Last week, I linked to a Denver Post story detailing the ordeal of Don and Susie Kirlin, a Boulder couple who’ve been living in the city for 27 years. The Kirlins recently had a substantial chunk of their land taken away from them by the legal maneuverings of their well-connected politician neighbors, Richard McLean and wife Edith Stevens. You see, McLean and Stevens wanted that land for themselves. And thanks to a friendly judge and an obscure legal doctrine called “adverse possession,” they were able to seize the land from the Kirlins.
A reader wrote in with a little more background about this case:
Evan,
Just some notes I found while poking around on the internet about this case. I don’t know anyone involved, everything I know came from Google searches. It just infuriates me that someone could do this.
1) The Kirlins claim that they have satellite photos proving that the paths that McLean “developed” didn’t exist until a year ago.
2) Edith Stevens is a former Chairwoman of the Boulder Democratic Party and is still active in local politics. In fact, one of the claims that she uses to justify the land grab is that she used the land to stage political fundraisers. I’d be interested to find out which politicians benefited from her land grab.
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Edith Stevens has resigned as campaign treasurer for State House Representative Claire Levy (Democrat).
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3) Levy appears to be yet another trial lawyer turned politician. From her website:
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“I also worked with legislators on bills related to local government land use authority. Our goal was to retain flexibility for local governments to address their unique problems during a time when the state legislature wanted to take tools away from local government in favor of developers.”
Presumably Don and Susie Kirlin, in this case, are the developers. They’re a family trying to build their dream home. “Local government” in this case are the courts and politicians. This isn’t eminent domain or overzealous land use regulation, but it’s all part of the same picture— usurping property rights in the name of “public good”. After all, where would we hold our democratic fundraisers if Don and Susie build their house?
4) Two points seem to be getting lost in the comment threads on the sites I’m reading. First, this is NOT an open and shut case. Apparently, the Kirlins claim to have convincing evidence that key facts were misrepresented (that is, aerial photography disputing when the footpaths were created). Second, over and above the legal question is the ethical question. The Kirlins aren’t 17th century English barons, fencing off the commons and evicting the commoners. They’re neighbors. McLean and Stevens might win in the courts—in fact with their political clout it seems likely they will—but that doesn’t make taking what isn’t theirs morally right.
Rob in Atlanta
