DECISION MADE CONESUS INN TO BE REMOVED

 

The Honorable Judge John Ark of the New York Supreme Court has rendered a decision on the several lawsuits being brought by neighbors of the former Conesus Inn, which closed in 2012. The long-standing restaurant which could seat 150 at capacity, located in a residential district, was bought in 2013 by Carl Myers Enterprises.

One of the major orders of Judge Ark’s decision  is that the entire structure of Conesus Inn/Lakeside Inn located at 5654 East Lake Rd., Conesus, be torn down by June 30, 2021. If it is not, Carl Myers Enterprises (CME)will have to pay a penalty to the neighbors who brought a lawsuit to protect their rights, in addition to damages, yet to be determined, to be paid by the town, since town officers delayed for years in enforcing their own laws.

Judge Ark’s decision noted that the petitioners, neighbors Robert Siracusa, Sally Hirth, Tom and Trish Bruckel, brought the case as a “Taxpayer Enforcement Action, pursuant to town laws, “forcing petitioners to bear the heavy cost of prosecuting this multi-year litigation  to defend their rights themselves…{for that reason} the Court (found) it appropriate for the fine to be payable to the petitioners.”

The building permit that was issued by the zoning officer for the new building has been revoked by Ark. Ark pointed out that building permits can be revoked, no matter if it is an error by the town officials or due to a misrepresentation by the applicant. The New Project of the Lakeside Inn partyhouse, had not been presented to the Conesus Zoning board, the Conesus Planning Board, or the Livingston County Planning Board, before the building permit was issued, as is required by law.

CME Enterprises may still develop the property, but they must develop it in compliance with the existing zoning code.

The problem which caused the lawsuit was that a renovation of the 100- year old Conesus Inn restaurant building that was approved by the Conesus Zoning Board in Dec. 2014 and by the Conesus Planning Board in early 2015, was not the building that was built.  The original plans were for renovation of the former Conesus Inn, and an enlargement of about 20% of the original 7800 sq.ft. restaurant. That plan for the renovation, for which there was approval by Conesus planning and zoning boards, was scrapped by the developer after approval, and unbeknownst to neighbors, zoning board, planning board, and some town board members, a New Project of a new building was planned to replace it. The New Project required the entire building be ripped down to be replaced with a building that was over twice the size of the original, exceeding the original footprint, that could seat 600 people as a partyhouse, with parking for that many patrons across the East Lake Rd. The building was moved closer to the lake, blocking neighbors’ views and infringing on the privacy of the neighbors’ front yards and bedroom skylight.  The switch to a New Project was not apparent until the steel structure quickly went up in days in June 2016, towering over adjacent cottages, and not at all the shape of the approved plan. Neighbors tried to get the zoning officer, Supervisor Brenda Donohue and other town officials to intervene and enforce the approved plan, but they refused, so the neighbors had a stop work order put on it until the matter could be resolved. When the stop work order was issued, developers were warned by the judge that if they proceeded, it would be at their own risk , but they did so anyway, knowing the permit could be revoked.

In the recent Supreme Court decision, the Judge noted several violations made by both Carl Myers Enterprises, Conesus Town Board members of 2016, and the town zoning officer. He holds them all responsible for not following and enforcing their zoning laws, but instead, trying to circumvent or ignore them. Instead of enforcing the zoning laws, the town board actively elected to change the zoning laws twice over the course of the lawsuit, by instituting “Legacy Laws” in 2015 and 2017. which changed the zoning laws so the new building as built would be in compliance, and not need zoning or planning board approval. This move resulted in an additional lawsuit and more time (and money) by the neighbors in resolving the matter.

Ark ruled in May 2019 that the town’s new Legacy Laws were “unconstitutional..null…void, and illegal.” Following that, the town board voted 4-1 (Wester dissenting) to enjoin Carl Myers Enterprises in suing its own Conesus zoning board. The point of the Myers lawsuit was to get the zoning board to overturn a decision the zoning board had made on the New Project. (They had been ordered by Judge Ark to review the New Project to see if it could be approved to replace the Renovation project, but the zoning board voted 3-2 not to approve it, resulting in lawsuits from both Carl Myers Enterprises and Conesus’ own town board against the zoning board for the zoning board’s decision.) The lawsuit brought by the town and Carl Myers Enterprises delayed the decision on the Hirth/Siracusa/Bruckel lawsuit even longer.

Lawyers for Carl Myers Enterprises told 13 WHAM News that they were not happy with the decision, but were still “weighing the options.”