Residents in Fort Worth-area apartment complex will not lose their heat or hot water
Residents at the Dakota Place apartments won’t be without their heat or hot water after city officials and the property owner agreed on a plan to repair gas lines leading to the boiler room.
On Wednesday afternoon, Kara McKinney, a spokeswoman for the city, said in an email to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that inspectors met with the owner of the Dakota Place, Charles Mercer, and a licensed plumber to develop a plan for the boiler room in the complex where a leak was discovered Tuesday afternoon.
The city’s inspectors discovered that repairs were made to the gas lines and valves without the necessary permits.
Hurst warned the Dakota Place that the gas would be turned off if there were no permits filed for the repairs.
“The city agrees with the independent plumber’s recommendation that the boiler room gas lines will not require additional testing or work at this time,” McKinney said.
The plumber will pull permits for repairs that were done previously, and the city will hire Bureau Veritas to perform the related inspection.
“There will be no need to shut gas off today, and we’ll continue to follow the orders previously passed by council,” McKinney said.
Mercer, whose complex has over 700 health and safety violations, still has to comply with orders issued at Tuesday night’s council meeting requiring him to repair the roof in building #2 by March 25.
A public hearing will take place March 24 to look at the next steps which could include levying fines or revoking the certificate of occupancy for that building. There is also a possibility that the certificate could be revoked for the entire complex.
The Hurst City Council voter unanimously on the latest action against Mercer, who faces fines of $1,000 per day for the next 28 days.
This story was originally published February 12, 2020 at 6:42 PM.