A massive backlog of pending appeals for fire code violations in city rental properties has allowed student housing throughout downtown – including the apartment where a student died in a fire last week – to go without needed safety improvements.
The Knox Box basement apartment ravaged by fire, among many others in the downtown area, was cited by city inspectors for having windows that were too small and too high off the ground for an easy escape should the front door be blocked by a fire, according to documents obtained by The Diamondback. Then-landlord Richard Kelly filed an appeal in November 2002 that would ultimately delay the changes called for by inspectors.
By the time a blaze broke out in the Knox Box apartment last Tuesday, three years after the original appeal was filed by Kelly and assumed by landlord Janet Firth, the system was so backlogged the appeal had not been scheduled for a hearing.
According to interviews with several city officials over the past week, Kelly, who did not return calls for comment, was one of many landlords of more than 100 properties across College Park that were being cited as part of a citywide crackdown on properties deemed unsafe in the event of fire. Most landlords filed appeals to avoid making expensive changes to the properties. Several dozen were denied appeals and were forced to make the changes. Others made changes voluntarily.
Since the fire, with more than 100 properties still pending appeal for needed fire code changes, city officials have moved quickly to find a way to speed up the process of getting appeals heard by the Advisory Planning Commission, the board made up of city residents who are designated to approve or deny appeals.
The commission, which meets once a month and sometimes lacks the attendance of enough members to form a quorum necessary to make decisions, has been known to move sluggishly on some issues. As a result, Director of Public Services Bob Ryan said the city has looked for alternate ways to speed up the progress.
In a meeting yesterday with the Maryland State Fire Marshal, Ryan said the city discussed options that would take outstanding appeals to the State Fire Prevention Commission, or the Prince George’s County Board of Appeals. But those options would have to be enacted by emergency legislation by the city council, Ryan said.
Ryan acknowledged the directives made by the city council three years ago contributed to a surge in citations that resulted in a backlog of appeals, but said the city had worked actively to encourage voluntary changes by landlords not in compliance with fire code.
“There was a glut of appeals and then the city’s appeals board became overwhelmed,” Ryan said, adding that city officials had “received a lot of voluntary cooperation from property owners.”
One of those landlords is Firth, who owns the property where Ellis died. She purchased the Rossburg Drive property and 12 others last fall and was quickly notified by the city that her properties were not in compliance and were pending appeal from the previous landlord.
The October letter informed Firth she needed to increase window sizes to 5.7 square feet and lower the window sill to 44 inches from the floor, or install sprinkler systems, before she would be in compliance. Ryan said Firth went to the city soon after receiving the letter to inquire about how to bring her 13 buildings up to code. The properties could cost as much as $5,000 each to make the changes, District 2 Councilman Bob Catlin said in an interview last week.
Firth didn’t update the buildings before last week’s fire, however.
According to Firth’s tenants, she has offered to house them in hotels during the estimated two weeks it would take to bring the buildings up to code. Firth was not available for an interview last night, but said she was working with contractors and architects throughout the weekend on making the changes.
Fire and police investigators have not released the results of their investigation, so it is not known whether Ellis tried to escape his apartment before his death. But Ryan said city officials were not waiting on the investigation’s results to inform students of potential hazards. Inspectors were being sent this week to non-compliant properties so tenants could be made aware of the dangers the violations pose.
Contact reporter Kevin Litten at littendbk@gmail.com.
