Tuesday December 31, 2019 ~ LANGFORD
~ Mary Brooke | West Shore Voice News
The City of Langford continues to “strongly advise tenants” of Danbrook One highrise at 2766 Claude Road to seek alternative accommodations. The occupancy permit was revoked on December 20.
On December 30, the City of Langford released an update about the building safety scenario that started unfolding on December 18.
An independent engineering report that was received December 20 “states that certain aspects of the building’s structural design and its as-built structure do not meet engineering requirements and are not sufficient to mitigate risks to life safety of the tenants”, it was stated in the City of Langford December 30 release.
Specifically, the report identified life safety concerns regarding both the gravity system and the lateral system — the latter affects how the building performs in a seismic event. There were also “a number of non-compliant BC Building Code issues”.
The City has been “strongly advising tenants” of the building to seek alternative accommodations until all life-safety and non-compliance issues have been addressed.
The building owner Centurion Property Associates has installed a temporary shoring solution, says the City of Langford.
“At this stage, we unfortunately don’t have any further updates,” says Greg Romundt, president, Centurion Asset Management Inc. “We, the City and their engineers are waiting for calculations and responses from the engineer of record which will either provide comfort that the building already meets code or alternatively that it requires structural modifications, and recommendations as to what those may be which we can have reviewed and validated by our own engineers,” said
Romundt in a statement on December 31. “Unfortunately, given the time of year, this is not happening at a pace that we consider to be adequate, but we continue to push hard so that we can get residents back into their homes as soon as possible.”
The City says it will not be reinstating the occupancy permit until all safety issues are addressed and the building is compliant with the BC Building Code, as demonstrated through sign-off by both the engineer of record and a peer review conducted by an independent engineer.
“The timeline for the necessary remedial work to be completed is unclear,” says the Langford city release.
“Out of compassion” the city says it has provided interested tenants with hotel accommodation until January 3, having set aside funds for moving expenses and potential differences in rent amounts. A GoFundMe page was the source for ‘incidental costs’, organized by the Langford Economic Development Committee. It surpassed its target of $20,000 within 24 hours.
The City says its Council has created a $400,000 emergency fund to assist with situations such as this. The fund is possible from growth in the tax base; there will be no direct tax increase as a result of this assistance.
Contact for more info: danbrookone@langford.ca and 250-857-0314.
Called the ‘Command Response Centre’ in City of Langford information materials, on December 20, 21 and 22 the 780 Goldstream location offered a team of ESS support workers and refreshments, backed up by various city staff on computers to help with all the details. Representatives of Langford Fire Rescue and West Shore RCMP were on hand.
There are 86 units rented in the 90-unit apartment building at 2766 Claude Road in town centre. Tenants were notified on December 18 of this possible eventuality, and then on Friday evening (from 6:15 to 7 pm) were told about the Occupancy Permit being revoked. In a letter they were asked to relocate immediately into temporary hotel accommodation.
Tenants are allowed to go back in and collect things that they need, before heading to temporary accommodation.
There are several notices about the current situation, posted on the front lobby doors at 2766 Claude Road. On-site security is being provided by Palladin Security.
===== Previous Articles:
- December 18 – Danbrook One renters taking up relocation options
- December 19 – Danbrook One owner is shocked by engineering deficiency allegations
- December 20 – City of Langford revokes Danbrook One occupancy permit
- December 21 – GoFundMe page set up for tenant support
- December 21 – Emergency Support Centre for Danbrook One tenants