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Church buildings fail inspectionminor violations, but few of the Frederick Drummond who con-By BILL ALNORDaily Times Staff WriterCONCORD — The state may take legal action against the controversial Church of Our Saviour because serious building code violations have not been corrected.On March 4, the state Bureau of Occupational and Industrial Safety inspected the two buildings on the 25-acre site and reported 22 violations of state building and safety codes. The state mandated deadlines of June 2, July 3 and Aug. 4 to have all violations corrected.The church appealed the ruling and a new date of Nov. 30 was agreed upon by the state and the church.But when inspectors went back during the firet week of December they discovered the church had corrected some of themqjor fire and safety violations, said Jack McGettigan, spokesman for the state Department of Labor and Industry.“We have turned it over to our legal division, said McGettigan,ingB to be vacated. ”McGettigan said the state’s concern is not to try to close the two buildings, but to make sure the people are safe. It looks like they have made some steps...and perhaps we can come up with a reasonable assurance that the remaining things will be corrected.The church sanctuary is the first building which may be affected. The church, located at Baltimore Pike and Thornton Road, is pastored by the Rev.ducts three services each Sunday in the building and other functions during the week. The larger building in the rear contains offices, the Brandywine Academy, and the unaccredited Grace Bible College. Several church officials and Bible school students live inschool classes to be held on the second floor of the administration building. And the state granted the school permission to allow a third floor room to be used. Violations in the building corrected were the posting of exit signs, and the repair of fire doors.But no certificate of occupancywas granted for the building «in^» building plans did not match the structure, McGettigan said. There was also no completed fire alarm system and no automatic smoke and heat detection system in place, he said.Improvements made to the church building were upgrading of emergency lighting, the installation of exit signs and hand rails and repairs to the door.But the boiler was not enclosed and fire separation work was not completed to the basement ceiling. There was also no certificate of occupancy granted for the building since building plans did not match the structure, McGettigan said.McGettigan added that the church did not apply for anotherextension.referring to a report on the visit filed on Dec. 8. ‘There are some legal steps we can take —Vghe building, perhaps an order for the build-Church business administratorDavid Mcllwaine did not return a phone call.McGettigan said the Bureau of Occupational and Industrial Safety granted permission for
Newspaper Details
Delaware County Daily Times
Chester, Pennsylvania, US
Thu, Dec 18, 1986
Page 24
Full Page
Clipped by
Kaeli B.
NA, 10 Mar 2025
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