Judge dismisses Lenado suit

ASPEN – A lawsuit two Lenado landowners filed against Pitkin County has been dismissed at the request of the parties involved, according to Chris Seldin, assistant county attorney.

The dismissal comes in the wake of Judge James Boyd’s Nov. 15 ruling, denying a motion for a preliminary injunction in the case.

Landowners Frank Peters and Daniel Delano filed the suit about three years ago in district court, challenging the county’s action to establish designated wintertime parking and snowmobile staging areas along Woody Creek Road just outside of Lenado, a tiny community east of Woody Creek. The parking is used by snowmobilers and others seeking access to the White River National Forest for wintertime recreational pursuits.

Peters and Delano sought the injunction to halt the designation of parking areas until the case could be heard at trial. Last fall, they agreed to suspend the injunction proceedings in the hopes that a compromise could be reached to stage the parking elsewhere, but when that effort fell through, their request for an injunction was renewed, and a hearing before Boyd was held in September.

Though the suit against the county has been dismissed, a separate lawsuit related to the property rights of the landowners and easements that allow use of the road is pending in federal court.