JOHNSTON — The town has issued a stop work order at the site where FM Global is building its new headquarters off Central Avenue.

The order basically restrains builders from doing any new work, beyond the completion of foundations, in advance of a May 14 zoning appeal hearing.

The contractors can backfill around the foundations and take other steps to enhance safety at the site, according to the order, issued by the public works director, Makram H. Megalli.

Lawyers representing the owner of FM Global’s existing headquarters building, CapLease, appealed the Planning Board’s decision to approve the project, saying the company wasn’t availed of its right to have enough time to review documents and provide comments in advance of a public hearing on the project.

CapLease is concerned about the potential for traffic and flooding problems in the area, according to Edward D. Pare.

The construction of the new $60-million headquarters is a major economic development project.

Mayor Joseph M. Polisena said CapLease is sour about losing its tenant.

“They’re trying to stop the tenant from leaving the building, which is kind of sad,” he said, adding that CapLease, a New York-based company, has suggested that town officials allowed “something sleazy” to transpire with a “wink, wink and a nod nod.”

Pare said he’s never made an allegation using those types of words.

“My clients are looking to protect our property interest in the building we own and avail themselves of the due process rights we’re afforded like any other owner,” Pare said.

A spokesman for FM Global, Steven Zenofsky, said CapLease had purchased the building that houses his company at 1301 Atwood Ave. last April for about $55 million.

Later, it became clear that FM Global would leave and the building needed about $18 million worth of improvements, Zenofsky said.

The situation, he said, begs a question.

Is CapLease trying to keep a tenant by contesting the planning process for FM Global’s project?

“That’s a great question that has not been asked yet,” Zenofsky said.

“This is not about trying to keep them because they’ve told us they’re moving,” Pare said.

CapLease’s appeals case says that staff in the town’s planning office were slow to provide some requested information. Also, certain parts of the official file for FM Global’s project weren’t complete until shortly before a March 4 public hearing, the complaint says.

One such component was a “highly technical” 100-page report concerning runoff and wetlands issues. That report didn’t become available until “one business day” before the hearing, the complaint says.

An assistant town solicitor, William Conley, said the town planner told him that CapLease had full, access to the planning file.

The Planning Board voted to approve both the project’s master plan and preliminary plan on March 28. The town also issued a building permit on the 28th.

A special building permit was issued prior to the vote of approval on March 26, according to Megalli’s letter to an FM Global vice president, Donald Oldmixon.

CapLease is appealing the approvals, as well as the issuance of building permits.

The town issued the building permits even though FM Global had not received the third and last planning approval, known as final approval for the project, according to CapLease’s complaint.

The complaint says the permits were issued shortly after FM Global agreed to indemnify the town under a certain scenario: If someone made a claim against the town and that claim was based on the issuance of building permits before any appeals had been filed.

The complaint supports that claim with a letter written to Town Solicitor Christopher Colardo by a lawyer representing FM Global.

mreynold@projo.com