Mayor cites reason as indictments of company officials
By Lauren Young
Staff Writer
Following the indictment on fraud charges of two top officials of Morgan Management, the company working to develop an apartment complex in the village of Fayetteville, Mayor Mark Olson has announced that the management’s zone change request in the village has been suspended.
“In light of recent accusations made by the FBI regarding Morgan Development operations, I know that resolving those matters will be their primary focus,” said Olson in a May 29 written statement. “For these reasons I have decided that it is in the best interests of the village to wait until those matters are resolved before investing more time and energy into the zone change proposal.”
Morgan Management is currently attempting to develop an apartment complex on 547 E. Genesee Street at the former O’Brien & Gere site in Fayetteville. The proposed development project has been in the works — and has faced much public criticism — for nearly three years and was in the midst of continuing its way through the municipal planning process.
On May 14, federal authorities raided Morgan’s Perinton office in Rochester under a court-ordered search warrant, seizing Morgan company emails on a computer server maintained by Microsoft Corp. The search was based on a warrant alleging that two of Founder and CEO Robert C. Morgan’s relatives – son Todd and nephew Kevin – committed bank and wire fraud. (click here for previous story)
Kevin Morgan is vice president of Morgan Management and Todd Morgan is a project manager, both of whom have been involved in the Fayetteville project.
On May 22, U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy announced a 62-count indictment against Kevin and Todd Morgan, as well as two other individuals. The federal grand jury indictment alleges that the defendants operated a multi-million-dollar mortgage fraud scheme for seven of its apartment complexes, one of them being in Syracuse. (click here for previous story)
The Morgan proposal in Fayetteville plans to build five, three-story apartment buildings and 10, two-story townhouse style apartments, totaling to 200 apartment units. It is currently in the midst of requesting a zone change for its property.
According to Olson, “the site presents a number of significant challenges for the requested zone change,” and “the Board of Trustees needs to know that the developer will be focused and determined to have a successful project.”
Olson said he will be sending his letter suspending the zone change request to the developer immediately.
“Right now, it’s just not in the best interest of the village until we can get this issue resolved,” said Olson. Trustee Dan Kinsella made a move to approve the request and Trustee Mike Small seconded it.
The joint environmental review meeting scheduled on June 18 for this proposal has been cancelled.
