Study says Palatine Stables need $2.6 million in repairs soon
The Palatine Park District, citing a report cataloging rotting columns and roof beams failing to meet code, says repairs at Palatine Stables would be needed prior to this winter and is sticking with its $2.6 million cost estimate for the work.
The district posted the findings on its website Friday. The post contains the results of a supplemental structural engineering study of the stables. It also reaffirms the district has no plans to sell the property, which can only be done through the adoption of a resolution and approval by a majority of the voters in an election.
District officials ordered the study in the wake of backlash over the board’s decision to close the facility it has owned for nearly 40 years near Northwest Highway and Dundee Road by Nov. 30.
Recent park board meetings have been overrun by parents and children urging the board to reconsider, testifying to the value of its lessons and other activities, especially for riders with special needs. They claimed the board’s initial decision on May 13 was rushed without adequate notice to the public. The board reaffirmed its decision on July 8.
Wheaton-based structural engineering firm Johnson Wilbur Adams Inc. visited the stables in June and July. It looked at the roofs and the pole barn columns. The firm did the original study the park board used in making its decision on May 13.
“In general, the roof structure of the stable areas of both barn buildings was observed to be in fair structural condition,” wrote Kent Adams, principal with the firm, in a document dated July 26 and addressed to Park District Executive Director Ben Rea. But Adams said the roof beams lack the capacity “to support the minimum building code required dead and live loads for a barn structure.” The beams, he said, should be reinforced to meet those loads.
As for “all accessible columns” of both the Upper and Lower Barns, rot was “observed at the bases of a significant number of columns.” Adams said 48% of 83 Lower Barn columns and 55% of 187 Upper Barn columns showed varying degrees of deterioration.
Adams said the rotted column bases should be repaired “as soon as possible to prevent any further damage to the barn structures over time.” He also said repairs to interior columns and roof beams to the stable areas of both buildings be done prior to the coming winter.
District officials insist partial repairs would not be prudent, noting the risk of damage to the improvements if unaddressed columns fail.
The $2.6 million price tag would include column replacement, roof truss repairs, roof coatings and such code improvements as fire alarms and sprinklers.
Advocates for the stables argue that the price is inflated. Michael Hoffman, a contractor who lives in Barrington, said he is confident that repairs can be done at a cost of under $500,000.
He also disputes the district’s cost estimate for concrete.
Hoffman, whose teenage daughter rides at the stables, disputed the notion that all the repairs need to be done at once. He said the Lower Barn, which isn’t being used, can be vacated immediately and revisited at another time. Repairs to the rotted columns at the Upper Barn, where all the horses are located, can be done this year. The remainder can be done at another time.
Hoffman also maintains the cost of demolition and renovation of the property could wind up higher than the park district’s figure for repairs.
“I don’t understand what their goal is on tearing this thing down that’s been there for (nearly) 40 years,” he said “It’s going to cost more than $2 million to do something new,” he said.
In a letter Hoffman wrote to Rea, he mentioned there are at least 10 volunteers a day aged 8-14 at the stables.
“Name one other park district facility where little kids and teens are begging to be there in that capacity, year after year. Maybe there are, but knowing my own teenage daughter, I doubt it. There really is just something special about a horse,” he wrote.