ROARING FORK BROADCASTING COMPANY
Members of the city of Aspen’s Local Licensing Authority are shying away from taking to task a slopeside bar and restaurant operation over its alleged noise infractions. Still, they will want to know more about its ownership structure when its liquor license comes up for renewal next month.
At an LLA meeting held Tuesday, the City Attorney’s Office briefed the three attending board members about some recent episodes concerning Chica’s outdoor terrace, Apres Base Camp. Assistant City Attorney Kate Johnson said she felt the events were noteworthy enough to discuss with the LLA, which can call for investigations into establishments that sell and serve alcohol and take such actions as revoking and suspending a liquor license or refusing to issue or renew one.
Sarah Sandifer, the city’s code outreach and compliance specialist, told LLA members that she had visited the location three times after receiving a noise complaint from the condo association that governs the property and their lawyer. Apres Base Camp employees agreed to lower the noise, but subsequent visits showed that the sound still exceeded the city’s 60-decibel limit for downtown. The city has not ticketed Chica for noise infractions, according to Johnson.
LLA members said they weren’t keen on being the speaker police.
“The noise violations are probably the Environmental Health Department’s responsibility,” said board member Chris Bendon, who suggested the LLA doesn’t need to be a pawn in the dispute between the condo association and Chica.
“I would be a little cautious of the disputing parties using the city or the Local Licensing Authority as a battering ram against each other,” he said. “Unless it’s (the noise concerns) pervasive, I just don’t know if it raises to the level of the Local Licensing Authority unless it’s so severe that somebody needs to do something about it. I would suspect that Environmental Health would step in.”
The city’s attention to Chica comes amid a lawsuit filed by the Residences at Little Nell Condominium Association. The suit alleges that in addition to noise infractions, the debut of Apres Base Camp in December was in defiance of the association’s vote denying Chica’s request to open the terrace, which is part of the common space located by the gondola at the base of Aspen Mountain.
Chica had no representation at the publicly-noticed LLA meeting, though Chica was not directly notified, Johnson said.
“Chica is set to renew (its liquor license) in March,” Johnson said. “Generally speaking … the clerk has the ability to renew those licenses automatically, but if they find any reason not to do it, they can bring it to the LLA. And you have the option to hold a hearing on that renewal.”
LLA members agreed to hold a hearing March 5 on Chica’s renewal application. They said they want to meet with the Chica people about its ownership arrangement, in light of allegations in the lawsuit that Aspen bar operator Andrew Sandler, whose colorful history includes some clashes with local authorities over his past businesses, has a connection to Chica.
“It is a renewal hearing,” Johnson said. “To be clear, it is not a violation hearing.”
Sandler is a member of Sterling Aspen LLC, the entity that runs the like-named bar in Aspen. An offshoot of Sterling Aspen, Day Sterling, is a defendant in the lawsuit, which alleges Day Sterling is the rogue operator of Apres Base Camp.
“Sandler was a principal in the ownership of Bootsy Bellows LLC which operated a former nightclub known as ‘Bootsy Bellows Aspen’ which he also managed,” said the condo association’s suit, which was initially filed by Ferguson Schindler Law Firm of Aspen. “Bootsy Bellows was cited and shut down by the City of Aspen for multiple public health violations during the pandemic and Sandler was stripped of his managerial role on the LLC and banned from its premises for thirty days. It has since closed down as well as has another Sandler endeavor in ‘Scarletts,’ which was likewise cited by the City of Aspen for public health violations.”
Other defendants in the suit are Ashkenazy Aspen Realty LLC, which owns the Chica property, and Aspen Operations, which leases the property.
As evidence of the Sandler-Sterling connection, the association’s suit noted the presence of people on the Apres Base Camp premises wearing clothing with “Sterling” on it. Defense lawyers said that the argument fell flat.
“The Association’s conclusory allegation that Day Sterling has taken over the Property is entirely unsupported because Day Sterling has not done so,” said a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which was filed by Aspen law firm Garfield & Hecht on Dec. 27.
The motion added, “Day Sterling has no sublease to the Property. Notably, the Association has not asserted any allegations to the contrary. The Association instead implausibly asserts, in conclusory fashion, that Day Sterling has ‘taken over’ the space because someone somewhere was supposedly seen wearing a sweatshirt imprinted with the words ‘The Sterling’ on it.”
The motion to dismiss was withdrawn Feb. 2 because it was aimed at dismissing the original complaint, which was filed in Pitkin County District Court on Dec. 15. An amended complaint was filed Jan. 26. Garfield & Hecht lawyers Chris Bryan and Macklin J. Henderson indicated in a notice to the court that they will respond to the amended suit by Feb. 9.
Contacted by text on Tuesday, Sandler said he is not tied to the Chica ownership or lease in any way.
The lease is held by Florida-based 50 Eggs, which sublet the terrace to Aspen Operations LLC, according to a corporate ownership structure dated June 2021 and provided to the city.
Aspen Operations is part of the corporate ownership structure that includes 50 Eggs and a host of other LLCs under the control of John Kunkel of Miami. Kunkel previously said Chica is operating the terrace within its rights.
According to its liquor code, the city is to be notified by liquor-serving establishments of “prior violations at the licensed premises by a prior licensee or the prior licensee's employees and the sanctions imposed for such violations, if the current licensee or any of the current licensee's owners, partners, shareholder, directors, officers or managers held an ownership interest of five percent (5%) or more in the entity holding such prior license.”
According to Johnson, Sandler’s alleged involvement has not been established as fact, but neither has his non-involvement.
The LLA could take action against Chica over its noise if it has been to the detriment of the public health and welfare and in violation of the state’s code of conduct for business establishments, Johnson said. If Day Sterling has a management agreement with Chica, which it has denied in court filings, that could be another issue facing the LLA.