In the proud tradition of houses owned by the Portland Water Bureau, a squat, mouldering home on SW Barbur has some interesting idiosyncrasies.
The house, where the City of Portland is storing belongings taken from homeless campers, is flouting at least one city ordinance, and has apparently avoided scrutiny from code enforcers for decades.
In fact, the Portland Fire and Rescue staffers charged with enforcing the fire code at commercial properties had no idea the home existed until contacted by the Mercury. And an adjacent, far-newer Water Bureau facility apparently storing sensitive property has also escaped inspection.
“It seems really odd,” says Kari Schimel, a senior fire inspector, who plans to send a fire bureau staffer out to the properties as soon as possible after learning about them today.
As we pointed out last week, the address of the building—a chipping, light blue structure at 9748 SW Barbur—is given to homeless campers hoping to reclaim valuables swept up in one of the city’s campsite cleanups. It’s a long trip from where most campers reside, though reachable via city bus. But the house doesn’t actually have any address signage, or didn’t when we visited on Wednesday. That’s a pretty clear violation of city rules mandating such signage. And it’s a problem if first responders need to find a property. A call “would be delayed if we don’t see an address,” according to Schimel.
More concerning to the fire bureau, though, is the fact the 64-year-old water house and nearby storage facility have escaped scrutiny from inspectors. The storage facility is a big, boxy building directly behind the small home, and was built in the mid-90s, according to Schimel. But it was never entered into the fire system, and so hasn’t been inspected every two years like other commercial properties. Same with the house. It was built in 1940 (it’s unclear how long the water bureau has owned it) and Schimel could find no record of inspection.
“One of the descriptions on the storage building behind [the house] says it’s storing generators,” she says. “Stuff we really need to look at.”
And she’s concerned about storing belongings in the old house.
“We don’t know how they’re storing it, how much there is,” Schimel says. “I’d like to be out there tomorrow.”
A spokesperson for the water bureau is looking into the situation, and has promised to respond to our questions tomorrow.
I inspected this home as an employee of the Water Bureau. It is a POS. Code violations are the least of the worries. I found old decrepit refrigerators with rotting food in them. Electrical issues. Plumbing issues. Employees used to use it as a break room. It’s a mess! But it did have at least two 8-track tape players!