Fire district settles with architect, engineer over station errors

The Spokane Valley Fire Department commissioners voted Monday to accept a mediated settlement with the architect who designed the new Edgecliff Fire Station.

Commissioners voted unanimously to accept $35,000 from Pondera Architecture and $15,000 from the civil engineer that Pondera hired to work on the project.

The department paid Pondera $98,685 to design the station at 6306 E. Sprague Ave. Officials had sought $133,996 in damages in a lengthy claim filed against the business alleging negligence and breach of contract.

“It’s charges from the contractor that we paid,” said Deputy Chief Larry Rider. The amount includes the additional materials and time needed to fix the errors.

The contractor began noticing problems with the plans soon after construction started in March 2012. Among them: Swale drainage pipes were designed to run uphill, the drainage swales and disabled parking didn’t meet code, the floor drains in the truck bay weren’t designed correctly, and a support beam was in the way of the mechanism needed to raise and lower the truck bay doors.

The station wasn’t completed until mid-December instead of the planned mid-October.

“A public entity filed a claim against an architect,” Rider said. “It doesn’t happen very often.”