A housing dispute between city officials and an out-of-town housing company has left 35 fraternity brothers without a home since the beginning of
Winter Quarter.
The Athens Code Enforcement Office condemned and placarded the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house Dec. 28, making it illegal for anyone to enter the house without written approval.
The problem began in
mid-August when the city conducted a routine inspection of the SAE house. The inspection revealed 73 city code violations, the primary concern being the lack of a fire-safety system, said Steve Pierson, director of the code office.
What happened was we needed to get a new fire (safety) system
said Brian Bevel, an Ohio University junior and president of SAE. A fire safety system includes an alarm system fire door, emergency lighting and a sprinkler system.
Because SAE rents the house from a company -the Ohio Gamma Housing Corporation -the code office did not immediately report the violations to the fraternity. Instead, the code office sent a copy of the violation report to Lee Bokar, a representative of the housing corporation who was listed on the building's rental agreement and an SAE alumnus.
After a long sequence of communications between the city and the housing corporation, the city placarded and condemned the house Dec. 28 because a fire system still had not been installed. When fraternity members returned to school in early January, they were unable to reside in the fraternity house.
We knew what the situation was going to be if the system wasn't in Bevel said.
The 35 students who had resided in the house during fall quarter moved into dorms, apartments and hotels, Bevel said.
However, on Jan. 3, the Athens Police Department, acting on a search warrant, found seven members of the fraternity occupying the condemned building. Brendan Stout, Christopher Schwer, Jeffrey Chlebus, Eric Striet, Lucas Matthews and Eric Kriynovich were charged with the minor misdemeanor of occupying a placarded premise. Five of the seven are officers in the fraternity. All will appear in municipal court Jan. 19 at 9:30 a.m.
Just four days earlier, Bokar physically had walked behind a city code enforcement officer and illegally removed placards posted on the house, Pierson said. Charges of obstructing official business, criminal mischief and removing condemnation placards were filed against Bokar, who also will be tried Jan. 19 at 9:30 a.m.
On Sept. 2, less than a month after the inspection, the code office sent a letter to Bokar informing him that the property had been declared unfit to occupy. Another representative of the housing corporation, Rudolph Polz, responded to the letter on the following day and informed the code office that the housing corporation was working on repairing all the violations. Polz also said the corporation might need to request an extension beyond the Sept. 10 deadline.
In lieu of a fire alarm system, the city required that the building be equipped with a roving fire watch-an individual who would occupy the house at all times and would be equipped with a device to detect fires and to alert those in the building to potential fire danger. The housing corporation contacted an outside company to provide this watchperson.
On Oct. 21, the code office sent another letter to the housing corporation that said the roving fire patrol would suffice for a fire safety system until Jan. 3, at which point the city would have to condemn and placard the building if no permanent system had been installed.
A Nov. 10 fire caused by a dryer at the property revealed some problems in the response of the roving fire watch.
At the time (of the fire) he wasn't there
Pierson said.
The city sent the housing corporation an order to comply Nov. 12 and warned the corporation that it had just 15 days to fix the 72 additional violations. The Jan. 3 deadline for the fire system remained in place.
On Nov. 18, the sophomore members of the fraternity were informed that the house also had failed an OU§ inspection during the summer, and if adequate corrections were not made, they would be forced to find on-campus housing.
The city and the housing corporation did not communicate again until Dec. 22, when talks resumed about the status of the repairs. Also around that time, Bokar began to raise questions about the city's legal right to placard the house.
Bevel said the delay in implementing a new fire safety system came because the fraternity needed state approval on blueprints for the plan. The city received a copy of that approval on Jan. 10, and Bevel said crews have been working to install the fire system this week.
Fraternity members plan to move back into the house Friday, pending final inspection by the fire chief, Bevel said.
Pierson said the city is all set to remove the placards Friday after final inspection by either the State Department of Construction Compliance or the State Fire Marshall's office. Athens Fire Chief Robert Troxel can serve as a representative of the State Fire Marshall's office, Pierson said.
Besides the legal charges and the inconvenience of having to move out of the house, the SAE fraternity will face no additional sanctions, said Michael Sprinkle, assistant director for Fraternity and Sorority Affairs.
This is between the city and the housing corporation
Sprinkle said.
As to why a fire safety system was not in place during the first inspection, Bevel said the system was removed as a result of a legal dispute between the housing corporation and the Columbus-based company that had previously provided fire safety system for the house.
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Matt Zapotosky
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The SAE House, located on East State Street, was condemned Dec. 28 after inspectors encountered 73 city code violations. Pending a final inspection, fraternity members plan to move back in this Friday.
