link...

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0419gl-peocouncil18-ON.html #

City ordinance clarifies land-use lawsuits

Cecilia Chan
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 19, 2007 10:30 AM

Peoria on Tuesday became the first city in Arizona to clarify a state land-use act that threatens municipalities with lawsuits.

Voters last year approved Proposition 207, which allows people to sue a governmental entity for compensation if their property value diminishes because of a land regulation, such as zoning.

"The ultimate goal is to provide as much clarity and certainty, as much as we can," City Attorney Steve Kemp said. "We are leading the pack."

The ordinance approved by the City Council makes clear who can file a claim, defines certain terms and prohibits the approval of a project if the applicant fails to sign a Proposition 207 waiver.

For example, the ordinance lists a number of exemptions where the city does not recognize a claim for just compensation, including if a land-use law was enacted before the act's effective date of Dec. 5 or if it does not directly regulate an owner's private real property.

Kemp said staff worked with the development community on the ordinance.

"It is a huge step forward for us to put some backbone, especially for the city of Peoria, behind this proposition," Councilwoman Cathy Carlat said.

Kemp said other cities were looking at enacting similar ordinances.

Since the state law took effect, Peoria has been requiring people requesting a land-use change to sign a waiver.

The other options for the city, which were deemed long shots by legal staff, included securing a three-fourths vote on an amendment from the state Senate and House, pass another initiative to fix the problem or have the courts clarify the rules.