A sign pole is pictured at 4411 W. Fairmount Ave. in the town of Busti. The pole is mentioned in a complaint filed in state Supreme Court in Chautauqua County. P-J photo by Eric Tichy

Busti is turning to the courts over several properties town officials say have long been a nuisance and threat to public health.

A complaint by the town was filed Jan. 31 in state Supreme Court in Chautauqua County against Lee and Sharon Fischer. The town is seeking an injunction and abatement for violations of the state Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code and town zoning code.

According to the complaint, properties owned by the Fischers have been in repeated violation of numerous building and zoning codes. Those properties are located on West Fairmount Avenue, First Avenue, Chautauqua Boulevard, Fourth Avenue and Fifth Avenue.

Jesse Robbins, Busti town supervisor, said he could not comment on the lawsuit. A call to the town attorney was not returned.

At their meeting Dec. 5, Busti Town Board members voted on a resolution authorizing the town attorney, Joel Seachrist, to “commence an action against the Fischers” in court. The resolution was unanimously approved.

At issue is the condition of vacant properties owned by Lee and Sharon Fischer that, the town claims, have not been maintained. During an inspection in October, code enforcement officer Jeff Swanson noted there was “garbage, debris and junk” that littered the lawns of seven properties that “have not been maintained.”

Concerns regarding code violations date back at least a decade. A public hearing on “junk vehicles” owned by the Fischers was held April 9, 2012, before the Town Board. The hearing followed a violation notice to the pair that required them to remove 13 vehicles “located on several properties belonging to them in the Cottage Park area.”

The town later found that the “continued presence of the thirteen cited vehicles would be a public nuisance and a threat to the health, safety, and general welfare of the Cottage Park community.”

If the vehicles were not moved by April 20, the town said it would take steps to remove them.

Prior to filing the complaint Jan. 31 in state Supreme Court, the town’s code enforcement officer in October 2022 sent the Fischers an 11-page notice of violation/order to remedy. That letter contained all of the building and code violations that needed to be addressed within a month.

Included in the letter:

¯ Violations to building code regarding vacant structures and land. Seven properties “appear to be vacant and have not been maintained in a clean, safe, secure and sanitary condition, and constitute a blight in the Cottage Park neighborhood, with an adverse impact on public health and safety.”

¯ Violations to building code regarding sanitation as well as weeds, rodent harborage and accessory structures.

¯ Violations to building code regarding motor vehicles. “During a routine inspection at the above-listed places and time, I observed multiple motor vehicles, including recreational vehicles and boats that appeared to be inoperative and/or unlicensed parked on the various premises,” Swanson said.

¯ A violation of the town’s zoning code regarding a monopole business sign at 4411 W. Fairmount Ave. According to the letter sent to the Fischers, the “sign itself is missing and the paint on the pole is chipping and in poor repair.”

The town is seeking judgment that would require compliance of building and zoning codes; allow the town to undertake work on the properties to bring them up to code; allow the town to remove the pole on West Fairmount Avenue; and “enjoining and restraining defendants from create and maintaining a public nuisance.”

Lee Fischer was present at the Dec. 5, 2022, Town Board meeting in which the resolution was approved. That resolution states, “The ongoing code violations on the Fischer properties prevent residents in the vicinity from peacefully and quietly enjoying their properties, and endanger, impair, and imperil the health, safety, and welfare of residents of the town.”

According to minutes from that meeting, Fischer told Town Board members that 30 days — as stipulated in the letter sent by the code enforcement officer — was not enough time to correct the code violations.

Minutes from the town note: “Supervisor Robbins stated the town is working with other property owners to clean up their property, however, the town has been trying to work with Mr. Fischer for 30 years and nothing has been done. There is a process that the town has to follow, and it takes time.”