Casa Bonita, Lakewood disagree on what is public record about details of restaurant's renovations

Casa Bonita and the City of Lakewood don't seem to agree on what should be a matter of public record when it comes to details of the restaurant's renovations.

The two were represented by attorneys in court on Tuesday where a judge granted a temporary restraining order for 121 pages of documents, which Casa Bonita argues are a matter of public safety.

"Once these are out, they can never come back. We can never ensure that Casa Bonita will be safe," one attorney told the judge.

Within the 121 pages, attorneys say are details about security protocols, camera locations and along with locations of emergency exits, along with other information- many things the judge noted he could ascertain by simply being inside. Still, he granted the motion.

There are around 800 pages of documents in total and in addition to security measures, detailed renovation plans and costs.

The City of Lakewood said it believes all the documents are a matter of public record, the exception being "critical infrastructure" which Casa Bonita is not.

The restaurant's attorneys told the judge they, "realize it's an aggressive position to contend that Casa Bonita is critical" but noted it is a place where large groups of people congregate. They cited growing incidents of mass shootings as the primary reason for withholding a portion of the documents.

The City of Lakewood said at the end of the day it wants everyone within its borders to be safe and if the judge believes the documents should be withheld, it will agree.

The judge acknowledged the desire to protect security details but felt, at the end of the day, it was up to the legislature to make it easier for entities to handle public records requests. He made a point to reiterate his position, that Casa Bonita is not critical infrastructure.

The parties have 21 days to submit a smaller request, during which time the 121 pages will not be subject to a public records request.

While the city said it would be releasing the remaining pages to CBS4 on Tuesday afternoon but underestimated the amount of time it would take to go through and redact the pages ordered by the court.

The city will likely have the documents ready to release by the end of the week.