AURORA, Colo. — More than three years after the Aurora City Council voted to lift a ban on ownership of multiple dog breeds, a district judge sided with a resident who challenged their authority to remove the ban.
The repeal in January 2021 allowed Aurora residents to own pit bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers and Staffordshire bull terriers within city limits. At the time, Mayor Mike Coffman had proposed a ballot measure on lifting the pit bull ban that would have gone to a vote in November 2021. Coffman’s plan for the ballot measure was rejected with a 3-7 vote.
Aurora resident Matthew Snider filed a legal challenge to the repeal in 2021, and it's been working its way through the court system. Last week, a district judge sided with him and found that under Aurora's City Charter and Code, an ordinance submitted by voters through a referendum or resolution could only be changed by a vote.
"This is a mess that the City Council caused," Snider said. "I’m simply a citizen advocating for voting rights saying, 'You can’t do this. You have committed an illegal act. You’ve violated city charter, and you need to be held to account.' That’s all."
Snider said he wanted to be an advocate for the voting rights he felt were violated by councilmembers.
"If there was some other issue, any issue, that the voters had made law on and the City Council tries to do this again, I’ll be right there," Snider said.
Judge Elizabeth Beebe Volz concluded that the City Council lacked the authority to enact the repeal of the ban.
In 2014, Aurora voters rejected a ballot measure to repeal the city's restricted breed ordinance. About 64% of voters were in favor of keeping the ordinance, which banned the ownership of American pit bull terriers, American Staffordshire terriers and Staffordshire bull terriers within city limits.
The city's ban on owning certain breeds had been in place since 2005.
Ryan Luby, the City of Aurora's director of communications, Ryan Luby, wrote in an email, "As the court issued its decision just last week, the city is still evaluating next steps which could include enforcement of the ban or appealing the district court judge’s decision."
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