SPECIAL DISTRICTS
McGeady Becher Cortese Williams P.C. currently serves as general counsel to more than 300 special districts throughout Colorado, from the Front Range to the Western Slope, and the list continues to expand.
The core of our practice is creating and supporting metropolitan and other special districts of all sizes and types, from small, in-fill residential projects to large scale multi-use commercial and residential developments and redevelopment, as well as unique projects involving transportation nodes, brownfield redevelopment, and those projects involving multiple parties, regulatory agencies and governments. Once formed, special district entities allow for the provision of a wide range of necessary public improvements and services, including funding public infrastructure needed to support new commercial, mixed use, or residential developments that cannot otherwise be provided by the governing county and/or municipality.
Members of our Firm have substantial experience in all aspects of special district representation, including: district organization, elections, public meetings and open records, statutory compliance, public bidding, construction contracts and administration, construction financing, right-of-way acquisition, improvement operations, intergovernmental agreements, public finance, debt issuance and restructuring, and the consolidation and dissolution of special districts.
Having successfully worked on many of the most complex projects in Denver and throughout the state of Colorado, we are experts in managing the complexities of large scale projects, including: multiple district structures, multiple developer structures, multiple jurisdictions, regulatory agencies and governmental entities, public-private partnerships, and intergovernmental cost-sharing agreements.
Our Firm has also facilitated the financing of public improvements and the establishment of systems to operate and maintain public infrastructure in communities throughout Colorado with a wide range of entities, including: urban renewal authorities (URAs), downtown development authorities (DDAs), general improvement districts (GIDs), special improvement districts (SIDs), local improvement districts (LIDs), business improvement districts (BIDs), and public improvement districts (PIDs). We also have extensive experience with the utilization of public improvement fees in connection with financing public improvements.
McGeady Becher Cortese Williams also works with municipalities and counties, as well as developers, to utilize special districts to provide covenant enforcement and design review functions which have traditionally been provided through owners’ associations. The special district operates in place of the owners’ association, providing a savings to homeowners in that property taxes are tax-deductible and are generally easier to collect than owners’ association dues.
In addition, our Firm frequently performs due diligence related to special district matters in land acquisitions, and we assist clients in evaluating the impacts of property being included or excluded from a special district, and in evaluating the enforceability of liens and agreements with special districts.