YOUR AD HERE »

Vail prevails in suit against the Booth Heights approval

Suit alleged town acted improperly in 2019 of proposed workforce housing development

The Vail Town Council on Aug. 2 will hear an appeal of a May 18 Design Review Board approval of the East Vail housing project formerly known as Booth Heights.
Vail Daily archive

A lawsuit has been dismissed that challenged the 2019 approval of the Booth Heights workforce housing project.

The legal action began in November of 2019, just weeks after the Vail Town Council in October upheld the Vail Planning and Environmental Commission’s approval of the plan. Both the council and planning board votes were tightly split, with 4-3 results.

Vail Town Attorney Matt Mire told councilmembers Tuesday that the suit had been dismissed Oct. 19 by District Judge Russell Granger.



The lawsuit named the town and Triumph Development, which had a purchase contract for the Booth Heights property and shepherded the proposal through the town’s approval process.

The original complaint against the town made a number of allegations, including not following town code and abuse of discretion on the part of town staff, the planning board and councilmembers.

Support Local Journalism




Allegations also included a conflict of interest claim against planning board member John-Ryan Lockman, who is a Vail Resorts employee. That company owns the Booth Heights parcel.

“The court rejected all the claims,” Mire told the council, adding that the ruling asserts the council followed the law and didn’t abuse its discretion in the appeal process.

Councilmember Jenn Bruno asked Mire about the chances the plaintiffs might appeal Monday’s ruling.

“Anyone can file an appeal,” Mire said. “This order is written in a way that makes that more difficult.” Mire added that Granger went through “every claim” made by the plaintiffs.

“This judge didn’t leave a lot of doors open (for an appeal), in my opinion,” Mire said.

Vail Daily Business Editor Scott Miller can be reached at smiller@vaildaily.com.


Support Local Journalism