Town of Erie
HOTEL EYED AT COLORADO NATIONAL GOLF COURSE
The owner of the Colorado National Golf Club (CNGC), formerly Vista Ridge Golf Club, in Erie has received private donations to support development of a hotel complex. The envisioned facility would provide maintenance support for the Golf Club, an indoor/outdoor practice arena, and tennis courts. According to CNGC owner, Steve Kerr, the complex is designed to make the golf course a regional destination. He plans to submit plans for the maintenance facility before the end of 2009. Kerr said he has spoken to Hilton hotels and Marriott but has no proposal at this time. The University of Colorado uses CNGC as its home course and will host Big 12 Conference golf tournaments there.

City of Longmont
REALTORS® AND CO-PLAINTIFFS WIN PRELIMINARY INJJUNCTION AGAINST FAIR CAMPAIGN PRACTICES ACT
Federal Judge Walker Miller ruled in favor of the Longmont Association of Realtors® and other plaintiffs and granted a preliminary injunction against the City of Longmont regarding the Longmont Fair Campaign Practices Act (LFCPA) This means that the City cannot regulate any independent expenditures LAR makes on behalf of any candidates in excess of $100. In addition, the City cannot require LAR to provide notices to all candidates of any expenditure over $100. The judge will make a final decision at a later date, but the fact that he approved the injunction is important because, as Judge Miller wrote in his decision, the plaintiffs had to meet a stringent burden of proof “making a strong showing as to the likelihood of success of their claims, all of which involve an alleged unconstitutional restriction of their First Amendment rights of expression.” Judge Miller has not yet scheduled a date for the final ruling but this means the City cannot require LAR and other plaintiffs to comply with egregious and impossible provisions of the LFCPA during the current City Council election. (BK)

FIRESTONE MOVES ON AGGRESSIVE ANNEXATIONS
Longmont and Firestone have been in an annexation battle for more than a year. The dispute erupted when Firestone began annexation of the 74-acrte Firelight Park property and the 350-acre Union property owned by LifeBridge Christian Church. Counter moves by Longmont seemed to hold off Firestone until the Town began recent annexation hearings and look to circumvent Longmont’s defensive annexations of open space and claiming right of way on Colo. 119. Now firestone is annexing, from east to west, the 170-acre Adam Farm, the 3.6-acre strip along WCR 26 called Newby Farm, the 2.5-acre meadow farm that borders the Union property. These proposed annexations are intended to give Firestone a stake in the further development of the Colo. 119 corridor. It is not exactly clear just what the relationship is between Firestone and LifeBridge Christian Church. We haven’t heard the last of this one.

Town of Lyons
LYON’S OFFICIALS LOOKING TO AMEND GROWTH AGREEMENT
The Lyon’s Board of Trustees is seeking cooperation from the Boulder County Planning Commission to amend a seven year old intergovernmental agreement s the Lyon’s Planning Area Boundaries can be changed. Lyon’s is looking to expands the eastern boundary to include 113 Stone Canyon Road, Gwynne’s Greenhouse properties at 4497 Ute Highway and 4602 Highland Drive and Longmont’s former water treatment plant at 4651 Ute Highway. Expanding the boundary would allow the property owners to seek annexation in the future and promote orderly development of the planned commercial gateway. Lyons is seeking intergovernmental agreement revisions that would allow the Town to exert influence on the development and aesthetics of these highly visible highway frontage properties.

Boulder County
VESTED RIGHTS KEEPS HOME SIZE LIMITS, BUILDSMART RULES AT BAY
In 2006, Boulder County approved Goldbranch Estates, an 18-acre high end residential development. This year the developer successfully argued for an extension of vested rights that exempts the project from home-size limits, requirements to buy development credits for homes larger than 6,000SF, and forgoes expensive green building techniques. Goldbranch argued it could not build the project as approved without the vested rights extension and that it has already relied on the approvals and invested in significant infrastructure improvements. The county granted an extension of vested rights until August 2015. The project, located near SW Longmont, will include 10 Village Homes on ½-acre lots and seven Estate Homes on 1-acre lots.

BOULDER VALLEY FORECLOSURES BREAKING RECORDS
Nine months into the 2009 year saw foreclosures in Boulder and Broomfield counties exceed the number filed in all of 2008. At the end of September 2009 there had been 1,342 foreclosures filed in the Boulder Valley compared to 1,292 filed at the end of 2008.

Nation
FOCUS ON EXTENDING TAX CREDIT INTENSIFIES
While no official legislative action took place on the tax credit during the preceding week, the buzz generated increased measurably. REALTORS® have generated almost 500,000 letters to congressional offices via the REALTOR® Action Center. NAR’s Call for Action to NAR members has achieved a higher response rate than any other previous Call for Action, underscoring the importance of the credit to REALTORS® and consumers alike. Several House members have introduced bills extending the credit in direct response to the communications from REALTORS®.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) continues to express his desire to move the extension at the first opportunity. As yet, however, there is not a clear procedural path to enactment, nor is there any agreement on how (or whether) the provision will be “paid for.” As yet, no revenue source for extending the credit has been identified. The “cost” is about $1 Billion for each month of extension. (NAR)

COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE MODIFICATION GUIDELINES EXPECTED SOON
On Wednesday, October 14, 2009, FDIC Chair Sheila Bair testified with others from the banking industry at a hearing of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions. At the hearing, Bair stated that regulators are close to issuing new guidance for banks to use in modifying troubled commercial real estate (CRE) loans. Workouts for these loans, said Bair, are often in the best interest of all parties involved during tough economic periods. The forthcoming guidance will reflect this, and is intended to give banks the necessary resources to restructure weak credit relationships and manage real estate holdings in an organized way. At the hearing, Bair, along with several other witnesses, expressed concern over the state of the CRE market. Indeed, Bair cited CRE loans as “the most prominent area of risk for rising credit losses at FDIC-insured institutions during the next several quarters.”

HOUSE COMMITTEE PASSES THE CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION AGENCY ACT
On Thursday, October 22nd, H.R. 3126, the “Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) Act of 2009″, passed the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC), 39-29. The bill, which is the cornerstone of the Obama Administration’s financial regulatory reform plan, will remove the ability of the banking and lending regulatory agencies to write new consumer protection laws, and give oversight of several existing statutes, such as the Truth and Lending Act (TILA) and the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), to the new agency. Many supporters of the agency argued that the financial regulatory agencies failed to adequately enforce protections for consumers while working to ensure safety and soundness of the financial institutions in their charge; therefore, this responsibility should be removed.

One of the criticisms of the bill is that the language, though intended to focus only on consumer credit offered by financial institutions, was too broad and could potential encompass the business practices of other business sectors. The National Association of REALTORS® greatly appreciates the work of HFSC Chairman Frank and his staff to craft an exemption from the bill to ensure that the traditional practices of real estate professionals will not be subject to the authorities of the CFPA.

The bill is now headed to the House floor and will be voted on in the next 2 to 3 weeks; however, there is no companion bill in the Senate. Therefore, NAR will continue to monitor this bill’s progress through Congress and report when enactment is anticipated.

NAR staff, CAR staff and Regional Government Affairs Director, Barbara Koelzer, contributed to this report.

Denver Home Prices Rise Again, Getting Closer to 2008 Levels: Home prices in the Denver area rose in July for the fifth straight month, and prices are creeping closer to where they were a year ago, according to Standard & Poor’s closely watched S&P/Case-Shiller Home Prices Index. read more here

Vestas Hiring Workers for Brighton Plant, Plans Job Fair: Vestas Nacelles America Inc. is recruiting workers for its planned Brighton wind-power factory and will hold a career fair Thursday. Vestas announced last year it will build a $290 million plant in Brighton for assembling wind-turbine nacelles and making blades. The facility is expected to be in operation by next year. The blade factory will employ about 650 people and the nacelle plant will have about 700 employees, Vestas has said. read more here

Record Streak Continues for Pending Home Sales: Pending home sales have increased for seven straight months, the longest in the series of the index which began in 2001, according to the National Association of Realtors®.Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the housing market momentum has clearly turned for the better. “The recovery is broad-based across many parts of the country. Housing affordability has been at record highs this year with the added stimulus of a first-time buyer tax credit,” he said. read more here

Colorado Mortgage Rates Hit 4.9%, Lowest in Months: Mortgage rates in Colorado dipped to 4.9 percent Tuesday September 29th, their lowest level in several months, and were headed lower Wednesday, Zillow Mortgage Marketplace reported. Local rates for 30-year-fixed mortgages topped 5.3 percent in early August and have been heading more or less downward ever since, according to Zillow data. read more here

Is the Vail Valley Economy Starting to Rebound? The Vail Valley’s giddy boom days of 2007 are long past, but there may be some signs the local economy is starting to show some signs of life. read more here

Denver No. 7 as Youth Magnet: The Wall Street Journal enlisted the help of six experts to determine the 10 most attractive cities that for attracting young professionals, and profiled the top 5. Denver ranked No. 7. read more here

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