Andy,
The neighboring property owner was sent a letter earlier this week to remove debris from the right of way and the City gave them a time limit of 5 days to complete this work.
The issue in your case is much different. Your company occupied the right of way, drilled into the curb and mounted braces to the building without permits, plans, or approvals. Your company has been in business long enough to know that when you work within the right of way that permits are always required. Instead of coming to the City and securing permits, you chose to work without permits or approvals on property you do not own. The City has been more than accommodating and has given you enough time to demonstrate submittal to the County Building Department and the Molalla Public Works Department the necessary paperwork to correct this deficiency.
On February 15th, you submitted a permit application and right of way plan to the City. We promptly sent the structural information to the County Building Official along with images of the bracing.
On February 20th, you sent an email stating that you were waiting on Miller Consulting for shoring documents. I notified you by email that same day that the County’s review came back and it was determined that the braces installed did not properly meet bracing requirement. I informed you at that time that the braces may pose a safety hazard to the public.
On February 22nd, I met with the property owner (Brian) who stated that he was unaware that you had not taken out a right of way permit in advance of the work and said he would call you to get the issue corrected. I also informed him that the braces posed a risk to the public.
On February 25th, the City confirmed with the State Fire Marshall and Fire District that their investigation was completed. It is our understanding as of earlier this week that the insurance investigator is also done with their investigation.
It’s been 9 days since our last communication and you have had more than enough time for your structural consultant to submit the necessary paperwork to the County Building Department or the City in order for our organizations to approve the permit process and correct this issue. That work could have been done and approved while the investigation was ongoing and we have no proof that this work has been completed. Now that all investigations are completed we are at a point where the property owner should be able to move forward with bracing the structure from the inside of the building and remove the bracing from the right of way. We have no record that design work for the inside bracing has been completed either. Your actions to date have put us in a position where, without demonstrating progress on your part to correct this violation, we will have to move forward with code enforcement action. I will give you until the close of business day on Monday, March 04, 2019 to submit the necessary paperwork into Molalla Public Works and County Building Department, including any necessary fees required by the County for review and permitting, for temporary and permanent bracing of the building front.
For you and your attorney’s information, your unapproved bracing still poses a hazard to the public and any incident that occurs or has occurred between the time they were installed until the time they are removed are a liability to your company, the property owner and potentially the City. I have included our City Attorney in this email. If your attorney wishes to communicate with anyone they can direct communication to Dan Huff, City Manager and Chad Jacobs of Beery Elsner & Hammond.
Regards,
Gerald Fisher, P.E. | Public Works Director
City of Molalla
117 N Molalla Ave. | PO Box 248 |Molalla, OR 97038
Office: 503.829.6855 | Direct: 503.759.0218
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this email message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient and have received this communication in error, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message. Thank you.
From: Andy McBride <AndyM@cascadenwconstruction.com>
Sent: Friday, March 01, 2019 10:50 AM
To: Gerald Fisher <gfisher@cityofmolalla.com>; Dan Huff <dhuff@cityofmolalla.com>
Cc: Michelle M <Michellem@cascadenwconstruction.com>; bentleyfeedinc@gmail.com; dsm@hs-legal.com; kenbaker42@hotmail.com; sarah@kenbakerlaw.com
Subject: RE: Code Violation - Failure to obtain ROW permit
Mr. Fisher-
I had Eric Watson our engineer visit the site Monday following the fire and had him document As -Built’s and the need for shoring the front wall. He called me later in the week and said that the front wall was supported by the roof diaphragm and that I need to brace it asap to prevent it from falling in a wind or seismic event. This is a life safety issue. Due to the fact that the roof and ceiling are preventing us from shoring from the inside I had my crew brace from the outside. I know this is not optimal but it’s the best option unless you would like to issue a permit to close half the street? Eric is working on the shore plan however PGE sent a stop work letter to Brian who is dealing with his attorney to get lifted. I can assure you we are doing what is best and in the fastest way possibly and once we have permission to continue we will move to get the demo completed so that I can have our engineered shore system in place.
Once I have the shore plan and permit documents I will formally submit. I am sure you are aware of the process and that it takes time. Has the neighboring property received the same email about blocking the right of way?
I can’t in good conscious remove the shores without other shores in place and I am positive you wouldn’t have us willingly endanger people’s lives.
I have Miller Consulting Engineers working on this project, they work for the Army Core of Engineers, they work for The City of Portland and the State of Oregon, I have the best people on this and we are trying to do what is best and safest for everyone involved.
If the City is taking formal action against Cascade NW Construction and Brian then I have cc’d Rob Wilkinson of Ball Janik, our attorney, David Mepham, PGE’s Attorney and Ken Baker, Brian Bentley’s Attorney.
Andy McBride
Principal
Cascade NW Construction www.cascadenwconstruction.com
801 E. Main St. Molalla, OR 97038 | O: 503.919.2201 | C: 503-332-0038
OR CCB #201730 | WA #CASCANC821BR | OEC 408 COMMUNICATION
From: Gerald Fisher <gfisher@cityofmolalla.com>
Sent: Friday, March 01, 2019 9:07 AM
To: Andy McBride <AndyM@cascadenwconstruction.com>; bentleyfeedinc@gmail.com
Cc: Dan Huff <dhuff@cityofmolalla.com>
Subject: Code Violation - Failure to obtain ROW permit
Importance: High
Andy and Brian,
We have not received any communication on the status of you submitting to the County for review of an alternative to your illegal bracing in the right of way. The bracing was placed in the right of way without plan review, permits or City approval and is a violation of our municipal code and the Public Works Standards. I need an update before noon today on your status. If I don’t receive anything from you, confirmation you have design into the County for immediate correction of this issue, then we will have to formally proceed with a code enforcement action on Cascade NW Construction and Bentley Feed. Please address this immediately so we don’t have to take formal action against either of you. Thank you.
Regards,
Gerald Fisher, P.E. | Public Works Director
City of Molalla
117 N Molalla Ave. | PO Box 248 |Molalla, OR 97038
Office: 503.829.6855 | Direct: 503.759.0218
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this email message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient and have received this communication in error, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message. Thank you.