A preliminary injunction issued April 10 by the appellate division of the New York State Supreme Court prohibits "dismantling, altering or reconstructing the exterior" of Sage Hall. The interim court ruling is the latest result of a series of maneuvers designed to challenge the renovation of Sage as the new home of the university's S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management.
The Heritage Coalition Inc. sought the injunction pending appeal after State Supreme Court Judge Phillip Rumsey in late March dismissed the coalition's suit against two city of Ithaca boards -- the Landmarks Preservation Commission and the Planning Board. The Syracuse-based preservation group claims the city acted inappropriately in granting the university permission to renovate and save the 123-year-old building from deterioration. Sage must meet strict standards for renovation because it was declared a local landmark in 1990.
The court granted Cornell's request for speedy consideration, according to Shirley K. Egan, associate university counsel. "Ordinarily, arguments on the merits in the appeal would not be heard until next fall," she said.
The Heritage Coalition has until April 24 to file written arguments in the case, and oral arguments are scheduled for the court term that begins May 28 in Albany. A decision by the appeals panel could take several more weeks after oral arguments, Egan explained.
"The merits of the case have not been considered yet," Egan said. "This injunction stops exterior work until the court can weigh the merits of arguments by bothsides."
It's not clear what effect the legal maneuvering will have on the Sage Hall project at this time, because exterior work was not scheduled to start until mid-June. Eric F. Dicke, director of facilities planning at Cornell, said preliminary site work will continue. The first major interior work, asbestos removal, is scheduled to begin May 20 and also is not affected by the preliminary injunction.
Construction has been scheduled for completion in summer 1998. Delays not only would change the timetable but could increase the construction budget by hundreds of thousands of dollars and could have a detrimental effect on local construction workers, Dicke said.