(1) The general assembly hereby finds and declares that: (a) Incorporation of areas containing more than seventy-five thousand inhabitants into new municipalities furthers the goal of orderly growth of urban communities and achieves the purposes stated in section 31-12-102; (b) Municipal incorporations of areas containing such population present viable municipal communities and are favored over municipal annexations that may fragment affected communities and reduce or eliminate the ability to provide municipal government, services, and facilities to those communities; (c) The current municipal annexation and incorporation laws do not adequately expressly address the priority to be given municipal incorporation of areas containing such population; (d) This section and section 31-12-118 (2)(b) are necessary to provide remedial direction regarding the jurisdiction of municipalities to subject areas containing such population to municipal annexation and, therefore, that each section shall apply on and after February 1, 1999, to all annexation proceedings that are pending or subject to judicial review or appeal commenced pursuant to sections 31-12-116 and 31-12-117 whether or not such review or appeal is sought; (e) The enactment of this section and section 31-12-118 (2)(b) is not violative of section 11 of article II of the Colorado constitution with respect to annexation proceedings that are pending or subject to judicial review or appeal on February 1, 1999, since: (I) Section 11 of article II of the Colorado constitution applies solely to statutes that take away or impair a vested right acquired under existing laws or that impose a new duty or create a new obligation with respect to completed transactions or considerations; (II) No person has a vested right in any annexation proceedings that are pending or subject to judicial review or appeal on February 1, 1999, that will be impaired by this section or section 31-12-118 (2)(b); and (III) This section and section 31-12-118 (2)(b) do not impose a new duty or create a new obligation with respect to any municipal annexation that is completed and that is final and no longer subject to judicial review or appeal. (2) (a) If a petition for an incorporation election is filed pursuant to part 1 of article 2 of this title, then no annexation ordinance that annexes all or any part of the area included in such petition shall be deemed final. This subsection (2) shall apply only if such area proposed for incorporation contains more than seventy-five thousand inhabitants and such petition is filed: (I) Prior to the expiration of the sixty-day limitation on review proceedings contained in section 31-12-116 (2)(a); or (II) After a review proceeding on such annexation ordinance has been commenced pursuant to section 31-12-116 and prior to the date of a judicial declaration or final judgment, including an appellate judgment, on such review proceeding. (b) If such incorporation election is approved by a court order entered pursuant to section 31-2-103, then such annexation ordinance shall be deemed void with respect to any area that is incorporated pursuant to such election.
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