Attorney says Red Lion renovation in Vail shouldn’t be subject to new emergency ordinances

The town of Vail has passed a pair of emergency ordinances in recent months aimed at halting the conversion of bars and restaurants into other uses in town, but one popular restaurant looking to remodel says the law won’t apply to it.

Representing Red Lion LLC, the owner of the building containing the Red Lion restaurant, attorney Brandee Caswell told the Vail Town Council on June 3 that the building owner has applied for a major exterior alteration, but a restaurant bar is still anticipated as a significant use there.

“If you pass this moratorium, because this application is pending, it’s our expectation that Red Lion’s application will not legally be subject to it,” Caswell said.

In April, the council passed an emergency ordinance that placed a temporarily halt on the issuance of building permits for restaurants seeking to convert into retail; and on June 3, the council expanded that ordinance, halting the processing of applications and the scheduling of public hearings related to the conversion of eating and drinking establishments to other uses.

Caswell told the council that in order to pass emergency ordinances like the ones the council has passed recently, those emergency ordinances must contain facts specifically stating the urgency related to the preservation of health, welfare, peace or safety.

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“Setting aside whether enough bars and restaurant nightlife rises to the level of an emergency relating to health, safety and welfare — where are the facts supporting the notion that there are actually or have been a great deal of restaurants or bars converted to retail?” Caswell asked the council.

Caswell did not receive an answer, but in an email to the Vail Daily, town of Vail spokesperson Kris Widlak pointed to the conversion of the former Los Amigos into a new luxury dining and social experience called “The Sixty Two Society” as one example.

“Recently, The Sixty Two (formerly Los Amigos) is another change in use that could negatively affect vibrancy and nightlife in town,” Widlak said.

Widlak also referenced a 2017 story from the Vail Daily, which detailed the closing of music venues in town including 8150, the Sandbar and Samana Lounge.

But Caswell said Los Amigos aside, those examples are more than 10 years old, and more recently, there have been numerous examples of the opposite — retail converting into restaurants.

“We have, in the last few years, Chasing Rabbits, three bars, a restaurant, 20,000 square feet of entertainment facility for nightlife; Root and Flower, which used to be a T-shirt shop; we have 10th Mountain, which used to be retail; Treff Cafe at Sonnenalp is a new bar and coffee shop that was retail; Barrio Social was an art gallery three years ago; First Chair used to be retail; Bad Kitty was a retail, now it’s a bar; Gorsuch added a cafe in what was retail space; and Moe’s closed but reopened as a restaurant,” Caswell said. “So I’m scratching my head, apart from this emergency part of this issue, to see what the issue is.”

Caswell pointed out that the ordinance passed June 3 says the town has “experienced an increase in applications to convert eating and drinking establishments,” and asked the town to share what applications it has received.

“The only application that I’m aware of is for the Red Lion, and I want to be clear, it does not, does not convert an eating or drinking establishment to retail,” Caswell said.

Caswell said she has represented a landowner in the past who challenged the town of Vail regarding use of property, and the town may be headed toward more litigation in the future if it attempts to enforce its new moratorium on the processing of applications related to the conversion of restaurants and retail into other uses.

“I think there’s a lot of challenges here that would be made if you proceed to stop a particular use on a particular piece of property under your town charter,” Caswell added. “I don’t think your charter allows you to do this, with respect to real property.”

—This story has been edited to clarify that Caswell is representing the Red Lion building’s owner, not the restaurant itself.