The state Bureau of Construction Codes is putting the heat on Leelanau County to take "immediate enforcement action" at the troubled BayView condominium complex in Suttons Bay, where state inspectors in November uncovered code violations on furnace and water heater terminations throughout the project and a fire supression system in at least one BayView building.

A “performance evaluation” of the county’s Building Inspections department conducted by state inspectors resulted in a decision last month by the Michigan Construction Code Commission that authority for conducting inspections and issuing permits should be withdrawn from Leelanau County – a decision the county is currently appealing.

Despite findings by state inspectors that code violations existed at BayView, the head of the county Building Inspections department, Robert Meyer, said last month that his department did not intend to take any action regarding BayView without specific direction from the state.

Meyer received specific direction from the state last week in a letter dated Jan. 25, and stamped “received” by the inspections department on Friday, Feb.1, 2008.

The letter from Scott Fisher of the state Bureau of Construction Codes said the administrative process associated with the county’s appeal of the state commission’s decision would take time to complete.

“However, code violations identified during the evaluation need to be addressed immediately,” Fisher wrote. “Inasmuch as the county currently retains the authority to administer and enforce the Act and Codes you are required to initiate action to achieve compliance in all instances. The county’s immediate enforcement action will also demonstrate the county’s commitment to provide effective code enforcement to county residents and hopefully will be one step in assisting in a resolution of the current situation with this office.”

Fisher added that the bureau expected state inspectors to accompany county inspectors during a re-inspection of the BayView complex.

Meyer said this week that he had spoken with BayView developer Marcus Yono, had conducted “preliminary” inspections of a number of BayView condo units, and made it clear to the developer that corrections would be required as soon as possible.

In a letter dated Feb. 1 addressed to Fisher, Meyer wrote that many BayView units are separately owned, and that it might not be possible to gain access to all of them for a “single site visit” as Fisher had requested, “but I am no less willing to do it as quickly as humanly possible.” Meyer added that he had been in touch with the mechanical contractor who installed the furnace and water heater terminations at BayView, and the contractor “seems willing to make whatever corrections are necessary, but again, before I start sending official notices, I would like to create a plan.”

The Enterprise this week asked for a comment from BayView developer Marcus Yono, and received a response through Yono’s attorney on Tuesday.

Yono’s statement said that “Robert Meyer visited and inspected all the Buildings at BayView last week. Suttons Bay Heating and Cooling, who installed all the units at BayView, has agreed to make the corrections necessary immediately as they are considered minor. The sprinkler system was also inspected in all the buildings and only found to require adjustment in one building. The Traverse City Contractor has been contacted to make the required adjustments.”

Meyer’s response to Fisher dated Feb. 1 enclosed a copy of a “Field Correction Notice” to Fire Pros Inc. of Grand Rapids dated Feb. 4 noting that “all sprinkler heads in mechanical rooms are obstructed by mechanical ducts or appliances” in one BayView building and must be corrected.

The owner of Suttons Bay Heating, Fred Cook, told the Enterprise this week that he would see to it that corrections would be made on furnace and water heater terminations at BayView.

“I’ve come up with an easy fix for everything,” Cook said, “and I’ve got an engineer’s approval.”

Conflicting reports from several engineers appear to have played a role in the county Building Inspections department’s current troubles – troubles that began long before Meyer was hired as building official in July 2007, replacing Robert VanDyke. Former building official VanDyke was fired by county administrator David Gill in June 2007 just days after he rescinded certificates of occupany for all BayView units, citing potential “life-safety” concerns. The day after he fired VanDyke, Gill reinstated occupany permits for BayView based, in part, on a report prepared by an engineer working for the BayView developer.

VanDyke has since filed a Whistleblower Protection Act suit against Gill and Leelanau County.

Recent correspondence between Meyer and the state Bureau of Construction Codes also addresses a number of problems with projects that state inspectors say they uncovered during their November 2007 visit to Leelanau County. Attached to Meyer’s response to Fisher’s letter were enclosures detailing how nearly all of the violations noted by state officials had already been corrected.

Many were “minor and required little effort to correct,” Meyer wrote. “Still others required field correction notices and they have been sent,” Meyer added.

The deputy director of the Bureau of Construction Codes in Lansing, Mark Sisco, told the Enterprise this week that Leelanau County’s appeal of the Construction Code Commission’s decision would be processed and that he looked forward to receiving Meyer’s Feb. 1 correspondence soon. Sisco added that he hoped to conduct an in-person “compliance conference” with county officials sometime soon as well.