Valley Toyota may not open its doors in Hanford next month as planned.

The company points its finger at developer Daniel Bailey and accuses him of dragging his feet in paving the road, sidewalks and making other necessary improvements to the site that's west of 12th Avenue.

Relocating here from Sanger, Toyota says it will have nowhere to go after July, when its lease there expires. And without street access and utilities in place here in Hanford, the city won't allow a business to open.

Although Bailey says he remains committed to the project, that hasn't eased Valley Toyota's ire.

"We are frustrated," said Adrian Kulinski, general counsel of the San Diego-based Automotive Group, a parent company of Valley Toyota.

"Our expectation was to open our dealership by June. Now we can't do it because of Dan Bailey. All we want is to have the ability to open our store."

A Toyota-Scion sign now stands amid the half-paved meandering road on the dusty 40-acre property at the northwest corner of Highway 198 and 12th Avenue. But construction at the future Auto Mall did not pick up its pace until recently.

The tension between Valley Toyota and Bailey came to light Tuesday, as the city council considered the developer's request for more time to finish site improvements.

The deadline was Saturday and Bailey is apparently far behind schedule.

City officials have sent Bailey three strongly worded letters of reminder to get the site ready for construction.

When developers get project approval from the city, they are required to make "improvements" - installing roads, curbs and gutters and utilities into the property - within a reasonable time period before businesses can open.

Bailey says the delay is due to his workload and some legal issues facing the project.

"We've been busy with other projects not only in Hanford, but in other places," Bailey said. "We also had a conflict with the general contractor on it."

Last week, as city officials prepared to recommend rejection of Bailey's request, Valley Toyota officials and Bailey continued to negotiate out of city chambers. And the last-minute compromise came through.

The Southern California developer was eventually given 120 more days to finish his work, but Bailey's work progress is on strict monitoring.

Bailey faces seven specific conditions to meet by May 8.

Two of these conditions remain unfulfilled:

- Proof that all deposits have been paid to utility companies to service all the lots.

- Cash deposits or credit to complete all the work based on contracts.

"We have already completed five of seven conditions," Bailey said last week. "We're confident that we'll be able to meet all the conditions by Tuesday.

"For a while it did not make progress as quickly as we wished, but we're already paying more attention and we're going to move forward."

But if Bailey cannot meet all the conditions by Tuesday, the city will call the bond, put up by Bailey, to finish up the work.

Currently, Bailey faces a lawsuit by Valley Toyota's owner, James Crowley, who alleges a breach of contract and fraud.

The lawsuit claims the original agreement signed between Crowley and Bailey required improvements to be complete by last February.

In the suit, Crowley alleges $1.2 million has been withdrawn from a builder's construction account, but the improvements have remained largely unfinished.

Crowley also alleges that Bailey misappropriated money by using false bills to take the money out of the construction account.

Bailey called these allegations baseless.

"It is 100 percent false," Bailey said, adding that he has already spent more than $2 million of his own money toward site improvements.

"They didn't have the accounting. They should know that money has been spent on the project."

(The reporter can be reached at 582-0471, ext. 3059.)

(May 7, 2007)