KNOX—The owner of the Fox Creek Flea Market will keep his business running even though he has been, and will continue to be, ticketed for violating the town’s zoning ordinance.
"I guess I’m going to have to get some tickets because I’m going to go bankrupt if I refund [the vendors’] money," said Edward Allen, who appeared pro se before a Knox town justice last week.

Allen, of Berne, is charged with opening the flea market without a special-use permit from the town’s zoning board. He pleaded not-guilty to town justice Linda Quay last Wednesday. Quay adjourned the hearing until Sept. 14, at which time, Allen said, he will return with a lawyer.

Quay said any tickets Allen gets between now and then will be considered all at one time.

The tickets each carry a maximum fine of $350 and a minimum of zero, Quay said.

According to federal court documents, Allen filed for personal bankruptcy earlier this month under Chapter 13 of the United States Bankruptcy Code.

Allen told The Enterprise that his bankruptcy has to do with his house payments, and is not connected to the flea market or his other businesses, a garage and a motorcycle shop.

Chapter 13 bankruptcy allows a debtor with regular income to file a three-to five-year repayment plan with the court. If the court approves the plan, the debtor and his creditors are bound by it. This protects the debtor from giving up any property.

Allen has two creditors listed in the court documents: Household Finance Realty of NY, of Elmhurst, Ill.; and Manton Sweeney Gallo, of Rego Park, NY.

No permit

Allen and his wife, Martha, claim they have done everything the town has asked of them in order to secure a permit and are frustrated they cannot get a straight answer.
"There are no steps to follow, there’s nothing in writing," Mrs. Allen said in court.
"If I was suicidal, it would’ve been over already," Mr. Allen said.

Allen owns and operates Altamont Garage. He compared his experience starting a business in Altamont with starting one in Knox. Getting a permit in Altamont was much simpler, he said.
"I was done in 15 minutes," Allen said.

The Fox Creek Flea Market, in the Southwest corner of Knox, opened in late May. It is open on Sundays and holiday weekends and consists of sites for about 270 vendors who sell antiques and other goods from space rented to them by the Allens.

Years ago, the Fox Creek Auction Arena, which was then owned by Douglas Cater, held auctions and functioned as a flea market for vendors from all over the area, bringing hundreds of people through West Berne every weekend. Cater was taken to court for illegal practices and his operation was shut down.
In a front-page Enterprise story on July 14, Allen said he was pleased with the opening-day crowd, Memorial Day weekend, but suspected summer heat had put people off. "I knew the first year was going to be tough," he said. "With the heat and humidity, sometimes even I don’t want to go out there."

He said he has about 20 vendors.

At that time, Allen said he planned to submit the required information to the zoning board and to go through the public-hearing process, but would keep the flea market running every Sunday in the meantime.

After his first visit to the zoning board, Allen was given a temporary permit, but it was revoked the next month.

Earl Barcomb, chairman of the Knox Zoning Board of Appeals, was not available for an interview this week. Two weeks ago, however, Barcomb said Allen appeared before the zoning board in June, but was denied a special-use permit because he needed to submit further information, including a plat plan of the site.

Robert Price, chairman of the Knox Planning Board, told The Enterprise that the zoning board requested the planning board do a site-plan review of the property. To do that, Price said, the planning board requires a plat plan of the property and a business plan.

Although the site was a flea market years ago, Price said, it was established before the zoning ordinance and therefore the town has no records of it.
"They’re essentially starting from ground zero," Price said.

Price said Allen has not come before the planning board or submitted any materials.
"Whatever he has, no one else has seen it," Price said.

Allen told Judge Quay that he paid $1,500 for an appraisal on the property when he bought it, and the appraiser gave him a map that included the layout of the buildings. Allen said the town did not accept the map because it was not to scale.

Price questioned the Allens’ willingness to work with the town to get the permit. He cited the example of Mark Wade, who, Price said, spent 11 months working with the planning and zoning boards before he got a permit to reopen the Foxenkill Restaurant, just down the road from the flea market.
"From my point of view," Price said of the Allens, "these people are taking the approach that they don’t have to abide by the town’s rules: They can do what they want."

Allen was reluctant to talk to The Enterprise because, he said, last time he did, he was ticketed.