Business blocked in permit dispute
Troy closes auto shop with ties to man involved in similar battles
 DANIELLE FURFARO Staff Writer
Publication Date: September 1, 2006  Page: B8  Section: Capital Region  Edition: 3 
TROY - Public Works Commissioner Robert Mirch ordered large concrete blocks to be placed in front of the driveway of a new business owned by the son of a man with a long-standing dispute with the city.

Mirch said he had the blocks moved there Wednesday afternoon after Jack Cox Jr.'s towing business began operating on 5th Avenue between 113th and 114th streets without going through the zoning board process or applying for a certificate of occupancy, as is required by law. "He was informed by the city that he's got to go through the process of zoning and planning," said Mirch.

The elder Cox, who previously owned Jack's Junkyard on Douw Street, has battled the city, as well as officials in Grafton, for years for also operating without required permits, keeping too many junk cars on his land and being a public nuisance.

"I've been going through a form of government intimidation on hard-working people," said Cox, 64.

Cox said his son did not have to go to the zoning board because he simply bought Ward's Auto, an existing business that had been running for 50 years.

"We aren't changing nothing, not changing the business, not changing the name, not even the phone number," said Cox.

Even if the family plans to maintain the same type of business that was on the spot, they still have to get a certificate of occupancy, Mirch said.

"That business has been closed for more than a year," he said. "We have no idea what he wants to do there. Maybe he has a legitimate purpose, but until he shares that with us, we don't know."



Danielle Furfaro can be reached at 454-5097 or by e-mail at dfurfaro@timesunion.com.
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Create Date:September 1, 2006
Input Date:June 5, 2008 16:59
Date last Output: June 5, 2008
Publication Date: September 1, 2006
 
Byline:DANIELLE FURFARO Staff Writer
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Publication:Times Union (Albany, N.Y.)
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Headline:Business blocked in permit dispute
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