OSWEGO – Talks surrounding an Eminent Domain lawsuit were discussed during last night’s Common Council meeting, Tuesday, October 13.
The City of Oswego is moving forward with litigation proceedings in a case filed by the Oswego Yacht Club toward the city. The lawsuit is centered around termination of the organization’s lease in the building, located on the end of the International Pier on the west side of Oswego.
The Yacht Club is suing the City of Oswego for monetary compensation in lieu of their contract termination. The City is breaking the lease in order to start construction on the $6 million public-use International Pier Project.
In 2012, the City of Oswego bought the pier and building from the Port Authority, inheriting the Yacht Club as a tenant in the structure. The organization rented the second floor for their private use. This year, the city has chosen to break the lease due to the start of construction on the waterfront project.
“We broke that lease because the use of that building being treated as a private building, and the pier being treated as a private pier is not suitable to the project we desire,” Mayor Billy Barlow said. “When I first took office in January of 2016, they actually had signs up on the fence as you drive onto the pier that said “Private Drive, No Trespassing. I actually ordered those down, and that was the first conflict I got involved in with the Yacht Club in January of 2016… Contrary to what they thought, they did not rent the pier and they only rented that building. That’s why a lot of people have stories where they were out on the pier either driving around or going for a walk or fishing, and members of the Yacht Club would kick them off, and that’s not right. And that’s why for all these years people have always thought the pier was some private drive that they weren’t allowed on. And that is not and never was the case, and it won’t be once this project’s done.”
An asset to the waterfront, Barlow offered the club rent-free space at the McCrobie Building for the organization to utilize. The building was home to the Yacht Club for over 80 years before their move to the International Pier site.
The structure of the pier is also unsafe and will undergo a complete reinforcement with sheet-piling to halt deterioration from flood water damage. Without the preventative measures, the pier was projected to have been condemned in a five to ten year time frame. Also, the city is considering alternative uses for the building in the pedestrian-use project.
“The action tonight is that they said that we need to Eminent Domain the building. Now, we own the building, so it’s kind of confusing to Eminent Domain your own building, but nevertheless we’ll go through the actions to have it be one less obstacle,” Barlow said.
During the meeting, the council also unanimously passed a change in city code requirements for the licensing of plumbers and electricians in the City of Oswego.
The change will bypass antiquated and inconsistent test practices that resulted in a lack of new license issuances. The new law will allow open-book and multiple choice testing; the change conforming to updated, modern licensing and testing practices.
The city will also announce upcoming examinations, with currently scheduled tests to be held in January 2021.
All resolutions were passed. All Common Council meetings are held the first and third Monday of every month.
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