Public safety addressed for café demolition

Taking down the supports that are keeping what remains of higbee’s in place is a prospect that worries owners Darlene and Jason Coder.

While they understand the concern that the braces themselves are a potential safety hazard, the Coders told the Sundance Council last week that removing them could be more hazardous still.

This prompted Council Member Randy Stevenson to suggest enlisting the help of experts from the Campbell County Fire Department, who are knowledgeable about the kind of support that would be needed to keep the building stable until demolition is complete while getting rid of the obstacles blocking the downtown sidewalk.

Safety Concerns

The council had approved a motion at last month’s meeting for City Attorney Mark Hughes to send a letter to the owners asking them to be more cognizant of public safety. This was done due to a concern that the supports and lack of snow removal are blocking the sidewalk, causing pedestrians – including wheelchair users – to go out onto the busy highway to pass the building.

The Coders approached the council on Tuesday with an update on progress and to respond to the safety concerns stated in that letter.

“We have the whole back off, which I think everybody knows about – everybody can see it,” stated Darlene. However, she said, structurally speaking, “We have to keep some kind of support system and that sidewalk closed off in the side.”

The process of demolishing the building while salvaging almost all the materials from it began in October, she said, when the Coders hired a couple to complete the task. According to Darlene, the couple comes as often as they can, but mainly in the evenings as they have work obligations.

The city has also set a daily cut-off of 10 p.m.

“We can’t have them working all night because it kept the people in the motels awake and that was problematic for them,” explained Mayor Paul Brooks.

Because the couple is salvaging as much of the building as necessary, Darlene informed the council that there is likely no need to discuss renewal of the agreement the Coders made with the city for a discount on bringing rubble to the landfill, which expired in January.

“What we are taking down is minimal, so we probably don’t need to do the garbage because there’s not really going to be any garbage,” she said.

Road Bumps

Darlene and Jason described the many snags they’ve met with while trying to demolish the building, not least the frigid temperatures and snowfall throughout a particularly harsh winter.

“We’ve been through literally the wringer on this whole higbee restaurant process,” said Jason.

According to Jason, the Coders purchased the building with the ambition of opening a restaurant that would contribute to building up the city and help to make sure Sundance is a place that will remain attractive for their kids and grandkids.

“We don’t want to try to make waves,” he said. “We’re business people. We own multiple properties all over the place, we want to do the best we can.”

However, their goals were soon shot down by the health department, he said, when an inspection revealed that the building was too dilapidated to rescue and was not fit for use as a business.

Soon after, said Jason, the couple entered into a contract with a local person to tear down the building, but the work was never begun. He commented that legal proceedings will be likely for this breach of contract.

“Our biggest challenge is we’re out a lot of money,” said Darlene. While the couple had expected there to be a cost for renovations, they had not expected the financial requirements to be quite so steep.

“At this point, with interest rates at 7%, there is no possibility of us putting a building up in the next 18 months. It’s not feasible for us to build,” she said.

However, Brooks was firm in his opinion that, while he accepts things have been difficult for the building’s owners, this does not negate the issues that the situation has created.

Both the city and the owners have an obligation to making it safe for citizens, the mayor said, and the council cannot overlook this because the Coders are having a tough time.

Snow Removal

Darlene also expressed to the council that she feels it’s unfair that she and her husband have been cautioned over a lack of snow removal around their building when other business owners in town are not held to the same standards.

She told the council that she has been taking pictures of the business district for the last two months and has identified several places where the snow is not regularly removed, including the section on which the Dog Pound sits and the street between NAPA and Western Properties.

If it’s an issue, Darlene said, she believes it’s an issue that should pertain to everyone.

Brooks, though, said that the downtown area is a little different. The city is aware of wheelchair users and people with mobility difficulties who are going back and forth to places such as the post office and are being forced to go out into the street in order to get around the braces, he said.

“I’ve seen wheelchairs in the street because we have the sidewalk blockaded. I understand that these guys want to take it down one board at a time and save everything – I totally get that,” Brooks said.

“But our due diligence would tell us that we have some obligation to make it safe for a guy in a wheelchair – we can’t have him out in the street, we are going to have an accident. And so I understand your frustration, but understand mine.”

Responding to Darlene’s comment that the downtown sidewalks had not been navigable for people with limited mobility on the day of the meeting, Brooks said this was not relevant because they are being used either way.

“Whether we think [people] should be there or not, they are there, and that poses a risk,” he said.

He also objected to the accusation of unfairness, stating that the city would respond as necessary to complaints about snow removal in other parts of town.

“If I get a complaint, we’ll send them a letter also,” he said. “We’re not going to get into rock throwing here, the thing is that we’ve got to get that sidewalk opened up.”

Unfortunately, said Darlene, opening the sidewalk is not necessarily a good idea.

“I can open it, but it’s not safe,” she said. “So we’re going to open up a sidewalk that’s unsafe.”

Nobody should be beside that building right now, she said. Jason agreed, noting that, “The main thing is people not going in there.”

The couple working on the building actually found a person living inside it, Jason said. Winterfest was also a concern due to the potential for visitors to attempt to take a look inside at the progress.

The demolition is proceeding as safely as possible, the Coders stressed, and consequently there have been no issues with falling debris.

The couple has worked for the Coders before and have a “meticulous” plan to ensure safety as they go, Darlene said. For example, she pointed out that they removed the front part brick by brick and not a single one fell.

Still, said Brooks, the problem remains.

“I don’t know what it would take to stabilize it, but I know we have a guy in a wheelchair who’s out in traffic,” he said.

Timeline

Council Member Joe Wilson asked if the Coders have a timeline as to when they think the demolition will be complete. Unfortunately, said Darlene, this has not been a typical winter, and the high winds and extreme temperatures are another snag that has caused delays.

“They got that last section down really fast in the last couple of weeks, so if the weather cooperates, hopefully it goes [quickly], but I couldn’t give you an exact date,” she said.

Common Ground

The Coders confirmed in response to a question from Stevenson that a structural engineer has not been involved in the demolition process. Stevenson mused that, considering the Coders stated there are approximately 30 braces on the inside of the building, it’s a struggle to think the ones outside are integral and couldn’t be replaced by more on the inside.

However, Stevenson said, he is not a structural engineer. For this reason, he asked Fire Chief Gari Gill if he might be able to call in help from fire department members in Campbell County who have expertise in structural safety and would better know how to keep the building stable while it comes down.

The Coders stated that they would be 100% on board with whatever can be done to solve this and agreed to try to have the couple working on the building present when the building is inspected.

“Sometimes a sidewalk conversation can solve so much,” said Stevenson, to emphatic agreement from the Coders.

Brooks told the Coders that he would appreciate them coming again to next month’s meeting to share a progress report. Darlene and Jason apologized for not having made it before due to “health issues” in their household and agreed to attend in April.