CAVE SPRINGS -- The architect hired to plan repairs for the city's Community Building doesn't believe the building needs significant work despite concerns from a structural engineer who says it's unsafe.
Cave Springs hired Gary Clements, an architect who runs the North Little Rock-based Clements & Associates Architecture firm, to assess the building and prepare a plan to repair deficiencies. The deficiencies were first noted by structural engineers who were alarmed by several problem areas, including leaning walls. Clements said the building is mostly structurally sound.
"I've seen a lot of crooked buildings in my lifetime, and I'm not nervous about this one," he said. "My grandmother's house leaned a whole lot more than that."
The building, which was built in 1936 and became the site of countless community events and city government meetings over the years, was closed in late 2015.
The building's stability came into question when Mayor Travis Lee hired a contractor to install a projector. The contractor refused to do the installation because he suspected the building was unstable, Lee said.
A committee was established to explore options for salvaging the building and ultimately decide its fate. The committee will decide how to proceed after Clements completes his assessment report, Lee said.
Clements recently turned in his report, but Lee said he has yet to read it.
Previous inspections
Mitch Erwin of JPM Inspection Services inspected the building in November. His report says the roof frame sags partly from the long span of construction and partly because of new ceiling supports tied in to the frame and the weight of the wallboard, air ducts and insulation.
The building has two ceilings, the original 16-foot ceiling, which Clements described as having the shape of a barn roof, and a 10-foot ceiling that was added later.
The sagging joists and rafters put pressure on the exterior walls, causing the north wall to lean outside 4 inches and the south wall to lean inside 3 inches. Stone piers under the building are stacks of flat stones with no concrete footing, according to report.
To add emphasis, Erwin wrote in all caps, "It is my opinion that this structure is not stable and repairs are needed prior to continued use."
R. Wayne Jones, an engineer with McClelland Consulting Engineers, inspected the building in December.
"My initial inspection and observations revealed several serious issues that relate to the safety of the people using the facility," according to Jones' letter to City Manager Charlie Holyfield on Dec. 14.
Jones wrote he found the center half of the north and south walls leaning at least 6 inches to the north. He also said the roof was sagging 2 to 4 inches at the center and the floor sloped from the center to the north and to the south, indicating either foundational movement or structural support deterioration.
"The concrete foundation has a number of cracks that have allowed the building structure to settle and move over time and some additional movement will occur over time," Jones said in the letter.
Jones wrote he saw several damaged areas on both exterior walls and at interior wall intersections with the exterior walls. He said the damage was a result of foundation movement.
"The initial recommendation, following my inspection today, is that the structure be closed until the building can be renovated so as to provide for the adequate safety of the people inside the building," Jones wrote in the letter. "The leaning walls and sagging ceiling are indication of a weak structural system, and under the right conditions of wind, snow and rain could fail and seriously injure or result in death of people attending meetings in the building."
Clements, who has inspected the building inside and out and top to bottom, said the most significant repairs needed are a new heating and cooling system with duct work inside and handicap-accessibility modifications to the bathrooms.
"I haven't seen the engineering reports, but in my career I've seen a lot of overly conservative engineering reports," Clements said.
In a telephone interview, Jones, who is now retired from McClelland but still provides consultation services, maintained the building is structurally unsafe.
"If he wants to sign off on the plans then that's his liability," Jones said. "When the city got three opinions from engineers and they're all the same, that's an issue, and that's an issue for the architect and the city."
The building remains a potential hazard without an extreme amount of renovation, Jones said.
"It's an emotional issue for the long-term residents of Cave Springs," he said.
Building has history
For many folks in Cave Springs, the Community Building is the home of cherished memories.
Eddy Shores, 78, has lived in Cave Springs his entire life. His father, Carl, was the original owner of Shores Hardware, and he and his brother, Don, ran the business until their retirement. Shores remembers when the Community Building hosted high school basketball games and spectators had to stand along the edge of the court to watch. He said it also served as an auditorium where all school activities were held.
"We need to keep it going; it's part of our heritage," Shores said. "It's not just for Cave Springs; it's for the whole community. We consider Cave Springs all of our surrounding area."
Lee recognizes the significance the building holds to residents.
"For the ones who have been here a majority of their life, it's the history, (and) they don't want to see something like that disappear," Lee said. "It's been there their entire life, and it's very important to have something like that stay here. If it's important to them, it's important to me."
Paying for the repairs will require community participation, said Robert Smittle, who chairs the committee dedicated to the Community Building.
"We're hoping to do it more or less like the building was built in the first place -- go to the community and ask for help and do it pretty much within the community," Smittle said. "The City Council said they will help us as much as they can. We will have several fundraisers."
Lee said he could foresee the City Council giving $20,000 to 40,000 for repairs.
"With the community outcry right now, I say that's definitely something they can easily budget in the next budget and easily provide money for that," Lee said.
The City Council is devoted to restoring the building, Councilman Larry Fletcher said.
"I think we have an obligation to," Fletcher said. "I can't speak for other council members, but I think they would recognize the responsibility they have as city members to repair that building if the (cost is) within reason."
Smittle said it's important the building be preserved.
"There are still people who remember going to basketball games in that building, graduating in that building, going to plays in that building -- it means something to those people," he said. "The people in this area came together and built a building, and it's important to people who've been here for many years, and when something is part of the community we need to save it."
Fix-it list
Lee said he plans to use Benton County Jail inmate work details to repair the building.
"The foundation is going to be the biggest expense because inmates can't do foundational work," Lee said. "And if the foundation work needs to be repaired, we're going to hire out somebody to do it."
Smittle acknowledged the building needs a new roof and mold must be removed from the attic, but he said the foundation is secure and the stacked limestone piers under the building are connected with hand-mixed concrete.
"We didn't have concrete blocks back in the '30s," he said. "You went to the creek, found some rocks that were as flat as possible and that was what they used."
Smittle sought Clements' firm based on a referral from the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, according to a letter Clements sent to Holyfield in March.
Clements said his firm specializes in the preservation of historic buildings. In 2014, he completed restoration on the interior of the House Chamber dome in the state capitol. He is a consultant for the interior restoration of the Shiloh Primitive Church adjacent to the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History in Springdale.
He said it would require a lot of structural work to straighten the building and a powerful storm could have caused it to lean. The foundation does not need to be repaired because of work done in the 1980s, Clements said.
Smittle, 79, has lived in Cave Springs since 1969. He was put in charge of getting the building repaired around 1985.
Contractors minimized the lean by putting three 2-inch-wide, 6-foot-long angle irons on each side of the building and three half-inch round rebars horizontally from wall to wall, welded into turnbuckles that connect them around the building, he said.
The limestone piers hold up oak runners that extend the length of the building. Above the runners are oak joists, and above the joists are the subfloor and then the hardwood floor, Smittle said.
"People say the foundation is going to fall, (but) it hasn't fallen since the '30s, and it's not going to fall tomorrow," Smittle said. "The floor is totally secure; there's no way the floor can go anywhere."
NW News on 05/16/2016