Shodeen ordered to make historic blacksmith shop “weather-tight”
Geneva’s hearing officer has found that the Shodeen Family Foundation violated the city’s property maintenance code and ordered that it make a historic blacksmith shop at 4 E. State St. “weather-tight” by Oct. 17.
Hearing officer Victor Puscas gave a written decision this week after a Sept. 19 adjudication hearing. The city’s compliance code officer Tom Miller made a property maintenance complaint that the owners failed to maintain the exterior of a circa 1834 limestone structure at the former Mill Race Inn property.
Shodeen representative David Patzelt declined to comment.
During the hearing, Shodeen attorney Daniel Konicek argued that as a historic structure, the blacksmith shop did not fall under the property maintenance code at all.
City attorney Ronald Sandack disputed that argument.
“We have no interest other than compliance,” Sandack added. “We are not seeking a fine, but compliance.”
Shodeen had previously demolished the shuttered restaurant on the site, but not the former blacksmith shop, as it is designated as a historic landmark.
The owners sought to remove the historic landmark status of the former blacksmith shop and pursue demolition. The Historic Preservation Commission and the City Council denied both requests.
Sandack said the city stopped seeking compliance for a time because the owners said that a redevelopment plan was coming. As no plan will be coming any time soon, the city is seeking compliance with the property code — which in this case, is to cover it with a tarp, Sandack said.
It had previously been covered with tarp and remnants of that tarp remain, he added.
“The structure leaks because there’s gaping holes,” Sandack said. “And code requires that it be in good condition and weather tight. That’s all.”
The former blacksmith shop has been at the center of a series of public hearings at which the owners asserted it would be too expensive to repurpose it.
Preservationists countered that the owners were not willing to try other options.