Judge orders temporary closure of Northport Fish and Lobster Co.

A state Supreme Court judge ordered the temporary closure of the Northport Fish and Lobster Co., after Northport village officials took the market to court over alleged violations of building and fire codes, the village attorney told Newsday.

Northport village officials had been keeping a close watch on the market, which is in the midst of a renovation. Neighbors had complained about construction work at the property, which fronts Route 25A, also known as Fort Salonga Road.

From October to June, the village cited the property for alleged building and fire code violations, and the issues were heard in Village Court.

The conflict escalated over the past few week.

By this past Monday, the village board had authorized its attorney, Stuart Besen, to file a lawsuit to temporarily stop the business from operating over the alleged violations.

"They had left us no alternative, but to go to [state] Supreme Court and to seek temporary injunctions," Besen said in an interview Sunday.

In March store owner Eric Gusew told Newsday he has owned the market for about 35 years and now had funds to renovate it. The store backs up to the residential Cherry Street.

Gusew did not return calls for comment Sunday and no one answered the phone at the store.

"The neighbors have complained for years for the way the back of the store looks," Gusew told Newsday in March. "But it’s on a commercial property and it’s a business that’s been there before they were; it’s been a fish market since the early 1960s."

The village has issued about 14 code violations against the site, Besen told Newsday.

The village's building department ordered the store to close down Saturday, after Judge Derrick J. Robinson signed a temporary restraining order on Friday.

"They are currently closed down," Besen said Sunday.

The next court date is June 16, according to Robinson's order.