Park Place floods, students displaced

Home News Park Place floods, students displaced

Water flooded an apartment at Park Place Apartments last week, leaving soaked carpets and ruined books in its wake.
“It was a bit of a surprise,” sophomore Nathanael Meadowcroft said. “A pipe burst only in my room. All my books are on the floor, soaked and probably ruined.”
Meadowcroft said he guessed the value of the damaged books is about $200.
“Fortunately, it wasn’t my textbooks, just all my old literature books,” he said. “I’m hoping they reimburse me or that insurance covers it. It was fortunate that I took my Xbox home. If that got ruined, I’d be gunning for a replacement.”
Meadowcroft’s roommate, sophomore Shelby Ripley, saw the leak as it happened.
“Initially, I thought that a localized stain on the ground was from something we had spilled last semester, so I worried that we would have to rent a steam cleaner to hide it,” Ripley said. “As it grew, I realized that the water was coming from the sub-floor.”
Chief Administrative Officer Rich Péwé said the break had nothing to do with the cold.
“It wasn’t an ordinary pipe break,” Péwé said. “It was a domestic hot water heater, which heated the drinking water and shower. That failed, and there was a hole in it, so it leaked. The previous owner put in…not the best system, let’s put it that way. I’m sure they were looking at cost more than anything else.”
The college plans to install a new heater, but has run into problems.
“The problem is that the manufacturer knew they were defective, so they no longer have them on the shelves,” Péwé said. “They’re going to build a heater to fit our specifications, but it’s going to take a few weeks. It’s not an inexpensive fix.”
Until the damage is repaired, the students will live in Simpson Residence.
“They found a room until they fix it, but [Assistant Dean of Men Jeffery Rogers] said it’s most likely for the whole semester,” Meadowcroft said.
Meadowcroft also said the college had trouble finding a place for him to stay on the night the heater failed.
“I was obviously disappointed that they didn’t have a place for us to sleep the first night,” he said. “I had to get in touch with friends to find a place to stay.”
Despite this, Ripley said both were easily able to find a place for the night.
“A ‘thank you’ goes out to the Drive-In boys for being so accommodating,” Ripley said. “[Rogers] had us in Simpson the next day, so the whole situation is quite literally water under the bridge.”
In addition to having work done on the hot water heater, Péwé said the college is tackling other problems at Park Place.
“We’re going to go ahead and fix the heating and cooling system while we’re at it,” he said. “We have a good staff, but if they have to keep going back to nurse something, then that’s a waste of their time.”
Péwé said problems of this nature are not typical with college-owned houses.
“Usually, with college-owned houses, we try to make adjustments before they’re occupied,” he said. “With Park Place, though, there are several units, and they’re all connected, so you can’t work on it just one piece at a time. We thought it’d be okay.”