When Mayor Murphy got his city council to pass a “construction defects” ordinance last October, the fiscal conservatives on council objected the prohibition on suing developers for shoddy construction was illegal and would probably result in the city being sued by homeowners.
The Mayor assured the City Council that Lakewood’s trail-blazing (and potentially reckless) action would put pressure on the state legislature to pass a state law similar to Lakewood’s. If this happened then Lakewood’s ordinance would not be out of whack with the rest of the state and Lakewood would no longer be in danger of being sued.
However the state legislature failed to pass any sort of construction defects legislature in the 2015 session and Lakewood remains in legal limbo. Furthermore, in the over half year since the Mayor got his ordinance there still have been no condominiums started in Lakewood. Since the reason for Lakewood to take this risk was to stimulate condominium construction, it would appear the ordinance has not had any positive effects.
The mayor’s latest strategy to persuade other Colorado cities to stick out their necks too and pass ordinances similar to Lakewood’s. He hopes his “safety in numbers” approach will leave Lakewood less vulnerable.