WARREN City faces suit over plans for Sam's Club

The plans were stamped 'disapproved' but are approved, the township says.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Howland Township trustees want a judge to order Warren to turn over "true and accurate" public records pertaining to development of a Sam's Club off state Route 46.
Trustees filed the request in the 11th District Court of Appeals in Warren, saying the city failed and refused to produce some of the documents in the township's public records requests.
Township officials have expressed concerns about increased traffic in the area because of the store.
The Sam's Club would be in the city, but the township controls land along Route 46 where the driveway to it would be.
Received plans
In July, the township received a set of plans regarding the proposed development that were stamped "disapproved" by the city building department and signed by Christopher Taneyhill, chief building official.
"The Sam's Club plans, which were stamped 'disapproved' on July 16, 2003, were not, in fact, disapproved but actually had been approved," the court document says.
Township Administrator Darlene St. George declined to comment.
The city has denied the township access to public records by its failure and refusal to respond to the township's public records requests fully, completely and within a reasonable time, according to the court papers.
The city has not responded to the township's May 22 public records request, the township contends.
Taneyhill said he hasn't hidden anything.
He said the plans were stamped "disapproved" so that no one else may use them to build.
The only plans that are stamped "approved" and signed are those given to a project's general contractor and those kept in the building department.
"If they're stamped approved, that means anyone can go out and build it," Taneyhill said.
No permit yet
He said a building permit hasn't been issued for the project and plans stamped approved haven't been given to a general contractor for the Sam's Club project.
Taneyhill said he wanted the township to get the plans from the project architect in Dallas, but the township wanted them through the city building department.
If the township had wanted to review the plans in the office, Taneyhill said he would have provided them and answered questions.
He was reluctant to issue a copy, though. He said he's been to meetings with building officials where they're told not to issue copies of plans because of the possibility of terrorism.
"What if someone comes in and wants copies of the plans for the floor of a hospital," Taneyhill said. Those plans may include information that could be used by someone who wants to harm people.
"Everything has been on the level on our end," Taneyhill said. "I'm not hiding anything information from them. A 133,000-square-foot building is no secret."
denise.dick@vindy.com