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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMarch 23, 1998 "SUBJECT TO APPROVAL" MINUTES BUILDING STANDARDS COMMISSION March 23, 1998 6:00 p.m. Training Room MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Dan Sears, Board Members Glenn Thomas, James Holster,Robert Mooney, Jean C. Bailey, George McLean, and Bill Lewis MEMBERS ABSENT: Alternates Wick McKean and Steve Abalos STAFF PRESENT: Development Services Director Jim Callaway, Building Official Lance Simms,Fire Marshal Jon Mies,Plans Examiner Carl Warren, Assistant City Engineer Veronica Morgan Senior Assistant City Attorney Roxanne Nemcik Building Technician Lisa Hankins, Senior Secretary Melissa Rodgers AGENDA ITEM NO. 1: Call meeting to order The meeting was called to order by Chairman Dan Sears AGENDA ITEM NO. 2: Hear Visitors for items not on agenda There were no visitors AGENDA ITEM NO. 3: Approve Minutes from Building Standards Commission Meeting on February 23, 1998. Robert Mooney motion to accept minutes, Glenn Thomas seconded the motioned, the board concurred 7-0. AGENDA ITEM NO. 4: Public hearing to consider a proposal by Wolf Creek Partners II,Ltd. of the property located at 306 Redmond Drive,Redmond Terrace,Lot 11-17,Block 4 and adjacent acreage in the Kapchinski Subdivision, Acres 3.45 known as the"Meridian Apartments." Dan Sears asked staff to brief the board on the about meeting. Building Official Lance Simms took the floor to brief the commission about what took place at the last meeting regarding said property, and what has developed since that time. He reiterated to the commission about BUILDING STANDARDS COMMISSION March 23, 1998 Minutes "SUBJECT TO APPROVAL" the condition of the 12 buildings at said property, referred to the key map outlining the location of the buildings. He reminded the commission of the violations existing at the buildings and referred to the photographs taken during the walk through inspections done by city staff. Mr. Simms told the commission that after the meeting on February 28, 1998 he met with Engineering Staff to verify which of the 12 buildings in question were in the 100 year flood plain. Engineering staff verified all 12 buildings were in the 100 year flood plain. He also reminded the conunission about their vote declaring the buildings unsafe and recommendation for demolition of all buildings, slabs, and surrounding concrete located in the flood plain. In essence, the commission issued an"order"to declare the buildings demolished and the debris removed with ninety (90)days. Since that time,city staff has been contacted by an attorney, Mr. Charles Ellison, representing the owners, Wolf Creek Partners II, Ltd. Mr. Ellison requested a meeting with the Building Standards Commission to consider a proposal by the owners. Dan Sears opened the public hearing. Mr. Chuck Ellison took the floor to speak to the commission about a proposal being offered by the owners of the apartments. He said that the owners still wanted to work out a plan with the city in regards to restructuring the drainage of the creek to try to get the buildings out of the flood plain. Mr. Ellison said the owners have invested a great deal of time and money over the years to try to work out a plan with Texas A&M and the City of College Station to no avail. Mr. Ellison said the owners, as a limited partnership, have only these apartments as their sole asset, he said are prepared to file a suit in district court,which Mr. Ellison said he would not handle unless there is an agreement that would promote this case procedurally to get where the staff or commission wants to go,or the owners are prepared to file bankruptcy and let the city do what they want with the property. Mr. Ellison said the owners would still like to work out a deal with the city to demise some of the buildings and rehabilitate the rest, however, with the time limit set it would be very difficult to achieve this goal. The owners told him that they would like to devise a plan to present to the commission within 60 days to either proceed with the demolition of the super structures, or apply for permits to rehabilitate some of the structures,Mr.Ellison said that the owners felt like they could present a solid plan to the commission and accomplish this plan within 180 days. Mr. Ellison said if this would be of interest to the commission, he would start proceeding with a dialog. However, if the commission was not going to consider this proposal, he would let his clients know. Dan asked if the commission if there were any questions for Mr. Ellison. Jean C. Bailey asked for confirmation on the date Mr. Ellison was hired by the owners of the apartments Dr. Bailey confirmed with the commission that she could remember years ago when these apartments presented a drainage problem and were considered a hazard at that time. She also confirmed with Mr. Ellison which partnership of Wolf Creek Partners, II, owned these apartments. Dr. Bailey asked what the original agreement was on rehabilitating the structures. BUILDING STANDARDS COMMISSION March 2, 1998 Minutes page 2 "SUBJECT TO APPROVAL" Roxanne Nemcik took the floor to confirm that several years ago the owners had agreed to rehabilitate all the buildings the partnership owned, including Meridian Phase I, II, and III. Initially, phase I and phase II were rehabilitated, but for some reason,phase III was never done, wherein it started to deteriorate,and has continued to deteriorate here to date. She confirmed that the 12 buildings in question, were confirmed by staff to be in the 100 year flood plain and in the past the owners have tried to work out a plan to reroute drainage in the creek to correct the flooding problem. Veronica Morgan took the floor to speak about the drainage problems in the Wolf Pen Creek area in relation to the property in question. She presented a map showing the 100 year flood plain layout of the area,verifying the buildings location on the map. Veronica told the commission about past damage cases at the apartments dating back to 1969 when they were built as the Posada Del Rey, and at that time, the property experienced severe flooding problems. Robert Mooney asked Veronica if when the apartments were first constructed, if they were built in the flood plain,or were they placed in the flood plain at a later date. Jim Callaway told the commission that there were no flood plain regulations or ordinances during the time of construction of the apartments, however, it was known the apartments were constructed in a flood plain area. Glenn Thomas asked staff if the current owners had purchased the apartments knowing it was in a flood plain area. Roxanne verified that the owners had purchased the property with the knowledge of it being in the flood plain. Jim Callaway said that the reason phase III of the apartments was not rehabilitated might be due to the flood plain problems and the arrangement with Texas A&M regarding the detention pond on the golf course. He said that realistically they thought the proposal with the university would not be considered, however, it was accepted and the board of regents approved a proposal for construction, however the requirements involved in the construction of the project was such that the owners could not afford it. The owners approached the city council to apply for funds to help with the construction project of the detention pond,and at that time the city was not willing to help with funding the project. James Holster asked staff if there were any commitments made by the city to assist with funding this project at any time in the past or present. Jim Callaway said as far as they knew there have been no definite commitments made by the city to help fund this project. Jean C. Bailey asked about the specifics regarding the proposal the owners had worked out with Texas A&M and the detention pond. Glenn Thomas explained that a detention pond was to be built on the A&M golf course to help with the drainage flow of the creek, therefore alleviating the flooding problems occurring on the property where the apartments are located. BUILDING STANDARDS COMMISSION March 23, 1998 Minutes page 3 "SUBJECT TO APPROVAL" Dan Sears asked staff if it was true that no building permits would be issued until the flooding problem was resolved. Staff verified this by saying that the apartments need be removed from flood plain before any building permits would be issued. Veronica Morgan referred to the flood plain map again to show the drainage flow in accordance with the Wolf Pen Creek Area and the property in question. The map showed two key lines in red and blue; the blue line indicating what city engineers propose is in the flood plain according to their research and the red line indicating what FEMA has adopted as being in the flood plain. Veronica told the commission that this blue line is only a model by which the city can research drainage flow projection, and is not recognized by FEMA. Veronica said the city was going to submit their research to FEMA to be adopted as a new flood plain line for the City of College Station. She said that in their research they used a model to show how drainage would flow if there was a detention pond built in the area the Wolf Creek Partners had proposed with Texas A&M. She said that from this model,they learned that even with the detention pond, the water flow would not be corrected as anticipated by the owners of the apartments buildings and city staff. She reminded the board that there are other structures that were built in the same area, however, those structures were built in a way to elevate them out of the flood plain. Veronica said that from their best modeling efforts and research there is not a sure way of reducing the flood problems in this area. Glenn Thomas asked staff what the options would be in retaining building permits in this situation. He said that obviously you cannot correct the problem at hand with the drainage. He said that there were some buildings in other flood plain areas that were built on stilts,and wondered if this could be an option for the owners. Veronica said that would be an option,however, FEMA has concerns about property that has high priority for flood damages,and in this case the owners would have to meet all the criteria required by FEMA to rebuild in what is known as a high risk flood area. Mr. Ellison told the commission the owners wanted to enter into an agreement with the city to rehabilitate some of the buildings, however, the cost factor still presents a problem and whether the city accepts an offer or not,means the owners only have two days from now to appeal or file for bankruptcy. Robert Mooney asked Lance Simms to reiterate the time frame given the owners to resolve this situation. Lance told the commission about the first time he notified Mr. Creixell, in September 1997 and outlined the building and fire code violations. After Mr. Creixell received the letter from the city, he requested a meeting with city staff to work on a proposition. During that meeting, Lance said Mr. Creixell explained the situation about the proposal with Texas A&M and the detention pond on the golf course. Lance said he told Mr. Creixell that immediate action needed to be taken in resolving this problem with the structures. Lance said that Mr. Creixell seemed amenable to comply with the city in working out a solution. Lance said that after that meeting,he had not heard from Mr. Creixell for two months,and so himself and Carla Robinson of the city's legal department called Mr. Creixell for a conference call. BUILDING STANDARDS COMMISSION March 23, 1998 Minutes page 4 "SUBJECT TO APPROVAL" During that call Mr. Creixell would not commit to demising the structures because he said he did not have authorization from the owners. Lance told the commission he sent Mr. Creixell another letter in December 1997 telling Mr. Creixell he would have one more month to make a commitment or the city would pursue the situation through other means. Lance said in his effort to work to with the owners and get a commitment has been something he personally wanted to achieve. He said he pursued whatever procedures were necessary to work with the owners to work out a deal, but all efforts had been exhausted. Lance referred to the ordinance and reminded the commission of the efforts attempted with the owners from the last meeting. He said at that time,Mr. Creixell did not have a plan to offer the city, and now all involved are put in a position to come up with a solution to satisfy the owners. Jon Mies also reminded the board that the owners had requested 60 days to devise a plan and i80 days to put into place. Jim Callaway said that because the city no longer owns the landfill, the city cannot waive the tipping fees. The city does not control the landfill anymore and is required to pay as any customer. He concluded that because of this development, he assumed that the owners would leave the property for the city to deal with and pursue a plan of action. Jean C. Bailey asked staff what the estimates were for demolition of the structures. Lance Simms said he had received two bids, and this was contractors who had actually walked the grounds for and estimate. The bids included the tipping fees and were in the$100,000 range. Lance pointed out that these fees included the structures only and not the concrete slabs, which would probably double the cost of the estimate because of the weight involved. Veronica Morgan also pointed out that although the city can recycle concrete, the slabs for these structures have a lot of added material such as rebar, mesh,etc. and for the city to clean this concrete for recycling, it would cost more than it's worth. Mr. Ellison told the commission that he had talked with Mr. Creixell recently and he told him that the owners felt like they had plan to offer the city, however, if it was possible to get an extension to work on a plan it could possibly benefit both parties involved. Mr. Ellison told his clients that unless they had a definite solution, he could not be guaranteed anything from this meeting. Mr. Ellison said his confidence in his clients was good and he felt he could work out a plan with the city, however, he was naive to the situation and realized the city's position. Jon Mies told the commission that for the record the Brazos County Appraisal District had appraised the property at$179,631 and that it was listed as"salvage apartments"and not"apartment complex". Glenn Thomas confirmed the cost of removal of the buildings with staff. He also confirmed with Mr. Ellison that in fact he was here to ask for a time extension for the owners to come up with a plan. Mr.Ellison agreed At this time,Mr. Larry Linton took the floor to speak in opposition of the proposal request by the owners. He said that he remembered these apartments flooding many years ago, and that today it presented a flooding problem. BUILDING STANDARDS COMMISSION March 23, 1998 Minutes page 5 "SUBJECT TO APPROVAL" He said his main concern was that his family lives on the other side of the apartments and that the driveway at the apartments is starting to collapsed into the creek and that presents a problem because there are kids that run through the area, and the risk is high for injury to these kids. Mr. Linton said that the creek has changed over the years,and with the erosion occurring, this causes a greater safety hazard. Mr. Derwood Anderson took the floor in opposition of the proposal. He asked the commission what value the foundations had if only the structures were removed. He said that eventually the goal would be to raise these slabs above the flood plain, therefore requiring time for a plan for that, meaning another meeting for the commission to approve that plan. Mr. Bruce Sanders took the floor in opposition of the proposal. He told the commission that his parents have owned property near the apartments for 20 years. He said they have watched the property deteriorate all this time and feels like the owners have had adequate time to resolve the problem. He told the commission that the owners should have called Lance Simms to work out a deal. Mr. Sanders said that the only solution is to have the structures removed including the foundations and if it's up to the city to pay for it because there's no other solution, then so be it. He said it's not right to penalize the homeowners who take care of their property because the owners of the apartments have not kept their property up to standards. He said that this problem has been around long enough and it's going to be around again and again unless the commission decides to take action. Dan Sears closed public hearing. James Holster asked staff if the commission exceeded their authority by declaring the buildings unsafe and requesting the removal of the structures. Roxanne Nemcik told the commission they had not exceeded their authority by declaring the buildings unsafe. She again went over their duties as the Building Standards Commission and told them they have the right to determine what the status of the property is and what actions should be taken in the removal or rehabilitation of them. She also told them they have the right to amend the order issued from the February 23, 1998, meeting or issue a new one,or to request to change the ordinance pertaining to this situation. The commission held discussion regarding the slabs, the condition of the structures and what options might be considered for the city if they are left to handle this project. The commission asked Roxanne how to word a motion suggesting either to deny the proposal or to accept the original order presented by the commission on February 23, 1998. Roxanne confirmed to the commission that was in their scope of authority to motion in any of those phrases, or to amend the original order. James Holster motioned to deny the proposal by the owners and to keep the original order presented by the commission. Robert Mooney seconded the motion, the commission concurred, (7-0). BUILDING STANDARDS COMMISSION March 23, 1998 Minutes page 6 "SUBJECT TO APPROVAL" AGENDA ITEM NO.S: Adjourn Robert Mooney motion to adjourn, James Holster seconded the motion. APPROVED: Chairman: Dan Sears ATTEST: Building Technician: Lisa Hankins BUILDING STANDARDS COMMISSION March 23, 1998 Minutes page 7