Redlands cannot rent out the hangars formerly operated by Coyote Aviation—for now.
San Bernardino Superior Judge Joseph Ortiz halted Redlands’ rent of the hangars with a temporary restraining order on June 26.
Ortiz’s ruling prevents Redlands from modifying the hangars, transporting, selling, leasing or transferring the hangars, or “profiting, exploiting, creating revenue, or otherwise creating financial gain” from the hangars. Redlands Facilities and Community Services Director Chris Boatman said he was not yet sure how the order would affect the 10 tenants who rent the hangars. Redlands is renting 10 of the 15 hangars to Coyote Aviation’s former renters, according to Boatman. The city has not rented any hangars to new tenants, Boatman said.
A hearing will be held Aug. 2 to determine if Ortiz’ order should remain until Coyote Aviation’s lawsuit is resolved. The lawsuit argues that, despite their eviction from the Redlands Municipal Airport, the hangars Coyote Aviation built remain their property.
Coyote Aviation had rented 36,000 square feet of land at the Redlands Municipal Airport in a 20-year lease, from April 2000 to April 2020, with an option to renew. The original lease was canceled and replaced with a nearly identical lease because the grounds were not ready to move into. The new lease said the end date was still in April 2020. At the time, Coyote Aviation owner Gil Brown contacted Redlands Airport Supervisor Bruce Shaffer and Assistant Director of Facilities and Services Tim Sullivan. They agreed to honor a September 2020 end date instead of the April 2020 end date. Their written agreement did not change the lease agreement’s stated April end date.
After April 2020 came and went, Brown wrote to renew the lease, believing he was doing so before the lease ended. The city argued his lease was over, and tried to negotiate a new contract with higher rent. After negotiations failed, Brown filed suit in February 2022. San Bernardino Superior Judge Winston Keh agreed with the city that Brown did not renew his lease in time, because the only end date that mattered was the one in the written contract. The city brought an eviction case, also in February 2022, which they won.
Brown argues that, despite the eviction, the hangars he built remain his property under the terms of the lease contract.
Under the terms of their lease agreement, Coyote Aviation was supposed to remove improvements from the property once the lease ends:
“Immediately upon the expiration of the Term or earlier termination of the Lease, Tenant shall peaceable and quietly vacate the Property and deliver possession of the same to City, with all of Tenant’s improvements and alterations removed from the Property,” the lease reads.
If Coyote Aviation defaulted from the property, Redlands was directed in the lease to remove property from the land:
“In the event of any default by Tenant, City shall also have the right, with or without terminating this Lease to re-enter the Property and remove all persons and property from the Property; such property may be removed and stored in a public warehouse or elsewhere at the cost of and for the account of Tenant.”
In their opposition, city attorneys argued that Keh’s earlier ruling explicitly awarded Redlands possession of the hangars. They also argued that there was not a threat of immediate and irreparable harm to the hangars—a threat that is necessary to award a temporary restraining order.
In response to the lease terms argued by Brown, the city attorneys say that the lease imposes an obligation to remove improvements—not a right to remove improvements after the lease expired.
All of Brown’s legal arguments should have been previously argued in the eviction case, and now should be found invalid because they were not, the attorneys argued.
The hangars are affixed to the land the city owns, which means, according to a general legal rule, they now come with the property, the attorneys argued.
Case No. CIVSB2418252
Read Brown’s complaint here.
Read the city’s argument against the temporary restraining order here.
Read our previous coverage:
Court dismisses Coyote Aviation’s suit against Redlands
Redlands’ Coyote Aviation eviction halted after appeal
NOTE: Follow Our Courts Executive Editor Toni Momberger was on the Redlands City Council in 2020. Because of the conflict, she was not involved in the reporting or factual editing of this story.
