Federal appeals court allows Vail to ban UPS, FedEx trucks from pedestrian malls

Vail can once again prohibit delivery trucks from its pedestrian malls a federal appeals court has ruled overturning a Denver judge s decision last year that put a stop to that ban A divided panel of the th U S Circuit Court of Appeals decided Aug that laws regulating the trucking industry do not prevent the resort town from excluding UPS and FedEx These statutes ordinarily preempt local trucking regulations but exceptions exist for motor motorcycle safety Judge Robert Bacharach wrote Do these exceptions allow a town to regulate trucking companies that frequently deliver goods in a pedestrian mall We answer yes Judge Gregory Phillips disagreed with his colleagues Dissenting from the - opinion in favor of Vail Phillips wrote that the truck ban cannot be logically tied to pedestrian safety since Vail still allows similar trucks driven by a city contractor West Logistics on the malls Indeed the amended ordinance restricts neither delivery wagon size nor delivery truck frequency Instead it regulates based on the owner of the bus Phillips noted In Vail passed an ordinance prohibiting delivery trucks from entering Vail Village and Lionshead Village to make those areas friendlier to pedestrians Trucks had to leave their cargo at loading docks where small West carts would then pick it up and deliver it The ordinance initially made an exception for commercial mail carriers like FedEx UPS and the U S Postal Operation But in Vail began cracking down on them as well The Colorado Motor Carriers Association sued to stop that crackdown Because trucking is federally regulated towns can impose their own rules only when society safety is jeopardized it noted The industry group won a preeminence in late when U S District Judge Charlotte Sweeney blocked enforcement of the ban finding it had been enacted to maintain mountain aesthetics rather than save lives She too questioned why West s vehicles were allowed That ruling was appealed to the th Circuit which sided with Vail In a announcement this week the Town of Vail noted it remains committed to providing a safe milieu for everyone The th Circuit s opinion directing the district court to dissolve a preliminary injunction that barred the town from fully enforcing its loading and delivery regulations is a key step forward in Vail s ongoing efforts to reduce vehicular-pedestrian interactions it noted Related Articles Participant in Colorado rock-throwing spree seeks reduced prison sentence Discipline personnel seek removal of Colorado judge over frivolous hearing lies ticket-fixing attempt Colorado regulators sued over delay in air-pollution permits for Adams County oil and gas facilities Judge adjusts million bail for Barry Morphew in wife s murder episode Meadow Creek Tennis and Fitness Club rebrands as Denver Racquets Club after sale The th Circuit s three-judge panel decided that Sweeney was substituting her own judgment about better means to enhance safety when she determined Vail was not focused on safety because it allows other trucks on the malls Connection to safety isn t lost just because a more expansive restriction might have been more effective the judges wrote We re not policymakers but the town s leaders are Those leaders presumably enjoy expertise when deciding how to address safety concerns Recognition of that expertise leaves us little room to second-guess the leadership s initiative choices based on our approach preferences The Town of Vail is represented by David Goldfarb Josh Marks and Abbey Derechin with Berg Hill Greenleaf Ruscitti in Boulder The CMCA s lawyers are James Eckhart Shannon Cohen and Adam Smedstad at Scopelitis Garvin Light Hanson Feary in Indianapolis The CMCA s lawyers did not respond to BusinessDen s request for comment on the ruling Read more from our partner BusinessDen