The Oct. 16 collapse of a 1,200-square-foot section of the fifth floor onto the fourth floor of a 14-deck privately-owned parking garage at 50 Hale Ave. in White Plains put garage structural safety in the headlights for many people in Westchester, especially municipal officials who oversee such things.
Port Chester’s Mayor Luis Marino, for example, told Westfair’s Westchester County Business Journal, “The Village of Port Chester takes the structural integrity of parking garages extremely seriously. Earlier this year, the village adopted a local law requiring all public and privately owned parking garages to undergo periodic structural condition assessments by licensed professional engineers, with detailed reports submitted directly to our Code Enforcement Department for review and enforcement. These inspections are designed to identify and address any signs of deterioration before they pose a safety risk. Long before the recent regional incidents, including the partial garage collapse in White Plains, our team had reaffirmed compliance expectations with all local garage owners. The Village of Port Chester continues to closely monitor inspection schedules to ensure full adherence to these enhanced safety standards.”
During the campaign leading up to the Nov. 4 Mayoral Election in White Plains the Republican candidate Lenny Lolis raised garage safety as an issue. The Democratic candidate, Common Council Member Justin Brasch, who was elected to succeed Mayor Tom Roach, said that the maintenance of infrastructure would be a top priority under his administration and that would include reviewing inspection protocols to determine whether they need to be updated.
There were no injuries as a result of the Hale Avenue structural failure, bur cars were crushed or otherwise damaged. Temporary metal support columns and wood structures were put in place by first responders that included not only White Plains fire and police personnel but also members of the Hartsdale, Fairview, Greenville and Scarsdale fire department as well as personnel from the City of Yonkers.
White Plains Public Safety Commissioner David Chong said that the first call to police about the incident came at about 9:08 a.m. from a person who was in the garage at the time. Chong said that many other calls followed.
“We are blessed that it wasn’t something more tragic,” Chong said. “If it was at 8:30 in the morning who knows what would have happened when people are coming into work. So, we’re blessed. Everybody was parked and stationed when the collapse happened.”
According to White Plains Commissioner of Buildings Damon Amadio, the garage owner 44 South Broadway Owner LLC had received permits over the past few years for structural repair work. Amadio explained that New York state law requires that owners and operators of parking garages perform structural condition assessments of their facilities on a scheduled basis.
“The condition assessments must be performed by licensed professional engineers that specialize in building structural design and are to include identification of any unsafe conditions,” Amadio said. “Garage owners are required to submit a copy of the assessment report describing the findings to the City of White Plains Building Department for review and record.”
It turned out that the Hale Avenue garage was one of several for which the city did not have current inspection records on file. That garage has been ordered closed with its entrances boarded up.
The White Plains Building Department staff members went to approximately 40 private parking garages in the city that did not have an assessment report on file with the Building Department, and found no significant safety issues. Those properties must still conduct engineering studies and file them with the city. Private parking garage owners who did not submit an assessment report were issued court appearance tickets and notices to submit the required assessment reports.
As far as city-owned garages are concerned, in December 2017 State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli issued a report based on audits it had done to determine whether municipal parking structures in White Plains and other municipalities were regularly inspected to identify repair needs. Based on recommendations made to White Plains by DiNapoli, the city enhanced its inspections.
According to Stefania Mignone, Commissioner of Public Works, during this year’s annual inspection of the Lexington-Grove West Parking Structure at the former Galleria shopping mall, the city’s structural engineering consultant noticed substantial problems including damage to concrete and corroded reinforcement bars, corrosion of steel staircases and rotational movement and displacement of girders. The consultant recommended closing the garage, which was done. The East Parking Structure at the Galleria was determined to be safe and remains open.
White Plains Corporation Counsel John Callahan told Westfair’s Westchester County Business Journal that this year’s annual inspections of the various city garages currently still are taking place.
“Last year when we did it the Galleria West garage in particular was found in adequate condition to use,” Callahan said. “This year, a year has passed and when outside engineers did the inspection they said, ‘no, at this time we think the garage should not be used’ and we closed it literally a matter of hours after getting that report.”
Callahan said that the city was aware of various internet postings from people with photos of what appeared to be failed concrete and other problems at some city garages.
“When we see those postings we do go out and look at it,” Callahan said “Somebody sent us a picture of a place in the Trans-Center Garage that showed where some concrete had been chipped away but that was actually done by us. Until you do a full repair, you chip away all loose concrete so that none falls down on somebody. While it may look like the concrete’s chipped away we did that as part of our repair process. Some of the other pictures I’ve seen are actually repairs in progress. Water is the main enemy. We recently recoated the entire roof of the TransCenter Garage and fixed drains. Then we moved over to the Hamilton-Main Garage and have either just finished or are just about to finish the same repairs at that garage, coating the entire roof and fixing all the drains.”
Callahan said that when the Common Council holds its regular meeting in December it will be asked to approve a capital project for repair work at the Chester-Maple Garage. Also on the agenda will be a major capital project to do work on the columns in the Library Garage. He said that these projects were in the works before the Hale Avenue partial collapse.
Callahan said that the East and West garages at the Galleria were constructed for use when there was a mall there, which now has closed, and that adequate parking is available at municipal garages to accommodate the motorists who had been using the West garage.
“We don’t have to accommodate all of the parking that the garage at one point in time did have to accommodate,” Callahan said. “I think the people who use the garages should be assured that the city conducts regular inspections of our garages and makes repairs as necessary. We’re in the middle of what will be a major multiyear repair of our garages. With respect to the private garages, we have some engineer reports that are outstanding; the owners of those garages have been brought to court but the city has walked through all of those garages and we don’t see anything that causes us concern. I think people should feel safe both to park in the city garages and private garages in the city.”
