05/18/2010 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of OS-18-2010 Harvey Fisher, Northwoods Condominiums 23875 Unit #106 & #205 (resides 28962 Detroit Road, Westlake) In October 12, 2008, the Engineer of record issued a report of his findings after he inspected 7.5% of the 80 balconies at Northwoods Condominiums. The 6 balconies were never load tested or disassembled to view hidden defects. The Engineer has been in Arizona. In his absence, the Architect, Mr. Duber, has been directing the contractor to either replace or sister existing joists/balcony repairs. Mr. Duber is not qualified or licensed as a structural engineer. Most of the photos he took of rotten joists this past winter were taken from the ground looking up, and he did not remove any of the snow. He did not have the joists recertified by a qualified, authorized tester. The terms of the minor change application have been violated -this is for pulling a building permit for this project. It states they must comply with all Zoning, Building and applicable Codes of the city, which this does not. The Ohio Board of Building Standards states that the building official is responsible for the enforcement of the OBC and for making interpretations of language. The individual responsible and authorized to perform these duties is the building official, not the plans examiner or inspector. An owner has the right to build according to approved plans if there is no serious hazard created in the absence of fraud in obtaining the plan approval. The OBC and the Building Dept. was created to protect owners from substandard work. The architect's correspondence with Mr. Mitchell dated March 31, 2010 states that the recommendation for the size and type of the nail that is made by Simpson Strong Tie would be 3.5 inches long. The inspection by the Building Dept. and Mr. Duber failed to mention that the 1 1/16 inch nail and the 2 1/8 inch nail they ended up with; nobody wants to discuss it. The masonry screw that the engineer came up with is not an approved fastener to be used for load bearing applications. They have the wrong metal hanger and they're anchoring non- Code rotten wood to the building with the wrong nails and the wrong screws. Mayor Kennedy said as he stated in his report, the Building Dept. will be responding in writing to Mr. Fisher's written correspondence. The architect sent a punch list to the contractor. The city's building inspector has been out there over thirty times. Mayor Kennedy said he understands the frustration, and the city is doing everything in its power to help. President Limpert requested a time line from Mayor Kennedy regarding this issue. Charles Dial, 27959 Gardenia said the brush round-up has been a great improvement compared to the way it was handled before. However, since the brush has to be out by May 10, he ended up with a brown spot in his grass (dead grass) because they didn't pick up the brush right away. He suggested creating a zone system in which certain streets will be picked-up on specific dates. Kathleen Robertson, Northwoods Condominiums, 23871 David Drive said on Monday, May 10 she wrote a note to Continental Management regarding her concerns. Ms. Robertson read the letter. Her letter stated that there is standing water on her balcony after it rains. She is concerned that the excess water will compromise the wood. This also poses a hazard as someone can slip on the wet balcony and the water will freeze in the winter. Jim Duber was out that afternoon conducting what appeared to be an inspection that lasted less than one minute. How can an inspection be completed in one minute? Ms. Robertson finished reading the letter and thanked Council for giving her the opportunity to read it. 7