ROCKPORT — On March 10, the Town of Rockport issued a building permit to 20 Central Street LLC to build a new 26-room hotel with restaurant, in Rockport Village. On the same day, five Rockport residents filed a motion to stay construction in Knox County Superior Court, naming the Town of Rockport and 20 Central Street LLC. On March 18, opponents again asked a justice to halt construction, in a more urgent appeal to the court.

The latest filing represents the ongoing dispute between opponents of the hotel project, as approved, and the developers who, according to the town’s code enforcement officer, have started pouring concrete for the building’s foundation.

The building permit cites the Rockport Planning Board approval of the project on Feb. 27, 2020, and the May 21, 2020 approval of the associated Findings of Fact.

Rockport issued the $14,660 permit based on the estimated $5 million construction cost. The approval includes the offsite parking spaces at Pascal and Commercial streets.

Tyler Smith, a principle of 20 Central Street LLC, said March 24: “After more than 2 years of planning, designing and permitting we have received our building permit and have begun the first step for hotel construction of forming and pouring of the foundation. Up until this point all of the onsite work has been to remove the top soil and ledge and to prepare the site for foundation work.

“Most of the current foundation work is happening at the lower level but will proceed to the upper Central Street level over the next couple of weeks. Once complete with the upper level the sidewalk will be rebuilt and the jersey barriers removed. Directly following the foundation work will be the erection of stair towers and the steel structure which is all currently on-site awaiting installation.

“Most of the primary structure will be complete by mid-summer with sheathing and the brick veneer to follow shortly after. By next winter the Central Street façade should be complete.”

But the opponents want any construction to immediately stop.

“I am writing to bring to your attention that as of this morning, March 18, 20 Central Street LLC is pouring the foundation for the hotel,” wrote Attorney Kristin Collins, representing the Friends of Rockport nonprofit, John Priestley, Mark Schwarzmann and Clare Tully, all Rockport residents, in a letter to Justice Bruce Mallonee. “Construction is proceeding so quickly in part because 20 Central was allowed to construct foundation forms and rebar well before the building permit was issued and in part because the town did not comply with the plaintiff’s requests to be notified as soon as the permit was issued.”

Collins continued: ‘The permit was issued on March 10, and plaintiffs only became aware of that fact when one stopped in to the town office on March 16 to inquire.”

She said that time was of the essence in addressing the pending motion for a temporary restraining order and a motion to stay.

On March 24, she said a hearing with the justice is scheduled for March 30.

On March 10,  the plaintiffs, as represented by Attorney Collins, wrote in their appeal of the Planning Board decision, and motion to stay the building permit, that the Planning Board, “failed to properly apply several standards under the Land Use Ordinance to the application by 20 Central Street LLC for site plan review of its proposed hotel.

They asked the court for a temporary restraining order and to order suspension of all activity related to the construction of the proposed hotel while the court considers legal arguments as to whether the Planning Board failed to correctly apply standards under the Rockport Land Use Ordinance.

They specified that their action had been filed independently from another court action.

In January, Rockport citizens comprising the Friends of Rockport had filed a court complaint requesting an injunction of, and a temporary restraining order against, any building permits issued by the town’s code enforcement office for a proposed Village hotel.

Justice Bruce Mallonee responded Jan. 7 with a restraining order placed on the town from issuing such a permit.

He then vacated the Jan. 7 order on Jan. 19, pending any actual building permit being issued.

Judge Mallonee, in his Jan. 19 order lifting the stay, acknowledged the complexities of the case, given that town voters had approved in August two retroactive ordinance amendments restricting the number of rooms of Village hotels to 20 and the requirement of traffic studies.

He wrote, however, that the plaintiffs have not show the required element of irreparable harm in the absence of equitable relief.

“Without a permit having been issued and its terms known, and without factual development of the extend to which the proposed structure might impede Plaintiff’s view of the harbor or other relevant property interest, any assessment of harm is of necessity speculative,” he wrote in his Jan. 19 order.

The judge continued that if a building permit is granted, the opponents would be entitled to determined whether it still believes it requires injunctive relief.

In response to the opponents and their arguments against the hotel construction, Smith said: “They have been reiterating the same arguments that were heard, discussed and unanimously rejected by both the Rockport Planning Board and by the Zoning Board of Appeals. Unfortunately, they have now brought this as a frivolous lawsuit against the town forcing the town to spend a significant amount of taxpayer money in the process. While disappointing for the town, the lawsuit will have no influence on the approved design of the hotel.”

Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657