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A troubled Marco Island shopping center must again go before the City Council for approval of its redevelopment plans, city officials said, amid an escalating series of allegations about city staff and developer conduct.

In May, a Daily News investigation showed numerous violations of city code, contradictory official data and improper permitting at Marco Walk shopping center since the plaza received a “variance” or exception from city code at a 2005 Marco Island City Council meeting.

A revised site plan submitted to the city in October omits an elevator in the plaza’s food court, which was an original condition in the variance. The change will force developer Leon Agami in front of the council again, Community Development Director Steve Olmsted said.

“We are taking the plan back to City Council,” he said.

The elevator was “one of the only outstanding issues we can see” at the plaza, Olmsted said. He added the city has already corrected a number of violations at the site and are working with Agami to remedy the remainder.

In a brief telephone interview, Agami was asked about the status of the elevator. Agami said he expected to install it in the spring.

The city’s response to the plaza’s problems has failed to satisfy at least one interested party.

John Nachef, owner of a plaza restaurant whose lease will not be renewed in December, wondered why the city hasn’t taken code enforcement action against Agami and suggested Agami was being held to a different standard.

“The biggest question out there is why hasn’t he been red tagged?” Nachef said. “He’s out of compliance and everyone knows it. Why isn’t he being fined every day? Guys with overgrown lawns are being fined and this guy gets away with murder.

“Obviously somebody is telling somebody not to do something,” Nachef added. “I don’t know those things, but you have to ask yourself why?”

Nachef made reference to the plaza’s tenants being well connected to the city’s political hierarchy. Brien Spina, the owner of Capt. Brien’s restaurant, is the son-in-law of City Manager Bill Moss. Moss recused himself from all discussions about the plaza when it came before the council and has not addressed the problems that have occurred since. Councilwoman Terri DiSciullo is close friends with the co-owner of another Marco Walk restaurant, Nacho Mamas. Nachef himself has an unrelated business with Councilman Rob Popoff.

Olmsted denied the city showed any favoritism toward Agami.

“The city was partially responsible in giving out permits to begin with that they shouldn’t have gotten, and we’ve acknowledged that,” Olmsted said. “We would have sent him a notice of violation before we did anything anyway, and essentially that’s what we did through our contact with him. He is responding to them in a positive way. I don’t think we’ve shown any favoritism to him at all.”

Olmsted pointed to letters and e-mails sent to Agami since April advising him of problems at the plaza and the steps needed to correct them.

The current most significant code violation at the plaza is an overage in Marco Walk’s restaurant space. In municipal codes, restaurant square footage is often regulated more stringently because of a restaurant’s impact on issues such as parking intensity.

An engineering study commissioned by Agami in June showed the plaza was 420 square feet over its limit, but Daily News research showed the actual number could be more than four times larger.

Regardless, Agami’s attorney sent a letter to Nachef in August telling him the lease on his 1,900-square-foot restaurant wouldn’t be renewed when it expired at the end of the year. The letter stated, “unfortunately circumstances do not permit the renewal of your Lease.”

Nachef said Agami told him the reason his restaurant’s lease wasn’t being renewed was Marco Walk’s problems with the city. The revised site plan already shows the square footage from Nachef’s restaurant, 5 Brothers Pizza, removed.

Nachef also detailed a number of allegations against Agami’s personal and business character, calling him “a habitual liar.”

According to Nachef, after a coffee shop next to 5 Brothers went out of business last year Agami suggested Nachef’s restaurant take over the space without telling the city.

This summer when Agami and Nachef were discussing the potential renewal of the 5 Brothers lease, Agami demanded a provision that would guarantee him 50 percent of the restaurant’s sale price should it be sold, Nachef said.

In that conversation, Nachef said, Agami told him and his wife, who are both of Lebanese descent: “I’m an Israeli Jew. You’re a visitor in my house and you’ll do as I say.”

“I was flabbergasted,” Nachef said. “We almost came to blows.”

Agami declined to answer specific questions about any discussions with Nachef.

“I’m not going to respond to anything relating to John Nachef,” Agami said. “He’s my tenant and it’s a private matter between me and him.”

Meantime, Olmsted wrote a memo four months ago saying another code violation at the plaza, an overage in outdoor restaurant seating, was “in the process” of being corrected. On Oct. 23, a reporter counted 20 more chairs than the limit. After being notified as part of this story, code enforcement checked the numbers and then issued a notice of violation to Agami. It was the first given to the plaza for any of the compliance issues detailed by the Daily News.

Olmsted said the plaza’s new site plan would likely go before the city’s planning board in December before heading to the City Council.