BROOMFIELD, Colo. — Illegal street racing in Broomfield could soon come at a much steeper price — the loss of your car.
On Tuesday night, the Broomfield City Council unanimously approved a new ordinance giving the Broomfield police the authority to impound vehicles tied to illegal street racing.
The move comes after years of burnouts, blocked highways, and sleepless nights for residents as large groups continue to gather in nearby parking lots and race along major roads, including Highway 7 and Sheridan Boulevard.
"Like many metro cities, we've seen a sharp increase in illegal street racing and all types of road blocks, and just really dangerous behavior," said Broomfield Mayor Guyleen Castriotta. "Some of these will include 500 to 1,000 vehicles, all trying to evade traffic, street racing, and just cause chaos."
The ordinance allows police to impound vehicles involved in illegal activity, including speeding 40 miles per hour over the limit, driving more than 100 mph, vehicular eluding, reckless driving, obstructing highways, or destroying property.
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Broomfield resident Donnah Moody said the trend has disrupted her sleep for years.
"It wakes me up out of a deep sleep," said Moody. "Now they've started going up Sheridan, making a big loop around our community. It's just an open raceway for them."
Robert Sprecher, a Broomfield resident, said the racing groups used to meet at Broomfield County Commons Park, but the city has since ended the meet-ups there due to city park rules requiring permits for large groups.
"If you can imagine two or three dozen of those Japanese motorbikes with no mufflers, and if you see literally hundreds of cars streaming in and parking and shining their lights into the houses at 9:30, 10 o'clock at night for the next several hours, then you get a good picture of what we were experiencing," said Sprecher.
Broomfield police said last year officers recorded 90 street racing incidents. So far this year, police said there have been 40 incidents, including calls to police and other events. Deputy Chief AC Stutson said this year's street racing events have resulted in 27 citations, 19 eluding incidents, and 5 arrests.
Despite those numbers, police said holding people accountable remains a challenge.
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"One of the primary challenges is that these events often occur with 500 to 1,000 cars. That creates an officer safety issue. Also, it's difficult to identify the bad actors within that group because not all of them are bad actors," said Stutson.
Under the new ordinance, vehicles used in illegal street racing will be treated as a public nuisance, subjecting them to impoundment through a civil process separate from any criminal charges against the driver.
"While the driver can be cited for criminal charges, this is a civil process. So, this ordinance will treat the vehicle used in serious illegal activity as a public nuisance. So, then we have the right to impound it, and that's one way of trying to deter repeated illegal behavior," Castriotta said.
The ordinance also includes an appeals process for car owners who were not responsible for how their vehicle was used. Several other municipalities have already adopted similar ordinances, including Aurora, Northglenn, Westminster, and Wheat Ridge.
Residents, including Moody and Sprecher, said they're happy the city is taking more steps to crack down on the dangerous driving.
"I think this is probably as far as they can go. Of course, you always want more, but that's for the state to do," Moody said. "Somebody had to step up and do something, and I'm glad it's my city."
