Figuring that Amendment 24, the controversial controlled-growth amendment, will be challenged as unconstitutional if it passes Nov. 7, the Montezuma County Commission agreed Tuesday to draw up a ballot initiative that asks voters here to exempt the county from its restrictions.

"It is certainly a strange situation when you have a local ballot question asking voters to exempt themselves from a (statewide) ballot amendment that has not yet been decided on," said county attorney Bob Slough. "But there is nothing that says we can’t do this."

The commission, agreeing that the anti-growth measure violates the rights of property-owners, says that opting out of the amendment is a viable option because it gives the county a reprieve from its restrictions while it works its way through the courts.

"It is already being challenged because it is a major takings issue," said Commissioner Gene Story. "This will give us time, and show us whether this growth amendment is what the people here want. If they do, then the people have spoken."

Amendment 24, known as "Coloradoans for Controlled Growth," would require all Colorado counties to conform to a zoning system that forces city and county governments to identify areas for new development on a map. Then government entities must obtain voter approval for those growth areas, which must be already served by central sewer and water. If the growth areas are denied, then no development could take place there, and new maps are drawn up.

"What it does is penalize property-owners who have not already subdivided," said county Administrator Tom Weaver.

"Also it promotes more growth in areas that are already built up, making the problem worse," added Comissioner Kent Lindsay.

Furthermore, the commission said, the amendment would nullify the county’s unique Landowners Initiated Zoning process (LIZ), the only one of its kind in the state. LIZ puts the decision-making process of zoning directly into the hands of property-owners and their neighbors, who are encouraged to coordinate and decide what they want to see for the future in their area.

The incentive is for landowners to get together on the fate of their micro-communities — industrial, agricultural or residential — rather than have government representatives make the call.

If enough neighbors zone their land "agricultural," for instance, that goes on a preference map, and prevents development that does not fit with that land use from coming in.

Areas that already have industrial and commercial development, like South Broadway, would be zoned for that purpose, and business owners who are already established would be grandfathered in.

As evidence that they are dealing with the growth issue, the commission pointed to the Montezuma County Land Use Code that spells out requirements and threshold standards for noise, traffic, density and infrastructure regarding new subdivisions and commercial development. The code was put into place in July 1998 as a part of LIZ.

And those requirements have already led to denials of a few subdivisions and commercial developments because they do not fit with zones officially preferred by surrounding property owners.

"Don’t let rural counties suffer because of the problems that main core communities on the Front Range are dealing with," said Lindsay. "We have got to do this now, because it is our only chance to get a reprieve. Otherwise we could be stuck with it while it goes through the courts."

According to the amendment, towns and counties under 1,000 in population would be exempt, and those under 25,000 could request voter permission to opt out, as Montezuma County is likely to do. Pending Census 2000 results, the county currently has 23,800 people.

"There is a good chance we will go over when those numbers come out," Weaver said, at which point opting out is not possible.

Cities and counties over 25,000 would be required to comply with the amendment if the measure passes, which state polls show is likely to happen.

That’s because the majority of voters live on the Front Range, which is experiencing runaway growth, leading to problems such as pollution, urban sprawl, and erosion of the open space Coloradoans love.

A lack of legislative action on the growth issue, not surprisingly, led environmental groups to take the measure into their own hands through the initiative process. Penned by the Colorado Environmental Coalition, and backed by state chapters of the Sierra Club, and the Audubon Society, Amendment 24 had no trouble getting the required signatures to get it on the ballot.

Commissioner Kelly Wilson was hesitant about asking voters here to exempt themselves from the controlled-growth initiative, preferring instead to ignore the measure if it passes.

"What are the consequences if we do not do it?" he asked. "To me it would be better to say ‘we can’t handle this, it doesn’t fit’ so why even bother with it?"