The Willow Glen Resident

Council Watch

Demolition of WG Arco held up a third time

Developer says owner is stalling

By Cecily Barnes

When the city of San Jose planning staff deferred for a third time a request to demolish Willow Glen Arco, the gas station on the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Willow Street, attorney Albert Ruffo demanded action.

"Next time, I don't care what you do with it," Ruffo said candidly at an Aug. 26 planning director's hearing. "Burn it, throw it out, just do something."

The matter has been rescheduled for Sept. 9 at 10 a.m. City planner Carol Hamilton all but promises that it will not be deferred again.

"We're going to proceed on the 9th in taking it to hearing and would have done that this week, except that I wasn't able to reach Al Ruffo," Hamilton said. "We just wanted to make sure that the applicant was aware of all the implications of redoing the site rather than maintaining the existing gas station."

The hold-up for the Planning Department has been whether the existing gas station will be upgraded or torn down and rebuilt. According to Hamilton, planning staff generally needs to know which of these things will happen, since new gas stations are held to much higher standards and planning restrictions. But a complication with the existing tenant has made it impossible for Ruffo to provide the Planning Department with this information.

Although his lease expired in March, Willow Glen Arco owner George Fokos refuses to leave the property until he has a permit to rip out his gas tanks and take them with him, Ruffo said. Fokos agreed to leave under these conditions only after Ruffo filed an unlawful-retainer suit against him in April.

But Fokos won't tell the tenant-in-waiting, Rick Hirsch, whether he plans to demolish or sell the existing garage on the site. Because the Planning Department won't usually allow a demolition permit without this information, Ruffo and Hirsch believe Fokos' indecision is a stalling tactic.

"He has used every possible tactic to stay there, and he wants you to delay," Hirsch said at the planning director's hearing. "If you delay for another two years, he'd be happy."

Fokos did not return phone calls from The Willow Glen Resident.

At this point, Ruffo and Hirsch don't care what Fokos does with the garage; they just want him off the property. And they see the demolition permit as the last obstacle in the way of that goal.

"We're getting desperate," Ruffo said. "The tenant refuses to give up the property, and something has to be done."

Once Hamilton was filled in on the specifics of the situation, she agreed to go ahead and act without definite knowledge of whether or not the building will be torn down or remodeled. "We understand that now and are willing to go ahead with the hearing," Hamilton said.

Hirsch has been patiently waiting to activate the lease he signed with property owners Joseph and Rose Romano last year. "He [Fokos] thinks I'm going to quit and walk away," Hirsch said. "I'll stay there for as long as it takes."

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