Following the tragic incident at a St. Laurent apartment building in November, when a collapsed underground parking garage killed a man after his vehicle was crushed by a large slab of concrete, the City of Côte Saint-Luc "proactively" undertook an inspection of all buildings with two plus levels of underground parking that are over 30 years old.
It must be noted that the Regie du batiment du Québec (RBQ) is responsible for building codes in the province. That being said, our Engineering Department inspectors highlighted seven building garages that upon a visual inspection we thought might need a closer look. These cases were referred directly to the RBQ for follow-up. While Manoir Camelia, located at 5875 Cavendish next to City Hall, turned out to be one of the buildings our engineers had not yet visited (when they came by the janitor was not there to let them in) it appears that the RBQ had received calls from some residents. As a result, the RBQ did an inspection and ordered the garage closed. They insisted that the owner, Howard Szalavetz, had to get an engineer's report attesting to the soundness of the structure.
Residents were advised to move their cars and we made arrangements for them to park on Cavendish, between Kildare and Wallenberg, until the matter was resolved.
I spoke to Howard, a well respected landlord in the community who also owns Kildare Towers. He said he immediately enlisted the services of global engineering firm Genvivar. They filed a report to the RBQ and within 48 hours most of the garage was reopened to cars. Howard noted that this is an older building and given the climate following the St. Laurent incident the RBQ is being overly cautious. He insists the garage was safe before. But by installing a few support beams, it is now “beyond 100 percent safe.” Some work will be done in the coming weeks.
Is the RBQ being overzealous? Perhaps, but after what happened in St. Laurent nobody will fault them for that.
Hats off to Howard for being so responsive!
