Griff's standoff halts progress on road work

There won't be any progress anytime soon on a new entry into Jefferson County Corporate Park, because of the continued standoff between P.J. Simao and the town of Watertown.

The realignment of Fisher Road to bring the entry to line up with Salmon Run Mall Road and a traffic light on outer Coffeen Street depends on the demolition of the former Griff's Citgo.

But Mr. Simao, the managing member of Onondaga Development Corp., which owns Griff's, refuses to demolish the building until a connector road is built running west from the mall parking lot, between Sears and Bon-Ton, to County Route 202. It would run on the north side of Walmart.

“Nothing is happening with Griff's until the third part is complete,” Mr. Simao said.

According to Times archives, the first and second phases of the project were the construction of County Route 202 through Mr. Simao's property and the realignment of the corporate park entrance at Route 12F and Fisher Road. The third part, the connector road, required that the town acquire a 60-by-923-foot strip of property, also owned by Mr. Simao.

But when the town Planning Board granted approval in May 2008 to Pyramid Cos., Syracuse, to expand Salmon Run Mall, it gave the approval without a connector road agreement in place. The town then lost leverage to force Pyramid to negotiate on the east-west connector road to 202.

Both Mr. Simao and county officials said they believed “the town would take on the connector road through limited approvals with the mall,” said Paul J. Warneck, the county's director of real property tax services, who served on the county's negotiation team.

“I'm not sure those things were reduced to writing,” Mr. Warneck said.

The county has not been involved in negotiations or work on the connector road.

“It will not be a county road,” County Administrator Robert F. Hagemann III said. “It will not be built to county specifications. It will be more of a driveway and it's up to others to negotiate it.”

Town Supervisor Joel R. Bartlett knocked down any suggestion that it would be a town road, either.

“At this point, the town's appraisal of that land and the property owner's is so far apart that I don't see any town involvement with that project anytime soon,” Mr. Bartlett said.

The supervisor said there has never been a written agreement between the town and Mr. Simao that the east-west connector would be built.

Meanwhile, Jefferson County has put $645,000 toward the environmental investigation and demolition of Griff's and the former SMX Transport Inc.

According to the June 27, 2007, contract between the county and Mr. Simao, they also agreed that:

■ Jefferson County would acquire three nearby parcels, including the portion of the Fisher Road right of way that will not be used, a piece owned by the county Industrial Development Agency and a third owned by Timeless Frames, and give them to Mr. Simao.

■ Jefferson County would perform all survey and design work.

■ Mr. Simao would grant a temporary 100-foot right of way for construction.

County Attorney David J. Paulsen said Friday that Mr. Simao had conveyed the parcels for the new County Route 196 to the county, but the county has not yet transferred the three parcels to Mr. Simao.

The next hurdle will be the cost of the realignment, Mr. Hagemann said. Because of the long time it took to get County Route 202 completed, that project's cost escalated and ate up the budget for both pieces.

“We need to address the ultimate cost and how to cover that,” he said. “We've got a full plate in the upcoming construction season as it is.”

Times staff writer Robert Brauchle contributed to this report.