Saturday, Sep. 05, 2009

Benedict dorm poses a 'hazard,' county says

Richland County has ordered Benedict College to stop using a renovated hotel near Two Notch Road as a dormitory because the county says it doesn’t meet fire-safety, building and zoning laws.

Benedict leased the vacant hotel — which houses 300 or more students — to accommodate growing enrollment in its freshman class over the past two years.

But less than a month after classes started, the college was ordered Tuesday to move those students out of 1539 Horseshoe Drive.

Specifically, the county cited as its chief concern whether the facility has a working fire alarm and sprinkler system. An inspection report last month noted that was not the case.

Still, county officials stopped short of setting a hard deadline for Benedict to comply, instead letting the process take its course.

“The county has been very evenhanded and empathetic to some of the concerns, of course, that the college has,” Richland County administrator Milton Pope said Friday. “But the bottom line is we have to follow a pattern of notification and enforcement, and that’s what we’re doing.”

College spokeswoman Kymm Hunter said Friday that Benedict is working to retrofit the new dormitory and that the matter had been referred to Benedict’s lawyers.

Pope said in a memo the fire violations “pose a significant hazard to the life and safety of the students.”

Specifically, he made note of the “lack of a sprinkler system” —which county law requires in dorms — and lack of a “properly functioning alarm system.”

In a brief interview Friday, Benedict president David Swinton said a fire-alarm system and smoke detectors are working.

County officials said they have not been brought in to inspect the new equipment.

Pope’s memo accompanied a sheaf of letters traded between county officials and Swinton, dating to Aug. 6. They were obtained by The State newspaper under the S.C. Freedom of Information law.

County Fire Marshal Michael Byrd said the county became aware of renovations at the former hotel, near I-20 and Two Notch Road, after getting an inquiry about it Aug. 5. The trim on the building has been painted Benedict purple.

A deputy fire marshal inspected the building at noon that same day, according to the deputy’s report.

Byrd said the fire official “put them on notice” students couldn’t occupy the building.

Students “moved in on the 8th without the fire alarm being inspected or approved — or working,” Byrd said Friday.

In an Aug. 6 letter to Byrd, Swinton asked that students be allowed to move in:

“We have been planning under the assumption that we could rent this space from an existing hotel without the necessity of installing a sprinkler system immediately. As a result, we have planned to place 300 or more students in this facility in the fall. We have spent considerable resources readying the facility. We currently have no alternative housing for these students.”

The first day of class for freshmen was Aug. 10. Upperclassmen started Aug. 17.

Members of Richland County Council said that though they are sympathetic, the county is unable to yield.

“Our main concern is a liability issue,” council chairman Paul Livingston said. “If we don’t follow our own codes and something happens, that obviously puts a lot of liability on the county.”

Councilwoman Kit Smith added: “We are going to do this by the book.”

The council was briefed Tuesday behind closed doors, then allowed Swinton to come in and speak.

If the case ends up in magistrate’s court, the college could be fined a maximum of $1,087.50 a day.

“It’s a rough situation,” Councilman Norman Jackson said Wednesday. “You have to find somewhere to house the students, but safety is the No. 1 concern and there are a lot of fire-safety code violations.”

On Friday, though, Jackson said he had been assured by someone at the college that safety problems had been addressed.

Swinton said: “We have a safety plan out there that complies with what’s required to ensure the safety of our students.”

Asked whether that meant fire alarms and smoke detectors, Swinton responded, “And more than that.”

He said he had no comment about what he characterized as “some conversations with the county and the County Council about a number of issues.”

County records list the owner of the property as 1539 Horseshoe Lodging LLC, in care of Nitin C. Shah of Columbia.

The land changed hands in June, when Dentsville Motor Inn sold it for $440,000, records show.

Byrd said the county has been communicating with Benedict, rather than the property owner, “because the college is the operator of the building.”

In addition to fire-safety laws, the dorm violates the county’s law on land-use zoning.

County law requires dormitories to be within a half-mile of a main campus.

Because the new dorm is so far from campus — just over seven miles — the college is providing shuttle service every half-hour, according to an internal memo to Pope from zoning administrator Geo Price.

Price suggested bringing the building into compliance with zoning laws “would require a number of renovations which wouldn’t seem to be practical at this time.”

To be used as a multifamily dwelling, for example, the structure would need a kitchen and dining room, Price wrote, and students would need to move out while the work was done.

Reach Hinshaw at (803) 771-8641.

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