A lawsuit filed by Butterball against the City of Longmont, Colorado, has been dismissed by a district judge, invalidating the turkey processors’ claims that a change in zoning was done illegally and hurt Butterball’s chances to sell a building that once housed a turkey plant. The lawsuit had previously been scheduled for a September trial.
Butterball in 2013 filed the suit against the city, saying the city did not give it proper notice that it planned to rezone land in Longmont that included the former Butterball plant. The city in January 2013 changed the zoning from “mixed use” to “mixed industrial” as part of its plans to redevelop the neighborhood, a move Butterball said was illegal and improper.
However, according to a Longmont Times-Call report, District Judge Andrew Hartman said the City of Longmont had given proper notice via email, regular mail, certified mail and public meeting notices. The letters were all sent to a Butterball address listed with the Boulder County Assessor’s Office. Butterball argued that a notice should have been physically posted on the buildings, and that no Butterball personnel recalled getting the letters.
Hartman disagreed. “Under the United States Constitution, due process does not require that the interested party actually receive the notices – only that the notices be placed in the mail,” Hartman wrote, adding that he believed the city genuinely tried to provide notice.
The Butterball plant in Longmont closed in late 2011 and the building was placed on the market in the summer of 2012.
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