Scaffolding and fencing were erected in front of the Palace Hotel this week in an effort to protect pedestrians while the future of the crumbling structure is still being decided.
“We’re endeavoring to update, in near real-time, formal communications between (city officials and the owner(s) of the Palace Hotel),” City Manager Sage Sangiacomo told the Ukiah City Council at its Wednesday meeting, pointing interested parties to a “project page on the city’s website called “Palace Hotel.”
Given that city staff members are posting the correspondence as quickly as possible — for example, a letter from the owner was received on Dec. 4 and posted the next morning — Sangiacomo noted that “staff is also endeavoring to evaluate at that same time, so there’s not
a staff response to some of these items because we’re working to get the information out there quickly, in a transparent way, to the public and the council, and everybody is receiving it at the same time.”
“Today, literally hours ago, we did receive a permit application that I approved for a pedestrian protection plan,” reported Chief Building Official Matt Keizer, noting that the building’s ownership was “finally able to find a contractor that could do the work.”
To that end, Keizer said that “the scaffolding will start to go up (Thursday) morning, weather-permitting,” after an expected delivery that morning.
By the end of the week, scaffolding was indeed erected in front of the building along North State Street, complete with a pedestrian walkway underneath. Fencing was also erected on Smith Street to keep pedestrians off the sidewalk.
During public comment at the Dec. 6 meeting, resident Pinky Kushner said she appreciated “what has been put on the website,” but that she hoped for more information/opinions regarding a plan of the owner, listed as Twin Investments, LLC, “for deconstruction of the Palace Hotel, and it all hinges upon the structural integrity of the building.”
In response to Kushner’s comment, Keizer said: “That is a question we will be moving forward with, as far as getting that documentation, so we’re 100-percent on point with that, and we agree. When those comments do go back, it will be posted on the website to keep everyone as current as we can on that.”
(Ukiah Daily Journal)
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