In a July 26, 2022 letter to the Historic Aiken Foundation (HAF), Aiken Municipal Development Chair (AMDC) Keith Wood attributed a slowdown in the “tireless” work to “find a suitable permanent solution that would elmininate any and all” fire risks associated with the Hotel Aiken and surrounding properties to three week old litigation involving the HAF and eight other plaintiffs. (1)
The AMDC bought the Hotel Aiken and six other properties for $9.5 million in November, 2021, and intends to demolish its investments and remake the area into a complex of new apartments, parking garage, hotel, retail, and conference center. Apparently, litigation filed eight months after the purchase is a cause for an absence of fire inspections and an alarm system.
Wood’s letter was in response to a July 22, 2022 letter from the HAF requesting specific maintenance and safety measures by the AMDC due to a concern “that adverse conditions at the hotel lead to further deterioration of its condition.”
The letter named six specific actions ranging from monthly inspections to fire monitoring and sealing of hatches and other access points; and asked the AMDC to “remove debris around the exterior of the building both for safety and to improve the general character of the area.”
In his response, Mr. Wood committed to no changes from the status quo and assured the HAF that “all reasonable measures are in place to ensure” the integrity and security of the Hotel Aiken. He then proceeded to falsely infer ownership of the existing fire detection system, failed to acknowledge an unauthorized intrusion into hotel last week, and implied a part-time caretaker constitutes a full-time fire watch. The AMDC’s confident demeanor is further undermined by the fact that no fire inspections have occurred since the commission purchased the building.
Wood did not comment on the HAF’s request for monthly fire inspection system. According to Aiken Public Safety records, the last inspection by the City of Aiken was on February 17, 2021; and a freedom of information act (FOIA) request for all fire inspections since March 2, 2021 yielded no documents. March 2, 2021; Aiken Public Safety fire marshalls conducted three thorough inspections between early 2019 and February of 2021.
The existing fire detection system involves more than 100 heat detectors. It was installed by ADS Security for the previous owner, Historic Hospitality, LLC (Agent: Neel Shah) to meet criteria for city approval of an interior demolition permit issued in 2018. While describing the system as a “robust set of smoke, heat, and fire sensors placed throughout the structure,” Wood failed to acknowledge the system was in place when the AMDC bought the property and signed a contract with ADS to continue the system. The commission is only paying $65 a month for the basic service and has not incurred any installation charges.
The hotel “fire watch” involves a single “APS Cadet” who receives free rent from the AMDC in return for the following work services:
- General public safety and fire watch works;
- to monitor the area of the adjacent city properties on a regular basis and report any suspicious activity to public safety for further investigation;
- other duties as assigned. (3)
The fire watch/caretaker is not assigned to assist with cleanup behind that hotel that contributes to a blighted appearance the AMDC is chartered to address. City of Aiken officials will not respond to specific questions pertaining to the percentage of time the property caretaker is on site, or to what other duties have been assigned.
The extent to which an APS fire cadet, who is also being trained elsewhere on critical emergency response procedures, is monitoring the area “on a regular basis” is unknown, as city officials have not responded to such questions. It is now known that it is clearly not regular enough to prevent unauthorized intruders from entering the hotel.
While Mr. Wood did not cite any recent intrusions, AMDC Executive Director Tim O’Briant has acknowledged an intrusion last week, just a few days after HAF President Linda Johnson reported “the gate in the rear chain link fence was wide open.” The intrusion was noted only after the fact during a “routine security check by staff.”
As a result, “an additional intrusion security is being added to the contract with design of the sensor layout taking place this week and installation in the near future.” However, in Mr. Wood’s version of events, any time the rear gate was open “an authorized key holder is present on the property.”
So Wood provided no reason for the AMDC to engage ADS Security to “add motion and intrusion alarms to the system;” while O’Briant admitted that a break-in was the reason.
But the saddest part of this story is that the AMDC loves to tout Aiken’s Economic Master Plan when it is convenient to do so. The plan (2) was prepared by the AECOM Corporation (Now part of Amentum, Mr. Wood’s employer) and adopted by City Council in March, 2021, about the same time that Project Pascalis began mostly in secrecy. In the plan that commissioners love to cite and discuss is this passage:
“Aiken also has the unique challenge of preserving its notable historic architecture, while making room for new growth, so the City will need to partner with the Historic Aiken Foundation and other stakeholders to ensure that the downtown’s charming historic character is preserved, while also encouraging new growth and development and higher densities where appropriate.”
Yet, the Historic Aiken Foundation has never been invited to an AMDC meeting, and this week the AMDC chair stiff-armed the concerns of the foundation and chose antagonism over cooperation.
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(1) 7/22 letter from HAF to AMDC : https://aikenchronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/HAF-to-AMDC-072222.pdf
7/26 letter from AMDC to HAF: https://aikenchronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/AMDC-to-HAF-072622.pdf
July 5th Lawsuit:
(2)
