Building’s facade buckled two-and one- half-years after engineer’s report. Richard Lefever, a licensed engineer, examined the facade of a building and filed a report with Buildings in February 2007. In the report, Lefever had the option of designating the facade as safe, unsafe, or safe with a repair and maintenance program (SWARMP). Lefever chose the third option, because he identified facade conditions that required repairs within two years to avoid deteriorating into unsafe conditions. The owner failed to make repairs within the two-year time frame, and in August 2009 a portion of the exterior masonry of the wall buckled. The condition exposed the public to the threat of falling debris.

Buildings issued a notice of violation to Lefever for filing a false statement. According to Buildings, Levefer’s designation of the facade as SWARMP amounted to a false statement given the history of numerous repairs to the building’s facade and Levefer’s knowledge of such repairs. Lefever defended that his SWARMP designation was warranted since the building facade needed only repair and not immediate corrective action. (read more…)