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Patriot Enterprises of NY and Sphere Development LLC, two affiliated companies from Cazenovia, last week filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court intended to force the town and village code enforcement office to issue a building permit.
The suit, filed by Kathleen M. Bennett of the Syracuse law firm Bond, Shoeneck & King, lists Code Enforcement Officer Charles W. Stevens and the village as defendants.
"If petitioners miss their delivery date to Tractor Supply Company, they will suffer damage to their reputation and good will," the lawsuit says.
State Supreme Court Judge Joseph D. McGuire has issued a temporary order requiring issuance of a limited building permit for foundation and asphalt work and assignment of an alternate code enforcement officer. Assistant Code Enforcement Officer Joseph J. Pfeiffer is now overseeing the project.
Judge McGuire is slated to hear arguments Thursday.
Sphere plans to construct a 124-by-150-foot store, with a fenced-in area in the rear for display of other merchandise, on three acres of land at Number Four and Ross roads. Site work began on the new facility Oct. 19, and it is tentatively scheduled for completion in March, according to a Tractor Supply release.
The town and village Planning Board on Sept. 14 approved a project site plan.
However, the lawsuit claims that Mr. Stevens failed to issue a building permit through Oct. 22 despite several requests from Thomas A. Cooney, founder of Patriot Enterprises and development and construction partner with Sphere. Mr. Stevens sought additional items, including installation of sidewalks along both sides of the store, even though the sidewalk issue was "considered and waived" by the town and village Planning Board, the suit says.
In an attached affidavit, Mr. Cooney said the estimated appraised value of the project is $2.4 million. He added that his firms have spent $80,000 on "soft costs," such as engineering, and would have to spend $250,000 to restore the property to its previous condition if the project were to be terminated.
Mr. Cooney referred to Mr. Stevens's actions as an "outrageous abuse of discretion and the public trust."
Mr. Stevens referred questions to Village Attorney Mark G. Gebo.
Mr. Gebo said the problem is one of logistics, with the developer hoping to proceed with construction before winter and the code office requiring some "missing gaps" of information to be filled before it issues a permit.
"The code office has been working on it as diligently as they can but, apparently, not fast enough for the applicant," the village attorney said.
In another project development, the Planning Board, in its site plan approval, stipulated that the town and village Zoning Board of Appeals determine whether the proposed 270 square feet of signage -- including signs on two sides of the store and an 80-square-foot free-standing pylon sign -- is allowable.
Village zoning law restricts total square footage of signs on a commercial building to the length -- in feet -- of the structure's front. Since the proposed Tractor Supply building would have frontage on two roads, the presumption had been that the store could have up to 274 square feet of signs.
However, the ZBA on Thursday, by a 3-2 vote, ruled that that only one side constitutes frontage, which would limit the project to 125 square feet of signs. ZBA members Michael K. Leviker and Michael F. Maring opposed the ruling.
Sphere is now seeking a variance to allow the extra sign space. The ZBA will meet again at 7 p.m. Nov. 10 in the town office on Bostwick Street to discuss the matter.
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