Thursday, June 21, 2018

Despite $3.7 Million Major Remodel, City Forgot the Fire Escape: More Money Needed


Fire Escape Blunder Will Cost $300,000

Exterior Stairs to be Added to Front of 
Police Department Building

Emeryville's Public Safety Building is Still Unsafe

Emeryville's chief building official announced Tuesday the City will likely have to build an external stairway out the front of the two story police headquarters building because the City failed to provide an emergency fire exit during a major $3.7 million remodel of the building in 2012.  The second floor front public lobby at the police department building on Powell Street, is accessible by elevator only and has had no fire escape since 2012 or sometime after, when the building was cleared for occupancy, possibly erroneously, by the City's own Chief Building Official, Victor Gonzales, an "oversight" he says.
Emeryville's Police Department
Existing Entryway
The new fire escape will have to come
out through these upstairs windows, catwalk
over to the left and then down a flight of stairs.
Mr Gonzales, who makes $155,000 per year as head of the Building Department at City Hall admitted the lack of a legal fire escape for the ironically named Emeryville Public Safety Building must be fixed even though he himself signed off on the building. "Mistakes were made and we're working on a fix" he said before he mentioned the external stairs solution.  Preliminary estimates for legal egress stairs range up to $300,000 and would have to be paid via Emeryville's taxpayer funded Capital Improvement Program, a fund with an already overextended and fully earmarked project wish list.
The police building was overhauled in a major remodel completed in 2012, ironically done in part to improve safety, including fire safety, at a cost of at least $3.7 million according to the chief architect for the project.  The Tattler reported a $2.7 million figure in a December 2016 story, a number obtained from the City of Emeryville but the architect reports the 3.7 higher number.

The architect, Don Dommer of Oakland's Don Dommer Associates, told the Tattler he recalled he provided a legal "path of travel" for egress in the event of a fire and that unauthorized work done without benefit of his plans may have been subsequently done.  The Tattler is waiting to receive a set of the plans of the 2012 remodel project to be made available by a public records request, due in 9 days.  The Chief of Police, Jennifer Tejada has requested the plans be redacted owing to their sensitive nature.

City to Red Tag its Own Building?
Further complicating the public safety issue in the remodel and the concomitant embarrassment for the City, is a binding Certificate of Occupancy document uncovered by the Tattler that requires the City to vacate the police department building because of the lack of legal public egress.  The April 27th, 2012 C of O document that conditionally permits the Police Department and the public use of the building, mandates the permission for use be revoked and the Certificate of Occupancy be void if the "prescribed codes or regulations of the City of Emeryville are not met".
Second Floor Public Lobby: Fire Trap
The windows will be replaced with egress doors.

In a bizarre turn, the same person who signed off on the police building's fitness in 2012, Victor Gonzales, being the Chief Building Official, is the same person whom the Certificate of Occupancy now requires to 'red tag' the building, causing its forced evacuation.
While the building has been in a technical state of violation, probably since completion of the 2012 remodel project, only since the earlier Tattler story made the lack of legal egress condition known to the Emeryville Building Department in 2016, has it been imperative the building be red tagged.  Before that Tattler story, Mr Gonzales theoretically could have made the argument he didn't know the building lacked a fire escape. However, in the wake of the current Tattler story, the City Attorney, Micheal Guina said he is looking into what could be a conflict of interest or a state of jeopardy; Mr Gonzales being the same person to enforce the illegal condition he signed off on.   Thus being the power of a chief building official.
Beyond Mr Gonzales's obvious reluctance to implicate himself, the only way for the City to obey the core provision of its own legal document, the police building Certificate of Occupancy now, would be to tender an admission of incompetency, an unlikely event.

Still, Mr Guina told the Tattler he will consider the implications of the tricky exigency and report his decision to the City Council soon.

Attempting to defuse what's becoming a volatile situation for City Hall, Mr Gonzales, who's bailiwick is the construction trade, buildings and the public safety therein, told the Tattler Tuesday his oversight is understandable, "I'm doing the best I can. Everybody makes mistakes".  Besides, he said, the public safety has thus far "not been put at risk", "have there been any fires?" he asked.
Damning Document
Portends Homeless Cops
It's "....shall become void", not 'might become void'.


11 comments:

  1. Wow! The plot thickens. Good going Tattler! Let's see them try to squirm out of this one. Please stay on top of this story.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well anyway, it'd be a quick douse. The fire station's next door.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Another post by Emeryville's fake progressive trying to compete with Emeryville's REAL community news site, the E'Ville Eye. Rob Arias is loved in the community because he speaks for the community. This fake news is just click bait .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. Interesting that you’re on the click bait fake news site when you could be on the REAL news site; Mr Arias and his community news site. What’s up with that?
      Interesting too that that Mr Arias gets every election wrong. Every politician or initiative he rails against, the REAL Emeryville community supports. Funny sense of community you and he has. What community, exactly, are you talking about? The disgruntled and privileged white conservative community? What about the REAL Emeryville community? Their needs and desires are unmet by that blog. How do we know that? Look at ANY election result in Emeryville and compare it to Rob’s politics he splashes all over his blog.

      Delete
  4. This story is not serious. There is no way the city will red tag its own building so why do you report that? Plus I doubt they will put in the staircase. Get serious.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is no way to know if the City will obey its own rules until they make it clear by action (or inaction). Regardless, it's newsworthy that their own document demands a red tag and the people have a right to know about it. While this may not be tried in a court of law (but it could), it will at least be tried in the court of public opinion (because of serious journalism).

      Delete
  5. Brian,
    This is a hell of a scoop and written up in a balanced way. Keep up the good work! As far as Joe Cohen's comment, I'd like to see him make that argument when applying for a building permit----(I don't need to follow the building code, because my project is near a fire station). I'll bring the popcorn to the plan check counter.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What's going on with this story? Please don't drop this important scoop. Keep us informed. What's next?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rest assured, this story is very active. Monday, being day 10 of our Public Records Request, we will get many answers including internal City Hall emails and correspondence about this issue and the big kahuna; the approved architect's drawing from 2012 which will inform us how the City came into violation of the public safety fire code. Also, the City Attorney is due to inform us how the City is legally able (if it is) to continue to let the public occupy a dangerous building without a legitimate Certificate of Occupancy.

      The City of Emeryville has seriously violated the law and put the public at grave risk unnecessarily. After the Tattler is finished, everybody in Emeryville will know who, how, when and perhaps why.

      Phase Two of the story will be the accountability part. You can be assured, that too will be forthcoming in quick succession.

      Thank you for your comment and your patience. Answers are coming soon.

      Delete