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Tuesday, June 18, 2013
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Waterfront developer stops Ogdensburg projects

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OGDENSBURG - Plattsburgh developer Gilbert J. Jones will stop work on his waterfront hotel and marina projects in Ogdensburg and close the downtown movie theater he owns - all because of a falling out with the city’s planning and development office.

On Tuesday, the city planning and development board turned down Mr. Jones’s request to amend a site plan for his proposed Riverfront Marina and Hotel, 119 W. River St., to include a 480-square-foot building by the 74-slip Oswegatchie River marina that would serve as a kitchen-equipped concession stand with outside seating.

The problem was that Mr. Jones went and had the building put up, demolishing the smaller existing structure that was a plain harbormaster’s kiosk - all without a site plan and outside the purview of a May 8 building permit that covered razing and renovation at the hotel proper. He told the board Tuesday he was “not making excuses” for what he did, but claimed he had a “verbal commitment” from Code Enforcement Officer Gregg A. Mallette to go ahead with the new building.

On Thursday, however, Mr. Jones turned up the volume, making it clear he was upset at the city for not cutting him some slack. Work on two apartments will be finished. But the 35-room hotel won’t be built out of the former Ramada Inn by next year, the new building will remain an unfinished shell and the marina won’t open. Also, his Ogdensburg Cinemas at 219 Ford St., closed for repairs, will stay shut.

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