LOCKPORT — Sentencing of a Texas corporation on a local building code violation was postponed Thursday, after the defendant’s attorney   persuaded city officials that a plan is in the works to get the errant property cleaned up.

Liberty Plant Maintenance of Dayton, Texas, owner of 89 Mill St., was declared guilty of a single charge, unsafe structure,   last month when the company didn’t send anyone to the

scheduled trial in city housing court. The city cited the company for a failure to enclose the property, and prevent public   access to it, in light of the state’s assertion that a crumbling building and an abandoned Dumpster are contaminated with   asbestos.

The state labor department, enforcing U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations, reportedly is pressing   for tens of thousands of dollars in fines against the company. Simultaneously, the city prosecutor pledged to pursue the maximum   allowable fine against it on the unsafe structure conviction, meaning another five- or six-digit cash penalty.

Large fines won’t inspire the company owner, Scott Krzyzanowski, to invest in cleanup or redevelopment of 89 Mill, his attorney,   Hiscock & Barclay LLP partner James P. Millbrand, suggested.

Krzyzanowski bought the long-vacant paper mill property in August 2010 with the intention of developing a small commercial   plaza. He was essentially forced off of it a month later by the labor department’s Asbestos Control Bureau, which accused   him of violating asbestos handling laws. The building and rented Dumpster have sat untouched by Krzyzanowski ever since.

“Paying $10,000, $20,000, $30,000 in fines is just money he’s not going to put into the property,” Millbrand said.

Millbrand asked the court to delay sentencing until mid-June, while property-wide asbestos testing is done, remediation begins   if it’s warranted, and he continues appealing to the labor department to drop its large-fine pursuit.

City Prosecutor Matthew Brooks was amenable to the pitch.

“We’d much rather see cleanup than ... fines disappearing off to Albany,” Brooks said.

According to Millbrand, the labor department’s case against Krzyzanowski never has gone to an administrative law hearing,   which is comparable to a trial. Since he was cited and ordered to stay off the property in September 2010, Krzyzanowski has   had several attorneys try to fight the charges. He told the US&J last month that the thrust of labor’s case — that he was   engaged in illegal demolition at 89 Mill — is false and he’s determined to prove it. The labor department consistently has   refused the US&J’s requests for comment on the status of its case.

Also Thursday in housing court, the trial of a commercial property owner on a sanitation charge continued — and was adjourned   to May 17.

Patrick McFall of Newfane, owner of 316 Willow St., is cited by the city for failure to clean up debris on the property. The   west section of the building, which formerly housed Peters Dry Cleaning, collapsed Dec. 15 and the construction materials   — block, brick, steel, roofing and glass — are as of this date still where they fell. That’s because mandatory testing showed   the rubble is tainted with asbestos, and McFall doesn’t have the money to hire a specialty contractor to clean it up, he has   said. A prior tentative deal to have the city take possession of the property — and hold McFall financially harmless for cleanup   and past-due property taxes — collapsed.

In roughly one-hour sessions the past two Thursdays, city building inspectors David Miller and Jason Dool testified for the   prosecution in the debris case. McFall’s attorney, Jon Ross Wilson, tried again to get certain testimony thrown out, referencing   McFall’s ownership of the property, and was overruled by Judge Thomas DiMillo.

McFall may or may not testify on his own behalf when the trial picks up again in two weeks, according to Wilson.