BUFFALO, N.Y. — The battle over the Great Northern Grain Elevator has been going on for over a year after it was damaged in a December 2021 wind storm.
A decision by the 4th Appellate on Monday, however, my be the final fight in the battle.
Tim Tielman from the Campaign for Greater Buffalo tells 2 On Your Side a judge denied a preliminary injunction to stop demolition of the grain elevator.
Tielman didn't say he was giving up the fight to save this 125 year old building, but he did concede that the earliest an appeals court would likely be able to hear the case would be mid-February.
"The question is, how much of the building, if any, is going to be left?" Tielman said. "There's the time factor, the expense that would be incurred going forward, so we're weighing these things right now."
In their ruling, Justices Smith, Peradotto, Lindley, Nemoyer and Curran said that the Campaign for greater Buffalo had "yet to perfect it's appeal before this court despite the passage of 87 days since the notice of appeal herein was filed."
The ruling also indicated that the Campaign for Greater Buffalo had applied for an injunction three times and "on each occasion the application has been procedurally defective."
Tielman questioned whether Justice Curran should or shouldn't have recused himself, since it was his initial ruling that the Campaign for Greater Buffalo was appealing.
"That causes a great deal of problematic situations for the preservation of the Great Northern grain elevator," Tielman said. "Most of them revolving around the time it now would take to perfect an appeal, get a response from the city and ADM and then get an actual hearing scheduled before a panel.
The Great Northern Elevator was damaged during a windstorm on December 11, 2021.
An emergency order was approved by the city of Buffalo on December 17th, which kicked off several court battles between preservationists, the city and ADM.