5 day forecast
Company faces another fine over work at Iron City site
Share with others:
Collier Development faces another fine and possible court action for dismantling the top of a smokestack at the former Iron City Brewery without a permit.
The city's Bureau of Building Inspection issued a stop-work order on Wednesday, after which witnesses reported that work was continuing.
John Jennings, acting chief of the Bureau of Building Inspection, wrote in an email Friday that an inspector would be sent back to determine whether that was the case.
"If so," he wrote, "a ticket will be issued with the owner having to appear in front of the magistrate to defend his actions."
Tim Frew, Collier's project manager on the site, said he applied for a permit after getting the stop-work order on Wednesday. To get it, he said, he needs an engineer's report on the stability of the rest of the smokestack.
He said he capped the smokestack with rubber on Thursday and expects to repair it in the spring.
"We took the bad section down, the part full of holes and loose bricks" he said, adding that a certificate of appropriateness "allowed me to do smokestack restoration, capping and installation of lightning protection and that's what I plan to do."
Every certificate of appropriateness -- which is issued as confirmation that plans for alteration of an historic property have been approved -- must be followed by a permit to do the actual site modification. The former brewery was granted historic status by the city in 2010, which protects it from demolition and alteration without prior approval.
Marissa Doyle, spokeswoman for Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, said the permit will be issued with a $155 fine.
This is the second time the city has had to remind Collier it needs a permit. The company, which bought the property in February, was fined $20,000 in district court in August for demolishing two buildings. In that case, Collier did not have a demolition permit.
First Published November 17, 2012 12:00 am
