Colorado § 24-65.5-103 - Notice requirements.

§ 24-65.5-103. Notice requirements.

(1) Not less than thirty days before the date scheduled for the initial public hearing by a local government on an application for development, the applicant shall send notice, by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by a nationally recognized overnight courier, to:

(a) (I) A mineral estate owner who either:

(A) Is identified as a mineral estate owner in the county tax assessor's records, if those records are searchable by parcel number or by section, township, and range numbers or other legally sufficient description; or

(B) Has filed in the office of the county clerk and recorder in which the real property is located a request for notification in the form specified in subsection (3) of this section.

(II) Such notice shall contain the time and place of the initial public hearing, the nature of the hearing, the location and legal description by section, township, and range of the property that is the subject of the hearing, and the name of the applicant.

(b) The local government considering the application for development. Such notice shall contain the name and address of the mineral estate owners to whom notices were sent in accordance with paragraph (a) of this subsection (1).

(1.5) If an applicant files more than one application for development for the same new surface development with a local government, the applicant shall only be required to send notice pursuant to subsection (1) of this section of the initial public hearing scheduled for the first application for development to be considered by the local government. Local governments shall, pursuant to section 24-6-402 (7), provide notice of subsequent hearings to mineral estate owners who register for such notification.

(2) (a) The applicant shall identify the mineral estate owners entitled to notice pursuant to this section by examining the records in the office of the county tax assessor and clerk and recorder of the county in which the real property is located, including the appropriate request for notification pursuant to subsection (3) of this section. Notice shall be sent to the last-known address of the mineral estate owner as shown by such records.

(b) If such records do not identify any mineral estate owners, including their addresses of record, the applicant shall be deemed to have acted in good faith and shall not be subject to further obligations under this article. The applicant shall not be liable for any errors or omissions in such records.

(3) A mineral estate owner who requests or desires to obtain notice under this article or the mineral estate owner's agent may file in the office of the county clerk and recorder of the county in which the real property is located a request for notification form that identifies the mineral estate owner's mineral estate and the corresponding surface estate by parcel number and by section, township, and range numbers or other legally sufficient description. The clerk and recorder shall file request for notification forms in the real estate records for the county and shall also keep an index of request for notification forms by section, township, and range numbers or by subdivision lots and blocks.

(4) Prior to convening an initial public hearing on an application for development, a local government shall require the applicant to certify that notice has been provided to the mineral estate owner pursuant to subsection (1) of this section.

(5) A mineral estate owner may waive the right to notice under this section in writing to the applicant. Failure of a mineral estate owner to be identified in the records described in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section or to file a request for notification under subsection (3) of this section shall not waive the right of such mineral estate owner to file an objection with the local government to such application for development no later than thirty days following the initial public hearing for approval of the application for development or to exercise the remedies set forth in section 24-65.5-104.

(6) Before completing the sale of a mineral estate, a mineral estate owner who has received notice as the owner of the mineral estate of a pending public hearing with respect to an application for development pursuant to this section shall notify the buyer of the mineral estate of the existence of the application for development. A transfer of an interest in a mineral estate by a mineral estate owner following the filing of a request for notification pursuant to subsection (3) of this section shall not modify the address to which the applicant may deliver notice under paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section until the transferee of such interest has filed an amendment to the request for notification describing the address to which such notices shall be sent.

Source: L. 2001: Entire article added, p. 487, § 2, effective July 1. L. 2002: (1.5) and (6) added and IP(2)(a), (2)(a)(I), and (2)(b) amended, p. 892, § 2, effective August 7. L. 2007: Entire section amended, p. 2113, § 3, effective August 3.

ANNOTATION

Law reviews. For article, "Tension Beneath the Surface: The Evolving Relationship Between Surface and Mineral Estates", see 30 Colo. Law. 67 (Dec. 2001).