COOPERSTOWN -- A Fly Creek resident who has obtained a building permit for his property off Honey Joe Road in the town of Otsego has initiated a lawsuit against the municipality after local officials declared the street abandoned.
Land owner Mark McGoey, in a case billed as Honey Joe Acres LLC v. the Town of Otsego and Shawn Mulligan, the town highway superintendent, is seeking a court order nullifying the town's decision to abandon the road and directing the town to maintain it.
According to the lawsuit filed on McGoey's behalf by local attorney Les Sittler, the town has consistently included Honey Joe Road in the street listing it uses to collect state aid for road maintenance. The suit also contends the road has been regularly used by the public.
The road in question runs from Otsego County Route 26 to Panther Mountain Road. The dispute involves a stretch of road just shy of a mile.
The lawsuit also notes that the town planning board, in 1998, permitted a shale mine to be operated near the road by the property owner at that time. Such a permit would not have been issued unless Honey Joe Road was a public road, the lawsuit said.
Last September, the Otsego Town Board approved the abandonment of the road by a 3-2 vote, according to court papers.
The lawsuit charges that action was "defective" because no public hearing was held and the town did not initiate an allegedly required environmental review.
In response, the town denied that Honey Joe Road has been continuously used by the public. The town also said, "The erroneous reporting of a road or a portion of a road as a town highway subject to correction, does not, by itself, qualify the road as a town highway."
The town, represented by its attorney, Michelle Kennedy, is asking that the lawsuit be dismissed.
Sittler, contacted by The Daily Star, declined to comment, other than to say that his client "just wants to protect his rights to a public road."
McGoey and his wife, Deborah, acquired the land off Honey Joe Road in May 2009, court papers say.
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Fly Creek man sues over road abandonment
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