The company seeking to develop a drug rehabilitation facility at the former Lodge and Spa at Cordillera has sued residents of the luxury Vail Valley community who are battling the plan.
CSMN Investments, which purchased the property this summer as part of a $136 million plan to convert the lodge into a high-end drug and alcohol abuse treatment center, argues the Cordillera Property Owners Association and Cordillera Metropolitan District violated federal discrimination laws under the Americans with Disabilities Act when the groups sued to block the sale and redevelopment of the property. The lawsuit also argues that the two organizations violated Colorado laws governing special districts by spending more than $647,000 in public money to fight the project. CSMN filed its civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Denver on Friday, seeking to thwart a pending appeal by the property owners as well as reimbursement for damages and attorneys fees.
“CSMN has suffered and will continue to suffer irreparable injury as a direct and proximate result of defendants’ actions,” reads the lawsuit. “CSMN has been compelled to divert resources, energy, and funds from other activities related to its efforts to assist persons with disabilities to use, enjoy, and reside in the Cordillera community.”
Homeowners in Cordillera have spent more than a year fighting to prevent the conversion of the former 56-room lodge and community centerpiece into a rehabilitation facility that will charge as much $60,000 a month for treatment. Last year, Cordillera homeowners filed a $100 million class-action lawsuit arguing the plan had devastated property values. In February, a federal judge refused to delay the sale of the lodge, dealing a fatal blow to the class-action lawsuit, which residents dropped. In September, an Eagle County District Judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by residents seeking to upend the Eagle County Board of Commissioners approval of a 2009 change in the community’s planned-unit-development guidelines that permitted a potential medical facility — among many expanded possible uses — at the former luxury lodge. The homeowners have promised to appeal that decision.
The Concerted Care Group was the only serious buyer who was interested in the property, which Texas-based investment firm Behringer Harvard purchased in 2008 and listed for sale in 2013. The group closed the lodge for renovations this summer after buying the property.
The lawsuit filed Friday includes more than a dozen emails from residents supporting a legal challenge to the drug treatment facility. Those emails reveal residents concerned for their safety and lifestyle in the gated golf resort above the Vail Valley.
“I will no longer feel safe, I will no longer leave my doors unlocked and I will no longer hike alone with my dog, as I will be fearful that a drug addict may be lurking around. I am scared … This will ruin our paradise,” reads one email from a property owner that was part of the lawsuit filing.
Thomas Wilner, an attorney and Cordillera resident who is directing the legal fight and is named in the lawsuit, said homeowners are confident they will prevail on appeal of the Eagle County decision and the lawsuit filed Friday by the new owners of the lodge is “frivolous and a blatant attempt to try to intimidate members of the Cordillera community and boards to drop out of litigation.”
Wilner said a minority of homeowners initially expressed fears over drug addicts in their neighborhood, but the community’s lawsuits and challenges have focused on the legality of the 2009 PUD amendment that created the possibility of closing the lodge to residents.
“The community has always said drug treatment should be allowed. The issue is taking the lodge away from the community. If (the developer) allows the community to have access to the lodge, we have no objection,” Wilner said. “But he said we can’t have access because he wants to preserve the anonymity of his residents so he can charge them more money. The idea that (the legal challenges) are about drug treatment is simply not true.”
Noah Nordheimer, the chief-executive of Concerted Care Group who is leading the investment group CSMN, said the fight by residents has impacted the project financially. But the lawsuit has more to do with his patients, he said, and defending them from “the stigmatization of drug addiction.”
“If someone is sick and has cancer or other chronic diseases we run out and give them a hug; we support them. If you suffer from a substance abuse disorder or a behavioral health disorder, we project shame on to you and say you aren’t allowed in our neighborhood,” he said. “This was blatant discrimination. We are fighting for all the people suffering who don’t have a voice, who don’t have access to treatment. The head of the communities’ legal committee — Mr. Wilner — would love for people to believe they are the victims, but they are a hate-filled group that has spewed discriminatory thoughts, followed up by discriminatory actions. They have been terrorizing us for well over a year and a half and there are laws that are designed to protect us. The worst part is they used taxpayer money to fund it.”
