{"id":118941,"date":"2026-08-22T07:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T07:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/118941\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T07:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T07:05:11","slug":"as-geneva-fines-top-500k-over-old-blacksmith-shop-judge-to-rule-on-compliance-of-cover-shaw-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/118941\/","title":{"rendered":"As Geneva fines top $500K over old blacksmith shop, judge to rule on compliance of cover \u2013 Shaw Local"},"content":{"rendered":"

The city of Geneva<\/a> cited Shodeen Development in May over its white plastic shrink-wrap cover placed over an 1840s remnant limestone blacksmith shop.<\/p>\n

The city warned Shodeen<\/a> that encasing the structure at 4 E. State St. did not comply with property code standards, nor the previous hearing officer\u2019s decision in 2024, upheld by the court in 2025.<\/p>\n

All were back together at an adjudication hearing Thursday night before hearing officer Victor Puscas.<\/p>\n

City Attorney Ronald Sandack said covering the structure in shrink-wrap did not follow Puscas\u2019 previous ruling, nor the court\u2019s ruling to uphold it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe shrink-wrap might actually cause more damage because without any type of ventilation, we\u2019re worried that mold and mildew and other particulates could be trapped,\u201d Sandack said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe asked them to take it down and do what your order originally required, to no avail,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve been talking about, we\u2019ve been talking about for the better part of two years: Submit a plan for redevelopment [to] address the whole parcel. I think they are close to that, but they have not done it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Puscas told both sides that he didn\u2019t have anything to work with and reset the hearing for Oct. 15.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have any documents, charging documents or otherwise,\u201d Puscas said. \u201cSo I guess I\u2019d have to look at what you\u2019re alleging that they\u2019re doing … and compare it to whatever happened in the statutes or sections of the code. From what you\u2019ve told me, I can\u2019t really put it together in my head whether or not there\u2019s a violation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Puscas asked the city to provide a packet of documents to him and to Shodeen attorney Daniel Konicek by Sept. 17.<\/p>\n

Puscas\u2019 ruling in 2024 upheld the city\u2019s fines against Shodeen of $750 per day, from Oct. 17 of that year, based on the argument that the structure was not in compliance. The court also upheld the fine. <\/p>\n

As of Aug. 20, 672 days later, the fine is $504,750.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The city of Geneva cited Shodeen Development in May over its white plastic shrink-wrap cover placed over an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7],"tags":[2115,65,3733,2669,898,899],"class_list":["post-118941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-geneva","tag-development","tag-geneva","tag-geneva-city-council","tag-history","tag-kane-county","tag-local-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/117137894779001189","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}