Longest Partisan Streak, Counties

[jimrtex]

Why was Broomfield created?

The City of Broomfield was in 4 counties; and more particularly in the corner of the 4 counties.  It was felt that this was confusing to residents, who likely don't know which services are provided by counties and which by the city, and if by the county by which county.

The solution was to create a consolidated City and County of Broomfield.  This is not unprecedented in Colorado.  The City and County of Denver were consolidated in 1902.

Somewhat odd was that it was created by an amendment to the Colorado Constitution, and was voted on at a statewide referendum in November 1998, so technically was imposed by the voters of the State without those in Broomfield having a say so.  In addition the provision was not made general, so it only applies to this one instance.

Ballot Analysis - City and County of Broomfield

[jimrtex]

Somewhat odd was that it was created by an amendment to the Colorado Constitution, and was voted on at a statewide referendum in November 1998, so technically was imposed by the voters of the State without those in Broomfield having a say so. 

Technically, that is? Did Broomfield residents vote in favor? If not, that would be pretty crazy indeed, a county created against the stated preferences of its inhabitants.

I thought that it had been approved through the initiative process, with citizens/officials of Broomfield promoting it.  But the Blue Book said that when the city had come up with the idea, that they had considered using the initiative.  But the measure was actually referred to the voters of the state by the legislature. 

This might have simply been proactive, so that provisions could be added that would protect the interests of the surrounding counties.  When a city annexes an area, the area remains part of its county.  When a city and county annexes an area, it is removed from its previous county.  In the case of the city and county of Denver, this caused a lot of conflict (in the case of Denver, its school district was also extended).  The Broomfield measure provides a way for the surrounding counties to be involved if Broomfield wants to annex some more areas.

I looked for some county vote totals, but all I could find was the statewide total (roughly 700,000 to 400,000).  If Broomfield was actively against the idea, I doubt that the legislature would have proposed the measure, or that the voters would have approved it.

[jimrtex]

Yeah, I noticed Denver County got larger over the course of the last forty years.
I think the main extension was the airport, though.

Denver was originally the county seat of Arapahoe County, which included what is now Arapahoe and Adams counties extending eastward to the Kansas line.  The City and County of Denver was originally conceived as a metropolitan government when it was created in 1902.  The small towns and farming areas to the north and south became Adams and Arapahoe counties, which were chopped off at their current eastern borders.

Annexation in Colorado has to be approved by the residents/land owners of the areas being annexed.  Voters in residential areas would normally vote annexation down.  But Denver has a water supply from the Western Slope, and could offer water to developers in exchange for annexation.  This led to the annexation of the areas in the southwest and southeast corners which are rather convoluted (at one time Denver was fairly square-shaped).  Because annexation by Denver would also take areas out of surrounding counties and school districts, there was eventually a reaction, so that now the voters of the affected county must approved any annexation.

Somewhat ironically, the annexation of the new airport area came after the law was passed.  Denver insisted on having the airport in its territory (as the old airport was).  Eventually a deal was worked out so that Adams County would be able to control area next to the airport which could be used for industrial and commercial uses associated with the airport, and the voters of Adams County approved the annexation.