City inspectors: Most of Mill St. apartment building safe for displaced tenants to enter

WORCESTER — Most units in a partially collapsed Mill Street building should be safe for retrieving belongings, city building officials said Wednesday in Housing Court, but a judge requested a more concrete moving and storage plan from the property owner.

An initial hearing Monday was postponed when Judge Diana H. Horan said she did not want to overrule the city and grant Franklin-based property owners Fren Management Company Inc. an order allowing residents and movers to collect belongings without the presence of city inspectors or engineers in the court.

Fren Management sent notices to tenants over the weekend to appear in Housing Court as the company sought permission for them to enter the units so residents or movers could collect belongings. The owners also want to be able to discard belongings deemed unsalvageable and store the remaining items.

On Wednesday, Walter H. Jacobs, attorney for Fren Management, said his clients would be willing to pay for movers and storage for a duration.

On July 15, residents were ordered to evacuate the 32-unit Pond View Apartment Homes at 267 Mill St. after an early-morning roofing job sent construction material falling through the roof.

While they were initially scheduled to leave on Monday, residents will now be able to stay at the Holiday Inn on Summer Street until Aug. 8. District 5 City Councilor Etel Haxhiaj, who attended the hearing and has been supporting the tenants since the collapse, said some of the residents have moved to other housing.

Organizations such as the Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance have worked on finding housing for the residents, but tenants have said that the search for housing has been difficult.

State Rep. David H.A. LeBoeuf of Worcester, who represents Mill Street, was also at the courthouse on Wednesday to support the tenants.

Engineers, inspectors submit reports

David Horne, deputy building commissioner for the city's Department of Inspectional Services, said engineers hired by Fren Management had submitted a report finding most of the structure safe for entry.

Horne said the city's inspectors surveyed the building this week and agreed with the engineers' assessment that most of the units should be safe for retrieving belongings.

However, several units that end in 05 were caved in from the collapse and were not deemed safe for resident entry. Horne said the owners have cordoned off those units with plywood.  

"I feel that the building is sound, except for the damaged area," Horne said.

The building was ordered condemned on July 18.

Jacobs said retrieval trips would be scheduled and lights would be available to help the residents gather belongings in the dark. He said it would be simplest for residents to have a list of belongings they had in their units and join the movers to help with identifying everything.

On Monday, all 30 cases had no legal representation for the tenants. Lawyer Craig Ornell appeared representing tenants in some of the cases and it appeared that more were looking to be represented by him afterward.

Staff with Community Legal Aid were also present to see if any residents qualified for representation.  

Ornell said his clients feel that some items may have been stolen or taken, making listing items a challenge. Ornell also said that around a month of paid storage may not be long enough as tenants search for new lodging.

"I don't think it's that simple a process," Ornell said.

Horan said it would not be realistic for the court to order the owners to store the belongings indefinitely.

"We have to come up with a creative solution here," Horan said.

The 15 cases that were on the docket for 2 p.m. came before Horan after Horne's report. Horan started to ask the residents whether they had secured housing, if they could compile a list of belongings to collect, if they needed help moving out belongings and if they wanted to be present for the moving.

Tenants voice disappointment

Some tenants said they continued to be disappointed with Fren Management's handling of the collapse, hoped for further compensation for damages, and said they believed movers had already entered the building and reported that belongings have already been moved.

One tenant said she returned to her apartment to see both her and her mother's passport and her Social Security card in water that entered the unit when they were previously stored.

Tenants have previously said they feel Fren Management is rushing them to clear belongings and believe taking them to court is unnecessary. Some reported that gathering some belongings proved physically challenging in the summer heat.

Horan said that while she understood that there were several issues at hand with the collapse, the tenants needed to focus on the moving of belongings on Wednesday. She said residents can handle other issues related to the collapse at a later date.

Horan asked Jacobs if movers had already entered the units, which Jacobs denied. He said firefighters had entered the units and had to break doors to check. In addition, Jacobs said it was possible that different people who resided in the same unit had moved other people's belongings.

However, when asked by Horan if Fren Management had lined up a mover and storage, Jacobs said the storage location would initially be in Brockton. Horan said the storage should be within 25 miles of Worcester for ease of access from tenants.

Jacobs said there is limited storage available in Worcester, especially with the size needed to handle so many tenants. He said they had called multiple movers, but Horan said the prosecution had not established the lack of storage as a fact in the case.

Nearest storage 40 miles away

After a recess, Jacobs said the mover had storage space in North Chelmsford. Horan acknowledged that North Chelmsford may be the best option, but noted that it is nearly 40 miles away from Worcester.

For the units that were deemed inaccessible, Jacobs requested to be allowed to have specialty movers who are qualified to enter caved-in units to collect belongings. Horan said she still believed Fren Management had not done enough to have solid plans for moving.

Horan continued the cases to Aug. 4 at 9 a.m. so the court could have five mediators present to handle the stipulations on collecting belongings on a case-by-case basis.

She urged the tenants to work out their preferred plans for moving and for those who have secured housing to plan to take their belongings to be moved to a new apartment. Horan also requested that Fren Management finalize their moving staff and storage.

Outside of the courthouse, tenants, attorneys and Fren Management ownership were gathered to plan forward.

Samuel Okai, a first-floor resident whose apartment is one of the ones the city still considers unsafe for resident entry, said he has limited clothes and is still residing at the hotel.

"I can't be wearing one [outfit] for the rest of my life," Okai said.

He said he will be back on Aug. 4 to see when the walls to his apartment will be broken. He said he does not like coming back in another week, but it is necessary for him to finalize the situation.

Okai said he has been looking for housing, but the search has been difficult.

"Some places are too expensive. A three-bedroom is $3,000 a month."

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Most of Mill St. apartment building safe for displaced tenants to enter