“Down but not ub. Public Works building - deemed safe... sort of ""TERRACE--: ‘Public Works crews moved. back -into ‘their . Graham . |’ "> Ave. offices and shops’ last Friday following . ‘an inspection -of - the preinises ‘by’ Robin Lapointe. of Lapointe Engitieering. The building - was closed early last week after a 60-by-80 foot addition at the rear collapsed. The collapse of a portion of what is known to long time residents as "the old potato shed" - occurred, appropriately enough, on the first day of Heri- tage Week. In a phone interview with the Terrace Review, Lapointe said the . building is safe but some restric- tions have been placed on its use unt’ some renovations are done. No -nore than one foot of snow -- approximately six to 24 pounds per square foot -- or four inches of ice, . about 20 pounds per square foot -- should be allowed to accumulate at any one time. Maximum snow load on residential roofs built to today’s standards is 94 pounds per square foot. Lapointe inspected the building last Thursday and says it’s difficult to make a complete analysis in one day, but he describes the restric- tions on snow load as a "safety factor". He says he hasn’t com- pleted his final report yet but the city will have to perform some renovations to the building as well. Computers — continued from page A1 said. If the existing data is wrong the computer bills and reports will be wrong, too." Alderman Ruth Hallock agreed, saying, "There’s really no alternative. It’s not a matter of stopping midstream... we can’t do that. We have a lot of taxpayers money invested in com- puters and we have to do this and hope we get to the bottom of the problem." Alderman Darryl Lau- rent also agreed. "We have to support the recommendation and hope they’re successful," he said. An open 60-foot ‘section: of the rear wall that faced the shed will have to be replaced with a cement block wall, and two-smaller doors ‘and: one-by-four strapping will have to be attached to the bottom “chords of the roof trusses in the main building. As a temporary measure, steel strapping has been added to the ends of a 60-foot laminated beam spanning the rear opening. A cost estimate for these repairs is not available at this time. - Although it is not yet clear what caused the failure, Lapointe says that poor construction is probably the main contributing factor. La- pointe says he suspects failure of the roof trusses, not the post and beam structure, but adds that it is difficult to determine because there are no clear records of the build- ings construction. Information obtained from La- pointe and other local sources indicate the main building was built by Madig Construction in 1976 as a storage shed for potat- oes. A building permit was issued by the city for the intended use to Madig Construction’s principal, Mario di Giovanni, a resident of Terrace at the time. The cement block structure was built to stand- ards, with the exception of the installation of the roof trusses, using approved roof trusses manu- factured in Prince George. There is no record, however, of two large additions, one being the - section that collapsed, that were added about a year later without city approval. It appears that di Giovanni changed his mind, and instead of using the building as a potato storage shed he modified it and later opened a modular home and roof truss manufacturing com- pany in it. In order to do this, he apparently removed a 60-foot section of the cement block wall and built the addition. Spanning this opening, and the center and south-end of the addition, were three 10-ton, 60- foot laminated beams that were | Name. oO Cheque o so Order Please send a subscripticn to: - of year — - $24. 00. Address | Phone __....-_— Postal Code Seniors in Terrace and District $12.00 Seniors outside . gl enyace and District oO Master Card ci Mise : card N No. . e | Expiry | Date _ | ~ Mall or bring this form to: "4535 Greig Avenue, ~ Terrace, B.C. V8G. 1M? Terrace and Thornhill rasidents only: Subscribe now and recélve a free copy of Close up. | Spate of charges end high-speed chase - A 21-year-old Terrace man faces two hit-and-run charges plus impaired driving, dangerous driving, driving without i a-licence, driving without insurance and failure to top for the police. following an. inicident last Saturday, °°. According: to an RCMP. report, events: began at 6:45 2.01, Saturday. moralng with a. report of a.hit and: run: in:the 4600 . block Goulet Ave, that resulted in $200 Gamage | to a: 3984.4 Pontiac hatchback. The offending } yehicle was observed south- | - bound on Tetrault St. a | short time later but the driver refosed ah apparefitly. manufactured | at site. To complete the roof erusses, again apparently manufactured on - site, spanned the three laminated beams. The second addition was built methods but there ‘is no record. of a building permit for either struc- . ture and Lapointe describes the addition as “poorly designed" and the roof trusses and construction methods in the collapsed section as -"inferior". hasn’t been inspected: but is con- sidered safe. An effort was. made to determine other local structures that may have used Madig’s roof trusses but here again there seem to be no available records. As far as can be determined, Madig sold a few trusses to Native housing projects in the area as well as to some Prince Rupert contractors but this hasn’t been confirmed. According to Public Works direc- tor of engineering, Stew Christen- sen, Madig Construction declared bankruptcy a short time after com- pleting the building and it was purchased at that time by the city to house the Public Works depart- ment. Christensen said last week that the section of the addition closest. to the main building collapsed early in the morning of Feb. 19 and the remainder came down about 5 p.m. that same afternoon, while the insurance adjuster was at the site evaluating the damage. Caught in the collapse were two older pickup trucks, a larger salt/sander truck, a welding truck, a generator unit, a sidewalk snow blower and 15 45-gallon barrels of hydrofluoric acid. Hydrofluoric acid is used in the city water system and in large concentrations considered a hazard- ous material, but Christensen says. none of the barrels were damaged. The damage to. Public Works pro- perty, though, was estimated just after the collapse to total about $50,000. Terrace Review a . using more traditional _ The second addition _ to stop. A short high speed chase followed .but . the driver of the offending vehicle lost control and drove into a snowbank at the Kenney St.-Keith Ave. intersection. He tried to back out of the snowbank but crashed into a police car, causing $2,000 damage,. and was apprehended. The man.was to appear in court Monday ‘but the RCMP refused to release his name. Regional board ponders — Nass Camp liquor license Bill Young of Bil-Nor Tillicum Lodge at Nass Camp wants an "off-sale" liquor licence but his request is on hold at the present time while directors of the Kiti- mat-Stikine Regional District discusses the application with community leaders in the Nass Valley. Recent policy changes in the Liquor Control and Licencing Branch require that local govern- ments and police forces support new. off-sales licence applications prior to their.approval.. _ « “Young. told the regional: district iboard sthat