An Aspen, Colorado condominium association is asking the landlord of the complex to evict a cannabis dispensary from one of its commercial units, arguing that the retailer isn’t compatible with nearby residential units, the Aspen Times reports. The association also wants cleared a unit used by a restaurant to store inventory.
The association is not asking the landlord to evict another dispensary because it is located in the building’s basement but argues that the second-floor retailers have led to disruptions.
According to the report, the Aspenhof Condominium Association in August finalized a ban on dispensaries and inventory storage from the building’s upper floors. The association indicated it has notified the landlord, Douglas Tomkins, three times since the decision that the tenants were violating the new rule.
Tomkins is now suing Aspenhof, claiming that by evicting the tenants he is breaching their lease agreement; but by not kicking them out he is running afoul of the building’s rules. The dispensary this year exercised its three-year option to extend its lease through March 2023. It has been at the location since April 2017.
Peter Bornstein, who filed the lawsuit on Tomkins’ behalf, argues that Aspenhof “changed the rules while the leases were in place” and that what they are asking the landlord to do is illegal.
Aspenhof said they have “received repeated complaints from other owners concerning the activities of Mr. Tomkins’ second-floor tenants, making it clear that those uses, in those locations, are not compatible with the other uses in the building.”
“The Board has attempted to address these issues with Mr. Tomkins for months. The Board is disappointed that Mr. Tomkins chose to cease negotiations and commence litigation, but it does not undermine the Board’s resolve, nor change the fact that that the overwhelming majority of the unit owners in Aspenhof supported the covenant amendments at issue.” – Aspenhof in a statement via the Times
The building was zoned for retail cannabis operations when the dispensary received its license and, at that time, the Local Licensing Authority said if the association had issues with the businesses’ impact on the building, it was their responsibility to change their rules. The association ultimately banned dispensaries, social-use clubs, and cultivation businesses, adult entertainment, tattoo parlors, hair or beauty salons, barbershops, and storage of any inventory, equipment or supplies used outside of the business from the condo’s second, third, and fourth floors.
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