The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG – A structural engineering report on the Waitsburg Fairgrounds grandstands indicates that the structure is in serious need of either repair or demolition, City Administrator Randy Hinchliffe told the Waitsburg City Council at their Feb. 17 meeting.

Muran Engineering and Design completed the assessment and listed three recommendations: bring the structure up to standards, tear it down and remove it, or barricade it from public access, Hinchliffe said.

Hinchliffe said the grandstands were built "in typical 1930's fashion," and the structure has a host of problems. The engineer said that the bottom supporting posts are rotten and that many of the internal X-braces, which had been toe nailed into support beams without the use of straps or other hardware, had pulled away from the original posts. The firm's recommendation is that the building not be used at all because of the safety hazard.

"It's up to the council to determine if they want to try and save it or strip it away and sell the timber," Hinchliffe said. He said no repair cost estimate was given.

"What it amounted to is that they would have to do some major deconstruction just to look inside and see how bad the damage is," said Mayor Walt Gobel.

Gobel commented that demolition could be almost as expensive as rebuilding and expressed concern about liability. "We assume liability when a liability situation becomes aware to us," he said. "Now that we're aware, we have a serious liability."

Board member Marty Dunn asked how the city could cordon off the grandstands and Hinchliffe said they would place plywood on the entrances and on the open east side and post "No Trespassing" signs. Dunn asked if the city would be liable if people crossed the barriers to enter.

City Attorney Jared Hawkins said that if the city put up barriers and signs it has fulfilled its duty by doing what it can to prevent access.

Dena Wood

Rotting support beams like this are just one of the deficiencies that need remedied before the stands can be considered safe for use.

Hinchliffe said that one of the plans for the Fairgrounds Revitalization Project was to utilize the grandstands for seating during concerts and performances in the future. Several audience members expressed a desire to keep the grandstands if at all possible.

"I would feel a lot better, before we jump the gun on trying to tear down the facility, to first try to make a little more effort in quantifying what the structural integrity really is," said councilor K. C. Kuykendall.

Kuykendall said he knew a structural engineer who would be willing to provide a secondary engineering report, at no cost to the city, before the next council meeting. It was decided that signs and barricades will be placed on the grandstands and the council will await a secondary structural integrity report before making further decisions.