December 2016
Building inspectors had not been inside Oakland warehouse in 30 years, officials say
Oakland officials revealed Thursday that no building code enforcement inspector has been inside the warehouse where 36 people died in at least 30 years, raising new questions about government oversight of the property.
The interim director of the city's planning and building department said the agency only goes into buildings when the owner seeks a permit or if officials receive a complaint.
The Oakland warehouse, where a catastrophic fire broke out during a concert Friday night, was the focus of nearly two dozen building code complaints or other city actions over the past 30 years, documents released Wednesday showed.
At least three of the complaints appeared to assert that structures had been built inside the warehouse without permits or that the property was being used as a residence. Others cited illegal parking and mounds of debris piled up on the sidewalk and in an adjoining vacant lot.
An inspector who visited the warehouse 15 days before the fire to investigate a possible “illegal interior building structure” was unable to get inside.
According to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, the city followed up by sending a request to the warehouse owner to gain entry. Planning and building department reports released Wednesday, however, indicate only that the city sent a violation notice demanding debris outside the building be cleaned up.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-oakland-fire-inspections-20161207-story.html
Building Records
http://documents.latimes.com/read-record-complaints-against-ghost-ship-building-oakland/
