The town is giving a local business owner one last chance to rectify problems at his business on Hawley Road, including more than $1.3 million in back taxes, before it tries to take the business' property through legal action.
First Selectman said Tuesday that he will meet with Tim Wahba, whose business is headquartered in Greenwich, within the next two weeks to discuss whether Wahba has plans to fix fire and building code concerns at the 66 Hawley Road property and to pay back the taxes in a timely fashion.
Wahba runs SteelVault Datacenters, which provides information technology infrastructure and services to businesses, out of the building owned by his father, Mahmoud Wahba, according to records on file at the Oxford Planning & Zoning office. Zoning Enforcement Officer Anna Silva Rycenga has filed two separate cease and desist orders this year with the company after land use commissioners told her to do so because the property did not have a permit to operate and it had building and safety code issues.
Last week, P&Z commissioners gave Tim Wahba two more weeks to work out his issues with Fire Chief Scott Pelletier, who also serves as fire marshal, and Building Official Gordon Gramolini. And, of course,they want him to work on paying the taxes owed on the building.
"We absolutely need to see a real effort on the taxes," Temple said. "We have to protect the town's interests."
When reached by phone on Tuesday, Tim Wahba said he believes what town officials are telling the media is different from what’s on the public record but didn’t elaborate. (Editor's Note: We did not find that to be the case.) He said he’d call back an editor for Patch to discuss the issue further but never did.
P&Z officials said Wahba attended a P&Z meeting last week and said he was there in good faith trying to rectify his problems and work with the town.
