Many of us remember reading The Odyssey, Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem, perhaps when mythology was still taught in California middle schools. Our hero, Odysseus (known as Ulysses in Roman mythology), experienced 10 years of troubles making his way home after the end of the Trojan War. Many of us also remember how often Odysseus called for help from his favorite goddess, “grey-eyed Pallas Athene,” also known as Athena, Athina, and Pallas Athena. She’s the Greek goddess of almost everything: wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts and skill.
Unfortunately, Athena is not the goddess of meeting California building codes and regulations. Therein lies a story.
In October 2010, California Human Development Corporation (CHDC) purchased the historic Stone House on Highway 12 in Santa Rosa for $1.1 million. Massimo Galeazzi first opened the building as the Rincon Hotel in 1909. The construction featured basalt blocks also found in other historic buildings in Santa Rosa. Later, the Stone House was used successively as a sanitarium, restaurant, bar, topless bar and then corporate offices for Sid Shah and the infamous Centennial Savings. Finally, The Stonehouse Inn bed and breakfast opened in 2003 and later failed, leaving the building unused for several years. CHDC’s aim was to reopen the building as Athena House at Stonehouse, a substance abuse treatment center for up to 40 women. An October 2010 newspaper article proudly reported that “the group plans to move into the building in December,” two months following.
I’m writing this column on July 3, 2012, more than 18 months after the projected move-in date. Is Athena House up and running as a residential treatment facility? No. When did the project pass its city of Santa Rosa final inspection? June 29, just four days ago. Can women move in now? Yes, soon. Hopefully.
Why the big delay? John Way, director of community impact investing for CHDC, gave an answer that echoes the opinions of many developers, architects and builders who do business in California (or even more specifically, in Santa Rosa): “Construction rehab is different here.”
Way continues: “When we finally got inside the building, we found the beds were still made. The rooms were filled with high-end antique replicas, some with gold inlay. There was even cash in the register’s change drawer; someone joked that there were chocolates on the pillows. But there was no fire suppression and only inadequate handicapped access. We found notices from the city [to the operators of the previous bed and breakfast] about various code problems and an unsafe driveway. The city put some things in front of us we didn’t anticipate.”
What sorts of things? Well, the “orientation” of handicapped parking wasn’t “compliant,” and the “landing pad” for handicapped parkers wasn’t positioned correctly. Parking in general and the exit from the parking lot parking weren’t configured correctly. The slope of the parking lot didn’t meet ADA requirements, thus requiring regrading. Every room was required to have at least one fire sprinkler, a challenging requirement in an old stone building. In fact, access was so poor on the first floor ceiling that sprinklers and water pipes had to be surface mounted (and thus visible). The city asked for a new water meter, a new fire hydrant, a new domestic water line, a new irrigation water line and a new backflow device.
The risers and treads in one internal stone staircase didn’t meet code, so the stairwell is now walled off at the top and has a door at the bottom. It can be used only for storage. A second stone staircase met code for risers and treads but had to be modified with grab bars and a higher handrail. For handicapped access, the contractor (Codding Construction) needed to remove part of a stone wall after carefully determining it wasn’t load-bearing. Also for ADA access, Codding was required to cut down a kitchen island and trim a beautiful granite countertop.
And so forth. Each code and regulation compliance issue required appropriate architectural plans, permit applications, plan check by the city, review by the project’s lender, actual construction and final inspections by the city. A reduction in the number of city inspectors and furlough days by the remaining inspectors resulted in further delays. Further, Athena House needed special sign-offs from the city, county and state with respect to its special type of facility. Total cost for the building and property rehab: about $350,000.
But Way is quick to point out, “I can’t put my finger on the city as the sole problem. It wanted this project. We had to learn how to use city departments as resources. We are human resources—we don’t do construction—fortunately, Codding Construction mentored us through the process.
“And we had to coordinate multiple levels of funding sources—federal, state, county, city. Our primary lender was Clearinghouse Community Development Financial Institution, which exists to funnel community development funds from regular banks [under the Community Reinvestment Act] to projects such as Athena House. Getting the money is a complicated process.
“The people who cost us the most time are the people who did the bed and breakfast conversion without regard to codes and regulations. The minimum legalities weren’t met.”
I hope Athena House is up and running by the time this column is published. It’s been a long process to compliance with current codes and regulations, made especially tough because Stone House had been remodeled and rehabbed so many times before. For a bit of irony, check out the Great Seal of the State of California. Remember that Athena is a Greek goddess, and that Minerva, the woman featured so prominently on the Great Seal, is her Roman equivalent. The state motto on the Great Seal is “Eureka,” but perhaps only because “I Finally Got an Occupancy Permit in California” wouldn’t fit.
