WHEELING – Instead of working with him to rehabilitate a dilapidated building, an Ohio real estate developer is accusing Wheeling officials of looking eagerly for ways to declare the building a hazard, and demolish it.
Mark Jaber on Aug. 27 appealed to Ohio Circuit Court the city’s Building Codes Board of Appeals’ decision to refer his case to municipal court. In his appeal, Jaber, 46, of Akron, Ohio, says that not only did BCBA fail to rule on any alleged code violations, but also duped him into believing they were going to work on a timeframe for him to refurbish a vacant downtown hotel he owns.
According to his petition, Jaber received notice of building violations for the old Rogers Hotel on 14th Street. Neither the violations nor date he received them are specified.
Nevertheless, he appealed the violations to BCBA. Following a hearing on an unspecified day, Jaber says BCBA asked that he provide them a timeline for completing renovations to the building.
According to his petition, Jaber said he did, and BCBA rescheduled a hearing for July 27.
At the rescheduled hearing, Jaber alleges BCBA member Jack Savage erroneously stated he failed to provide them a timeline. After hearing testimony from Frank Wilson, a city building inspector, that “no more that 5% of the work has been completed to date and the anticipated completion date for all work being December of 2012 does not appear to be feasible or realistic, BCBA, at the suggestion of City Solicitor Rosemary Humway-Warmuth, referred the matter to municipal court for “further enforcement and oversight.”
In his petition, Jaber seeks a court order halting BCBA sending his case to municipal court, and relief from the unspecified violations.
The case is assigned to Judge David J. Sims.
Ohio Circuit Court case number 12-CAP-19
Wheeling wants vacant hotel razed, not renovated, owner says
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