{"id":2456905,"date":"2020-04-07T23:12:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T05:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-over-mill-street-plaza-in-aspen-says-claims-unripe\/"},"modified":"2020-04-07T23:12:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-08T05:12:00","slug":"judge-dismisses-lawsuit-over-mill-street-plaza-in-aspen-says-claims-unripe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-over-mill-street-plaza-in-aspen-says-claims-unripe\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge dismisses lawsuit over Mill Street Plaza in Aspen, says claims \u2018unripe\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"413\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/06\/Bizbigdeal-atd-061818.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/06\/Bizbigdeal-atd-061818.jpg 620w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/06\/Bizbigdeal-atd-061818-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/06\/Bizbigdeal-atd-061818-325x216.jpg 325w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2018\/06\/Bizbigdeal-atd-061818-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\"><figcaption><strong>Mill Street Commercial Center<\/strong><br \/><em>File photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">A federal judge\u2019s dismissal of Mark Hunt\u2019s lawsuit over municipal zoning regulations doesn\u2019t spell the end of the developer\u2019s land-use dispute with the city of Aspen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Chief U.S. District Court Judge Philip Brimmer on March 10 threw out the suit filed by the Hunt-controlled North Mill Street LLC, which owns the two-building Mill Street Plaza across from Clark\u2019s Market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Yet Brimmer\u2019s dismissal of the case and its five claims was made \u201cwithout prejudice,\u201d which means the LLC can renew the litigation if its updated claims meet certain legal criteria.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Development rights at the Mill Street Plaza are at the center of the dispute.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"row at-donation at-donation-mobile p-0\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/at-banner-paypal.jpg)\" class=\"col-xl-8 p-3 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/donate\/?utm_source=article&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=donation&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=mid-article\">Donate<\/a><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The complex houses a number of locally serving retailers \u2014 an athletics consignment store, a coin-operated laundromat and an auto-service shop, for instance \u2014 that operate on the property that is zoned service-commercial-industrial, or SCI.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Hunt bought the center for $15 million in June 2018 and wants to build free-market residential there, while keeping a retail element, as well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The complex comprises the 465 N. Mill St. property, a 20,000-square-foot building that sits on 49,901 square feet of land; and the property at 557 N. Mill St., an 8,000-square-foot building on 6,301 square feet of land, according to property records.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Hunt sued the city in January 2019, claiming Ordinance 29 \u2014 one of six new ordinances City Council adopted from 2016-17 \u2014 threatened the building\u2019s potential for future redevelopment because it is \u201ceconomically unviable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Hunt has been unable to rezone the property for his redevelopment at both the Planning &amp; Zoning and City Council levels.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Yet the city has said he hasn\u2019t exhausted the process because he also didn\u2019t seek variances to approve the project through a planned development. The city\u2019s attorneys previously argued in a court pleading that \u201cwhether the city has altogether prevented (North Mill Street LLC) from such free market development is still an open question.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Hunt\u2019s attorneys have argued it would be \u201cfutile\u201d to bring a planned development of the Mill Street Commercial Center to the city because it would be rejected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Brimmer agreed with the city\u2019s motion to dismiss the suit, which it filed in July 2019, saying the LLC\u2019s claims were \u201cunripe\u201d; in other words, Hunt litigated prematurely because the project he is suing over has yet to exhaust\u2019s the city\u2019s land-use approval process.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Brimmer noted \u201cnowhere in its complaint does plaintiff indicate that it has submitted a specific plan for Mill Street Plaza to defendants that would allow for the pursuit of a compromise. The failure of plaintiff\u2019s rezoning application is insufficient to show that defendants have reached a final decision as to the permitted uses of the Mill Street Plaza.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">North Mill Street LLC, meanwhile, on April 1 filed a notice to challenge Brimmer\u2019s ruling in the Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. The LLC\u2019s law firm, Garfield &amp; Hecht PC of Aspen, has yet to file an opening brief. Chris Bryan of the firm declined comment when reached Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The city is getting its legal representation in the matter from Berg Hill Greenleaf &amp; Ruscitti, which was not available for immediate comment Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The LLC\u2019s five claims against the city include seeking a declaratory judgment that Ordinance 29 is invalid and unenforceable, that the LLC\u2019s due process was violated, and that the city devalued the property\u2019s values because of its redevelopment restrictions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:rcarroll@aspentimes.com\">rcarroll@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/local\/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-over-mill-street-plaza-in-aspen-says-claims-unripe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mill Street Commercial CenterFile photo A federal judge\u2019s dismissal of Mark Hunt\u2019s lawsuit over municipal zoning regulations doesn\u2019t spell the end of the developer\u2019s land-use dispute with the city of Aspen. Chief U.S. District Court Judge Philip Brimmer on March 10 threw out the suit filed by the Hunt-controlled North Mill Street LLC, which owns [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2456905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 05:42:32","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2456905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456905\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2456905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2456905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2456905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}