CEO issues building permit to OWD complex developers

Pete Edwards, the village’s permanent code enforcement office who is serving at this time as the acting town one too, told the members of the town and village planning board at its December meeting that he recently issued a building permit to the developers of the proposed Oval Wood Dish apartment complex on Demars Blvd.

Over 90 mixed use apartments are planned in the long dormant industrial structure next to the town hall.

He told the planners that Joe Gehm and his team of Syracuse-based developers have apparently signed an agreement with a general contractor.

He noted the building permit has been in their hands for over a month, but to date he has seen no sign of construction activity at the former industrial site in the center of the village.

Asked who the contractor was Mr. Edwards couldn’t recall the name but said the general contractor selected by the developers was also based in Syracuse.

He promised the board he would contact the developers to get an idea when construction of the 90 plus apartment complex might start.

According to earlier reports, securing a solid contractor to build the project and to guide the many sub-contracting firms had been an impediment for the developers up to now, given the high demand for construction firms in the North Country.

In another matter Chairman of the Planning Board, Shawn Stuart, asked Mr. Edwards why the owners of the now destroyed Wheel Inn building erected the wooden fence around the site, rather than just removed the burned debris.

Mr. Edwards said because the fire was so severe and the cause couldn’t be found, the fire inspectors from Franklin County ruled that the fire was “of unknown origin.” As a result he said it took those inspectors until late November to close the case and determine the cause wasn’t arson.

Because of the long period it took to reach that finding, the insurance company that insured the property didn’t release any funds until December, he told the planners.

Mr. Edwards said the fence is just temporary until the end of May. He said he told owners Dan and Jen King that if they wished it to remain past that date, they would have to secure a permit from the planning board.

He said Mr. King hopes to have the excavation work to find all his blacksmithing tools buried in the debris completed by then.

Several of the board members thought the wreaths the local couple hung on their high wooden fence was attractive.