Geneva couple files suit against Aldi

The discord between a Geneva couple and the Aldi grocery store being built at State Street and East Side Drive in Geneva has flared.

Elizabeth Safanda, owner of the property on which her husband's law office sits, sued Aldi on Aug. 30, saying that it deliberately obstructed the access easement and dug up the sign easement the Safandas have on the Aldi property.

Repeated calls to Aldi seeking comment were not returned.

Safanda has asked for a permanent injunction against Aldi interfering with the easement, an order for Aldi to restore the easements, and a mandatory injunction to enforce the easements.

The L-shaped access easement runs east from East Side Drive and north from State Street. The sign easement is near State.

"I tried to work this out with them and they did not respond," said Carl Safanda, Elizabeth's husband, who is her attorney for the suit. He and his brother, Roy, have law offices in the building at 111 East Side Drive. Aldi is building to the east of them.

"I don't have an access easement off Route 38 (State Street)," Carl Safanda said.

Part of the State Street entrance to the Aldi site will be on the sign easement, he said.

The access at East Side Drive is obstructed because it is no longer paved -- as is called for in the easement documents -- and because of Aldi's plan to put an island in the driveway it will construct there. The island will prevent people from making left turns in or out of the new driveway.

Elizabeth Safanda's building is a former bank with drive-through lanes, and could be again, after a deed restriction expires in 2009. The drive-through is designed for drivers to enter from the south.

Last year the Safandas tangled with Aldi and the city of Geneva. The city has been trying for years to bring a grocery store to the east side of town, and to get this particular corner redeveloped. The city offered to buy the Safandas' property to create a larger site that would attract more developers, but the Safandas refused. The city decided against using eminent domain to take the property.

Aldi asked the city's zoning board of appeals for variances; the Safandas protested the variances would encroach on the easements. Elizabeth Safanda sued, but because she sued before the zoning board voted on the variances, a judge threw the suit out.

A hearing for the current suit will be held in December.

Aldi's is scheduled to open in December.