September 26, 2006
Tuesday

It would seem like after the Hospital, Kayhi pool, and Schoenbar, someone would question what is wrong with the people that keep steering us into these poor decisions. Any contractor will tell you (or they should) that in most cases a building of that age will be three times as expensive to remodel than to tear down and build new.

There are few exceptions:

1.if the building was built after 1981 ,for hazardous waste considerations;

2. if the location is prohibitive for a feasible new construction project for example the buildings in downtown Ketchikan.

White Cliff does not meet either of those criteria.

To rebuild this building you would have to remove the hazardous material, Asbestos, lead paint, lead pipes, etc,etc. - this would push almost a million dollars. Then you would have to tear into the structure that was built prior to any seismic considerations, and would have to have the entire superstructure retrofitted with moment frames and seismic hold downs, by the time you did the demolition there would be very little of the sentimental value left of the building.

That is what this issue is about sentiment. What is that saying? (FOOL ME ONCE, ETC.)

This building would be too expensive to remodel - that is a fact. It would be a fool's errand to try. From a contractor's point of view, I would love to have that job. The change orders would set me up for life.

As a Ketchikan resident who will have to ultimately pay the bill I would say... ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Charles Edwardson
Ketchikan, AK - USA

About: "General contractor, New construction, Renovations ,Additions"

On the Web:

Proposition 1 - Sales Tax Increase: For the full text of Ordinance No. 1403 click here
http://borough.ketchikan.ak.us/clerks/documents/1403.pdf

Proposition 2 - Bonds: For the full text of Ordinance No. 1404 click here
http://borough.ketchikan.ak.us/clerks/documents/1404.pdf

White Cliff Project
http://www.ketchikanarts.org/whitecliff

 

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