HOT SPRINGS -- The manager of the development company that owns the Majestic Hotel pleaded no contest to 10 violations of the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code in December, including an admission that the remaining buildings are unsafe, city officials said.
The plea was entered by Park Residences Development LLC manager Garrison Hassenflu through his attorney, Chad W. Pekron. Hassenflu was ordered to pay a total fine of $500, plus court costs, according to a plea agreement order.
About 22 similar charges were withdrawn by the city in exchange for the plea agreement.
"The fine was immaterial; it was the admission that was important. Five hundred dollars or $5,000 is not going to bring that building down. We needed his admission," City Attorney Brian Albright said Thursday, noting that there were 32 or 33 total charges that were all fire code violations.
Albright said condemnation of the property has been on the Hot Springs Board of Directors' agenda in the past and will be considered again at the board's first meeting in February. The item was tabled previously because the owner had given an indication that he was beginning to take care of the issues regarding the pile of rubble that has remained on Park Avenue since the "yellow brick building" burned in February.
He said the owner had been meeting the deadlines contained in a removal agreement approved by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, but those were all administrative items, such as presenting plans or documents.
"He hasn't gotten to the point where labor and expenditures are going to need to be involved. We don't have a lot of confidence that is going to occur," Albright said.
"The board may consider condemning the property. I think his plea agreement helps establish it is unsafe and is in essence an admission that it is an unsafe structure. Or, the city may elect to pursue other options from a civil lawsuit standpoint," he said.
State Desk on 01/30/2015