Colorado § 32-9-103 - Definitions.

§ 32-9-103. Definitions.

As used in this article 9, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) "Board" means the board of directors of the district.

(2) "Condemn" or "condemnation" means the exercise by the district of the power of dominant eminent domain or eminent domain, in the manner provided in articles 1 to 7 of title 38, C.R.S., to acquire mass transportation facilities and property, real or personal, or an interest therein, for the public use of the district.

(3) "Director" means a member of the board.

(3.5) "Director district" means that area within the district which is represented by one director.

(3.7) "Discovery" means physical discovery of an undocumented utility communicated by the district or its contractors, agents, or employees verbally or in writing to the utility company's designated project representative or, if no representative has been designated, to the chief engineer or equivalent.

(4) "District" means the regional transportation district created by this article.

(5) "District securities" means bonds, temporary bonds, refunding bonds, special obligation bonds, interim notes, notes, and warrants of the district authorized to be issued by this article.

(6) "Dominant eminent domain" means that the right of the district to condemn public property, real and personal, shall be superior in public necessity to that of any city, town, city and county, county, or other public corporation except a school district, but such right shall be superior only for the purpose of acquiring existing mass transportation facilities and related real or personal property.

(6.2) "Eligible elector" means a registered elector as defined in section 1-1-104 (35), C.R.S., who resides within the geographic boundaries of the district.

(6.3) "Fixed guideway corridor" means a corridor designated by the district for the construction and operation of a fixed guideway mass transit system.

(6.4) "Fixed guideway corridor utility relocation agreement" means an agreement entered into by the district and a utility company for the purpose of performing utility relocation work necessitated by a transportation expansion plan in accordance with the requirements of section 32-9-119.1.

(6.5) "Fixed guideway mass transit system" means any public transportation system that utilizes and occupies a separate right-of-way or rail for the exclusive use of public transportation service. No such system shall intersect any road or street with an average daily traffic count of twenty thousand or greater at grade unless the municipality or county having jurisdiction over such road or street specifically requests an at grade crossing.

(6.7) "Force majeure" means fire, explosion, action of the elements, strike, interruption of transportation, rationing, shortage of labor, equipment, or materials, court action, illegality, unusually severe weather, act of God, act of war, or any other cause that is beyond the control of the party performing work on a utility relocation project and that could not have been prevented by the party while exercising reasonable diligence.

(6.9) "Major electrical facilities" has the same meaning as set forth in section 29-20-108 (3)(a)(I), (3)(a)(II), (3)(a)(III), and (3)(a)(IV).

(7) (a) "Mass transportation system" or "system" means any system of the district or any other system, the owner or operator of which contracts with the district for the provision of transportation services, that transports the general public by bus, rail, or any other means of surface conveyance or any combination thereof, within the district.

(b) Such system may include facilities for transportation within or without or both within and without the district as special charter services provided to the general public. The schedule of charges for special charter service shall be equal to but not less than those charged by authorized common carriers rendering the same or similar service. The service may be performed under such terms and conditions for which facilities are made available for such charter use and in conformity with the reasonable rules and regulations provided by the board with respect to the use thereof, but the special charter service outside the district shall be limited to such rights and privileges as are obtained by the district in the acquisition of mass transportation facilities and property.

(c) The system may include facilities for the transportation of package-express shipments on routes to and from Boulder and Denver if such shipments are transported coincidentally with the transportation of the general public in scheduled service and over prescribed routes within the district. The schedule of charges for package-express service shall not be less than those charged by authorized common carriers rendering the same or similar service over the same routes and distances. The package-express service may be performed under such terms and conditions for which facilities are made available for such package-express use and in conformity with the rules and regulations established by the board with respect to the use thereof.

(8) (Deleted by amendment, L. 2000, p. 307, § 1, effective April 5, 2000.)

(9) "Operation and maintenance expenses" means all reasonable and necessary current expenses of the district, paid or accrued, of operating, maintaining, and repairing facilities of the mass transportation system of the district.

(9.5) "Paratransit" or "paratransit service" means complementary parallel transit service for individuals with disabilities who are unable to utilize regular or fixed-route transit service for some or all of their transit needs.

(10) "Person" means any natural person, association, partnership, company, or corporation.

(11) "Public body" means the state of Colorado, or any county, city and county, city, town, district, or any other political subdivision of the state, excluding the regional transportation district.

(12) "Publication" means the publication once a week for three consecutive weeks in at least one newspaper having general circulation in the district. Publication need not be made on the same day of the week in each of the three weeks; but not less than fourteen days shall intervene between the first day of publication and the last day of publication.

(13) "Revenues" means the tolls, fees, rates, charges, or other income and revenues derived from the operation of the mass transportation system of the district, moneys received in the form of grants or contributions from all sources, public or private, income derived from investments by the district, and any combination of the foregoing.

(14) "Taxes" or "taxation" means general ad valorem property taxes only.

(15) (Deleted by amendment, L. 92, p. 907, § 157, effective January 1, 1993.)

(15.1) "Utility company" or "utility" shall have the same meaning as set forth in 23 CFR 645.105, as amended.

(15.5) "Utility facility" means all installed equipment of a utility.

(16) "Vehicular service" means any service provided by the district that involves transporting the general public by means of any self-propelled vehicle that is designed primarily for travel on the public highways and that is generally and commonly used to transport persons and property over the public highways. "Vehicular service" does not include any service provided by the district that is part of the rail system.

Source: L. 69: p. 714, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 89-20-3. L. 70: p. 292, § 97. L. 71: p. 978, § 1. L. 73: p. 985, § 1. Initiated 80: (3.5) added, effective upon proclamation of the Governor, December 19, 1980 (see editor's note). L. 81: (7)(a) amended and (7)(c) added, p. 1640, § 1, effective May 28; (15) amended, p. 1626, § 32, effective July 1. L. 85: (7)(a) amended, p. 1119, § 1, effective July 1. L. 87: (6.3) and (6.5) added and (7)(a) amended, p. 1246, § 2, effective May 22. L. 92: (6.2) added and (15) amended, p. 907, § 157, effective January 1, 1993. L. 93: (7)(a) amended, p. 1790, § 79, effective June 6. L. 94: (6.2) amended, p. 460, § 1, effective March 29; (6.3) amended, p. 1324, § 1, effective May 25. L. 97: (6.2) amended, p. 805, § 1, effective May 20. L. 99: (6.5) and (7)(a) amended, p. 1400, §§ 3, 4, effective June 4. L. 2000: (8) and (13) amended, p. 307, § 1, effective April 5. L. 2003: (16) added, p. 1795, § 1, effective May 21. L. 2007: (3.7), (6.4), (6.7), (6.9), (15.1), and (15.5) added, p. 717, § 1, effective May 3. L. 2022: IP and (6.9) amended, (HB 22-1104), ch. 97, p. 467, § 8, effective April 13. L. 2026: (9.5) added, (SB 26-150), ch. 152, p. 843, § 3, effective August 12.

Editor's note: For the complete initiated measure and votes cast for the adoption or rejection thereof, see L. 81, pp. 2057-2060.

Cross references: (1) For the legislative declaration contained in the 1999 act amending subsections (6.5) and (7)(a), see section 1 of chapter 338, Session Laws of Colorado 1999. For the legislative declaration in HB 22-1104, see section 1 of chapter 97, Session Laws of Colorado 2022.

(2) For the short title ("Modernizing the Regional Transportation District Act") in SB 26-150, see section 1 of chapter 152, Session Laws of Colorado 2026.

ANNOTATION

The term "dominant eminent domain" means that the power of eminent domain is superior to that of other specific governmental subdivisions of the state, but not the state itself. Absent a contrary definition in the special district provisions, the court assumed that the general assembly intended that the term in § 32-1-1006 (1)(f) has a similar meaning, and, therefore, town and water and sanitation district were not authorized to condemn state-owned property to determine feasibility of recreation and water storage project under that section. Town of Parker v. Colo. Div. of Parks, 860 P.2d 584 (Colo. App. 1993).