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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Voluntary RPS upgrades possible


Richard Dethlefs, senior associate at Wiss, Janey, Elstner Associates engineering firm, testifies Wednesday before City Council about the structural integrity of the River Park Square parking garage. 
 (Kathryn Stevens / The Spokesman-Review)

River Park Square officials said Wednesday that safety improvements will be considered to prevent another car from falling from the mall’s garage.

However, they stressed that any changes would be voluntary because an initial study shows the garage meets building code.

“We really appreciate the fact that we were given an opportunity to begin to show what we’ve been studying and going through since the accident,” said River Park Square Chief Executive Officer Robert Smith.

Smith and Richard Dethlefs, an engineer hired by the mall to study the garage’s L-shaped barriers called spandrels, spoke Wednesday at a Spokane hearing on the garage’s safety. The meeting lasted 15 minutes and mostly repeated Dethlefs’ preliminary written report on the spandrels, which was released earlier this week.

The hearing was scheduled by Mayor Dennis Hession in response to the April 8 death of Pullman resident Jo Ellen Savage, 62. Her car hit a barrier, which collapsed. Some witnesses have said Savage hit the spandrel at a low speed, and police noted that the front of her car suffered only minor damage from the initial collision.

Savage’s family has called for the garage to be closed until its safety is determined; mall officials have insisted the garage is safe.

Robert Rembert, an attorney representing Savage’s family, said the preliminary report does not end safety concerns about the garage.

“The bottom line is we know what happened,” said Rembert, who attended the hearing. “You’ve got to bring the engineering to the real world.”

River Park Square is owned by the Cowles Co., which also owns The Spokesman-Review.

Dethlefs’ preliminary report said the spandrels appear to meet current building code, which requires parking garage barriers to withstand 6,000 pounds of force. He calculated that the barrier was designed to withstand a force of 17,600 pounds but as constructed could handle 8,400 pounds.

A more comprehensive study will be completed in the next two months, said Dethlefs, who works for the firm Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates. All the spandrels will be reviewed.

Spokane’s building official, Joe Wizner, said the city will hire a third-party engineer to evaluate work provided by the mall. He added that he likely won’t release his findings until River Park Square finishes its study.

Wizner could pull the garage’s certificate of occupancy, a move he called unlikely based on Dethlefs’ preliminary findings.

“I was really encouraged that they asked (Dethlefs’ engineering firm) to provide recommendations, not just analysis that it meets codes,” Wizner said. “It sounds like they’re going to go the extra mile to make sure it’s safe.”

Rembert said he is skeptical of Dethlefs’ initial findings.

“The report and the study make, I think, potentially disastrous assumptions about the spandrels,” Rembert said.

Rembert points to the study’s assumption that the spandrels have a concrete compressive strength of 5,000 pounds per square inch. That figure was used to compute the amount of force the barriers can withstand. Rembert noted that a 1996 report on the garage said the garage’s concrete floor slabs were designed to have a strength of 4,000 pounds per square inch, but when tested had strengths ranging from 2,770 to 3,260 pounds per square inch.

No public testimony was accepted at Wednesday’s hearing, but Wizner is accepting written comments until he finishes his report.

Also Wednesday, attorney Steve Eugster submitted a letter to city officials that said the spandrels don’t meet building code because they can’t even be classified as barriers. That’s because, he said, their design doesn’t allow them to transfer force from a car to the rest of the garage.

“It is not a barrier,” Eugster wrote. “It is an ‘L’ shaped decorative panel. It is only that.”

Eugster, a former Spokane city councilman, has asked that a grand jury investigate if criminal charges should be brought against River Park Square officials in relation to Savage’s death.