Photo courtesy of the author
by Brittanyana Pierro
On Jan. 28, the on-campus Housing Community Center (HCC) was issued an immediate closure by the Thurston County Fire Department. Matt Lebens, the environmental health and safety coordinator, sent out a mass email to all on-campus residents that same evening stating:
“ … the fire department has issued an immediate closure notice pending further evaluation by the Thurston County Fire Marshall.”
In an interview on Feb. 10, Evergreen’s new public relations representative Christine Hoffman stated that the school has “ … had engineers out to do some assessments … there’s plans in place already to start some of the repairs.” There is currently no foreseeable end date for the construction on this building, nor a detailed timeline of specific repairs.
During a Health & Safety Committee meeting on Feb. 12, Matt Lebens shared the basics of some of the issues taking place in the HCC. “We have three legs of that system that are subject to engineering assessments. The fire marshall came and called out the electrical, the mechanical, and the structural,” Lebens continued, “every aspect of the mechanical space is wrong.”
The condition of disrepair of the HCC is stated by Lebens to be “highly volatile.” In the assessment made by the Thurston County fire marshall, the mechanical and electrical issues were flagged as potentially detrimental to occupants “life and safety.” Lebens states that the building is not in compliance with permitting or universal building codes, and has not been for some time. “Conditions [are] in a critical, highly volatile zone within that space. The systems that feed the greater part of apartment-style housing, buildings E-U, are fed through that system. So [we’re] trying to preserve, and trying to isolate, and make sure that we keep people away from hazards,” Lebens said.
When asked about the specific issues happening within the HCC, Lebens said “I’m not in a place to speak about the findings of the assessments right now, other than the fact that yeah, there are a lot of critical areas that need to be repaired. It’s gonna be up to our Thurston Fire marshall … to make a sound determination on how we occupy that building, when we occupy that building, and what a time frame for all of the ensuing remediation activities is going to look like.”
On Jan. 21, just a week before the complete closure of the building, the HCC was shut down temporarily, due to “emergency steam system repairs,” as stated in an email to on-campus students by Residential and Dining Services (RAD).
Though the exact cause of the current closure is still formally unknown, an anonymous facilities employee says that the two closures are undeniably related. The source also states that there are major structural issues in the basement level of the building that originated from faulty repairs made in 2018 or years prior. “The HCC was a ticking time bomb,” the worker said. He also suggests that the issues of structural maintenance are so bad, the ceiling of the HCC basement “ … could possibly cave in. The wood’s all rotted [and there’s] mold inside.”
The HCC repairs will be completed by an outsourced Tacoma engineering company, Hultz BHU Engineering. They will be hired by the school through what is known as a job order contract, although the contract might run into some complications due to the severity of issues with the building.
Lebens states that during the time of construction, apartment buildings E-U “ … will lose heating and domestic hot water.” It’s also a possibility for all on-campus housing to lose access to hot water, depending on the isolation methods used during the time of construction. Part of the work that is being done by Hultz Engineering, Evergreen Facilities, and Residential and Dining Services, is finding ways to combat the negative effects of the closure to students and staff.
“It’s being treated as a bit of an emergency right now,” Lebens said. “It is rightly, an emergency, if that system goes down and it affects 400 residents downstream of it, that is an issue.”
The HCC is home to the POD Market, the Free Store, and all mailboxes of on-campus residents. The facility also houses the laundromat for all residents in the on-campus apartments and is a common gathering and event space for students. Temporary arrangements have been made for the displacement of student resources. Students who live in the apartments have been advised to do laundry on the first floor of A dorm. A free food pantry and common use microwaves have also been placed on the first floor of A Building as cited in a separate email to students by RAD Director, Sharon Goodman, via email.
UPDATE: on the same day we went to press, it was announced via text and e-mail that the HCC would re-open. The Cooper Point Journal will continue to monitor this situation.
