BUILDING DEPARTMENT 5117 N. Winnifred Street . Ruston, Washington 98407-6597 Phone (253) 759-3544. Fax (253) 752-3754 wri'ustonwa org NOTICE OF VIOLATION January 20, 2015 Mr. Mike Cohen Managing Partner, Point Ruston, LLC 5219 Shirley Street, #100 Ruston, WA 98407 Re: Premises located at 5101 Grand L00p Point Ruston Parking Garage Building 11/9 Failure to obtain building permit under the Dear Mr. Cohen: This letter provides you notice ofa violation ofthe City?s code on the above-described premises. A Stop Work Order issued on December 19, 2014 for the violation relating to the work performed without a building permit. A copy ofthe StOp Work Order is attached for your reference and is incorporated herein as if fully set forth below. City?s Code. As required by the State of Washington in RCW 19.27.03] and WAC 51?50, the City of Ruston adopted the 2012 International Building Code in Section 12.20.020 ofthe Ruston Municipal Code. Section 105.1 ofthe provides: Any owner or authorized agent who intends to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish, or change the occupancy ofa building or structure, or to erect, install. enlarge, alter, repair, remove convert or replace any electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing system, the installation of which is regulated by [the or cause any such work to be done, shall first make application to the building official and obtain the required permit. Condition of the Property. As noted in the Stop Work Order dated December 19, 2014, the Building Official visited the above-descri bed premises on 41 separate days between September 2, 2014 and December 19, 2014 and noted that a parking garage structure was being constructed on the premises, for which no building permit has been obtained. Subsequent to the issuance ofthe Stop Work Order on December 19, 2014, it is apparent that work is again continuing on the parking garage structure in violation ofthe Stop Work Order. Speci?c Violations. As documented in the Stop Work Order, Point Ruston submitted a building permit application on March 28, 2014. Since that time, the City has informed Point Ruston that additional information was required. As Point Ruston has failed to provide the requested information, the City has been unable to process the application. However, Point Ruston began and continued to construct the parking garage structure without a building permit, and without paying the required building permit and plan review fees. In addition to the specific code sections in the International Building Code cited above, RMC Section provides that: It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation, to erect, construct, alter, extend repair, move, remove, demolish or occupy any building, structure, or equipment regulated by any code adopted in Title 12, or cause the same to be done, in conflict with or in Notice of Violation Mike Cohen Point Ruston January 20, 2015 Page 2 violation of any ofthe provisions of Title 12, including the failure to obtain the permits or authorizations required by any ofthe aforementioned codes. Furthermore, in accordance with RMC it is an additional violation to remove or deface any sign, notice or other order required by or posted in accordance with RMC Title 12, and it is an additional violation to fail to comply with a stop work order issued in accordance with RMC Title 12. Corrective Action. In order to comply with the above code requirements, Point Ruston is required to do the following, on or before the deadlines established below: I. Submit a complete application that includes all the information required in the plan review comment letters dated May 13, 2014 and June 9, 2014 on or before February 20. 2015;and Pay all plan review fees associated with the project as required in accordance with City of Ruston Master Fee Schedule in Resolution 577, on or before February 20, 2015. Penalties. In accordance with RMC In addition to any other sanction or remedial procedure which may be available, any person, firm or corporation violating or failing to comply with any of the provisions of this Title 12 RMC shall be subject to a cumulative civil penalty in the amount of five hundred dollars ($500.00) per day for each violation from the date set for compliance until compliance is achieved. lfthe violation is not already subject to criminal prosecution, any subsequent violations may result in criminal prosecution as provided in RMC In addition, in accordance with RMC criminal penalties may be imposed for any willful, intentional or bad faith failure or refusal to comply with the standards or requirements of Title 12 RMC. Appeals. You may appeal this Notice of Violation as provided in RMC Section within 15 calendar days after service. A copy of Chapter l2.40 RMC is available for your reference at http://u \wi pal?l 1bl?tll?\. Contact person. If you have any questions about this, please contact me at mbart.h@codeproswa.com, or have your counsel contact City Attorney Carol A. Morris at Sincerely, We! . . u?r-r 494715;; Michael J. rth, M.C.P. City of Ruston, Building Official Cc: Bruce Hopkins. Mayor Carol A. Morris. City Attorney Rob White, Planning Director Kevin Rochlin. EPA Shawn FPA BUILDING DEPARTMENT 5117' N. Winnifred Street Ruston, Washington 9840743597 Phone (253) 759-3544. Fax (253) 752-3754 x. . December 19, 2014 STOP WORK ORDER Mr. Mike Cohen Managing Partner, Point Ruston, LLC 5219 Shirley St. #100 Ruston, WA 98407 Re: Stop Work Order Parking Garage Building 11/9 Point Ruston Dear Mr. Cohen, A stop work order is hereby issued in accordance with Ruston Municipal Code (RMC) 12.40.050. City?s Code. As required by the State of Washington in RCW19.27.031 and WAC 5160, the City of Ruston adopted the 2012 International Building Code in Section 12.20.020 of the Ruston Municipal Code. Section 105.1 reads as follows: Any owner or authorized agent who intends to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish, or change the occupancy ofa building or structure, or to erect, install, enlarge, alter, repair, remove, convert or replace any electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing system, the installation of which is regulated by [the or cause any such work to be done, shall first make application to the buulding official and obtain the required permit. Point Ruston's Application for a Permit. The City received a building permit application for the parking garage building located at 5101 Grand Loop, Point Ruston, in Ruston, Washington, on March 28, 2014. (RST14A1312) City?s Response to Permit Application. On May 13, 2014, The City sent a plan review letter to the applicant, Point Ruston, LLC, that included comments from the City Building Official/Fire Marshal, the City Engineer, the City Environmental Consultant, as well as the City of Tacoma. On June 9, 2014, the Planning/Zoning review letter was sent to the applicant with comments from the City Planning Director. Point Ruston?s Re?Submittal of Materials. On August 7, 2014, the City received a partial re-submittal of plans from Point Ruston, LLC, which included reSponses from the applicant, the applicant?s architects, structural engineers, civil engineers and landscape architects. It was noted by the applicant that plans will be coming very Page 1 of 4 Omissions in Point Ruston?s Re?Submittal. The August 7, 2014 re-submittal included many of the structural and architectural corrections, but did not address some of the very significant issues, such as resolution of the building being proposed to cross multiple parcel boundaries without fire-resistive separations, or, for another example, the re~submitta still did not include a cesign of the plumbing system; nor did the re? submittal include any of the outstanding plan review fees as required The re?submittal did not include any responses to the Planning Zoning issues identified in the June 9, 2014 review letter. As a result, the City has been unable to continue processirzg the application. Meeting to Discuss Current Applications/Status. On August 28, 2014, a meeting was held at the Mary Joyce Community Center in Ruston that was attended by City of Ruston staff, Point Ruston representatives, and respective counsel. At that meeting, among other development issues, several of the outstanding issues in regard to the permit application for the parking garage were discussed. The City representatives reiterate-r; that the City could not process the bufiding permit application unless the issues identified in the City?s May 13th and June 9th, 2014 letters were addressed. At the end of the 5-hour meeting, Point Ruston representatives declared that they would proceed with construction without a permit, based on their position that construction was exempt from permits under a CERCLA exemption. Construction of the Parking Garage without 3 Permit. The City disagreed with Point Ruston's claim that the project was exempt from building permits. Beginning on September 2, 2014, the City performed observations of the construction activity at the subject site while the City sought additional clarification from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the EPA's interpretation of the CERCLA exemptions. On 41 separate days, it was observed that construction work was being performed by Point Ruston on the parking garage without the required permit(s). On September 8, 2014, it was observed that there were serious deficiencies in the reinforcement being installed by Point Ruston for the foundation walls of the parking garage; 20% less reinforcement was being installed than what had been required by the engineer of record. This deficiency was not identified by other third~party inspectors or by the concrete special inspectors because Point Ruston had not provided them with the correct plans with which to perform inspections. Though the particular structural deficiency was subsequently the City remains resolute that it will not waive any building inspection requirements contained in IBC Section 110, nor will the City accept any outside party inspection reports in lieu of performing inspections as required by IBC 110.3. On November 10, 2014, the City observed that Point Ruston had installed a sub?grade plumbing system, even though no plumbing permit application or plumbing plans had been submitted to the City for review and approval of the necessary permit. The City?s May 2014 plan review letter to Point Ruston had required submittal of plumbing plans (Comments 43 and 44) as required by the Uniform Plumbing Code, as adopted in RMC12.20.020. On December 1, 2014, EPA Program Manager Cami Grandinetti wrote a letter to Point Ruston, Mike Cohen, which clearly established position that ?Structures, such as bui/dings and parking garages, are not exempt from permitting; only that portion of the structure that constitutes the cap (such as a pad foundation) would be covered Page 2 of 4 under the permit exemption.? Furthermore, the letter included ?It is inappropriate for Point Ruston to assert the CERCLA permit exemption to avoid the routine permitting process in place to ensure that structures and utility construction complies with state and local requirements designed to protect public safety." and ?The Agency is deeply troubled by Point Ruston?s continued misapplication of the exemption to structures and utilities without proper state and local regulatory oversight which poses a very real and serious threat to the cleanup remedy already in place and to public safety.? Existing Condition of the Prgaerty. It is clear from the observations by the City, and by the applicant?s own admission, that a parking garage structure is being constructed at the project site. Building permit application has not been approved or issued by the City due to Point Ruston's failure to submit required information and because the application contains numerous conflicts with the requirements of the Ruston Municipal Code. The project site was last observed by the City on December 17, 2014, and the observations confirm that construction without a building permit continues on the parking garage. Violation. RMC Section 12.40.010(a) provides that: It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to erect, construct, alter, extend, repair, move, remove, demolish or occupy any building, structure or equipment regulated by any code adopted in this Title, or cause same to be done, in conflict with or in violation of any of the provisions of Title 12 RMC. Based on the fact that a 492,118 square foot, four-level (mostly sub?grade) parking garage is being constructed, a building permit is required. Effective Date of SE) Work Order. This Stop Work Order is effective at 5:00 pm. on the date posted and/or the date of receipt by Point Ruston, LLC. Future Enforcement Action by the CitL All work on the parking garage must immediately cease and the information required by the City to process the submitted building permit application must be submitted. Issuance of a Notice of Violation may result in further enforcement actions, including civil and/or criminal fines and penalties. Appeal. This Stop Work Order may be appealed under Section 12.40.070 of the Ruston Municipal Code within two calendar days after posting or personal servrce of the Stop Work Order. The RMC is available on?line at: . [f you have questions regarding this letter, the stop work order, or adopted code requirements applicable to this project, please contact me at. i- Sincerely, Michael J. Earth, M.C.P. Building Official City of Ruston Bruce Hopkins, Ruston Mayor Carol Morris, Ruston City Attorney Page 3 of a Bill Lynn? Attorney for Palm Ruston Rob White, Ruston Planning Director Dawd Johnson, City of Tacoma Building Official Keuii? Rochlin. EPA Shawn Blocker? EPA Page 4 of 4