DENVER | Main Development Thread #6

[TakeFive]

Denverite... Very fair points.

I did say in my 1st comment that better oversight would be the best tonic. What I would also say is that the "power and authority" needs to be retained by the municipal (or appropriate) government. If a consumer advocacy group wants to be able to conduct inspections I see no problem so long as they report to or bring to the attention of the appropriate city agency any concerns. Or the city could subcontract out such inspections.

I also believe that the arbitration process should work much better to everybody's satisfaction than dealing with class action lawsuits. If for some reason(s) arbitration is ineffective then that should be addressed and rectified.

I don't recall the issues with One Lincoln Park and I never was aware of the problems with Panterra but what I would say is that it's not fair to over regulate and over burden the great majority of well-intentioned, professional, competent developers. Better supervision could be part of the solution. Perhaps Colorado can address the outlier by coming up with a housing lemon law for the truly bad messes that are made on occasion.

Whether the Condo defect law is being abused is the wrong question. The answer to that depends on who you ask. As bunt_q has discussed the fact that insurance costs to developers is extraordinary high tells you we're not dealing with ordinary, usual business risks. I've argued that in the past the demand likely wasn't there for condos. But that is clearly no longer the case but builders have no appetite for dealing with the risks from the defects law.

I do believe that the proposed bill is a very fair answer and I'm comforted by Mayor Hancock's support. Seriously.
Ultimately, each municipal jurisdiction needs to take care of their own. IIRC Panterra is (also) in Denver so I guess Denver needs to address their lack of oversight and enforcement and take corrective measures.

The politics of things we'll leave for another day. While I haven't been corrupted from living in a very conservative state it does raise one's antenna to excessive and unnecessary regulations.