TAG, YOU’RE OUT!

The Bishop City Council announced at its last meeting that an inspection had taken place of the City-owned visitor center/Chamber of Commerce building at the corner of the Bishop City Park. The report of that inspection was released Wednesday.

The City of Bishop tasked David Lackyard, Senior Building Inspector at Willdan Engineering, with inspecting the building. 

According to Lackyard, the southern expansion area (a later addition constructed over the stream) is unsafe for occupancy and must be immediately evacuated. 

The inspection report states, “approximately 60% of the cantilevered portion of the foundation has been undermined by the stream’s erosion” and “the watercourse now directly abuts the concrete masonry unit foundational wall, putting the structure at imminent risk of collapse.” 

This portion of the building will be immediately red-tagged. 

There was some good news in the inspector’s report, namely that the A-Frame (north) portion of the building has not been affected by erosion, and no structural deficiencies were observed.

Bishop Mayor Karen Kong and City Administrator Deston Dishion met with Chamber Director Tawni Thomson and two of her Board Members to discuss options Thursday morning.

It was mutually agreed that Thomson and her staff would vacate the red tagged portion of the building, while the A-Frame portion will continue to operate as the Visitors Center. 

Thomson and her administrative staff will work from home in the interim. 

Willdan and the City Attorney will be drafting a ‘Limited Access Agreement’ between the City and the Chamber to allow use of the A-Frame until further notice. 

In addition, the Chamber is in negotiation to purchase another building at Main and Short Streets.

The City reached out to Wood Rodgers Inc, a private engineering firm, to assess repairs needed and determine whether the A-Frame can be left standing. The assessment will also include an estimate of costs associated with the work.