Drifts of sawdust blew in the spring winds as construction workers pounded nails outside Walnut Place on Monday afternoon.
Renovations to Point Reyes Station’s senior living facility have been underway since late January, and the building’s 24 inhabitants have been subject to a cacophony of construction activities ever since.
A tenants’ association that formed last summer has asked the building’s owner, EAH Housing, for a host of remedies. Those include financial compensation to over a dozen tenants who decided to remain in their apartments during construction, as well as improved signage around construction areas and warnings in advance of weekend work.
Barbara McDermott left her room on Monday for the pharmacy to pick up medicine to ease a migraine she said was inspired by the commotion. Visibly irritated, she lamented the mood she and her neighbors have endured for the past two months.
“People thought they could handle it,” she said. “But everyone is under stress and it’s been horrible for us. I have a feeling this will go on for a long time and I don’t think you’ll find a single person in here who is happy.”
Multiple residents have begun to complain about the discomfort they’re experiencing as the building undergoes the remodel. Lynn Berard, the renovation supervisor for EAH Housing, said she’s hosted a monthly meeting with residents to provide updates on the project since plans were announced in December 2015.
“It’s not ideal and I understand some residents have said it’s difficult,” she said. “I totally appreciate that it’s difficult living in a construction zone and we’re doing what we can to mitigate the issues.”
The project was designed to improve a number of structural deficiencies, most notably wear and tear to exterior siding caused by termites. Each of the building’s 25 units will be completely renovated with new floor covering, paint, appliances, and bathroom and seismic upgrades.
Ms. Berard said the building hasn’t had any significant work done to it since it was erected in 1986. Currently, scaffolding laces the façade while workers replace windows and revamp apartment interiors.
Tenants had three options during construction, according to Ms. Berard. They could receive a one-time stipend of $1,180 and live off site with friends or family; live at a hotel that would be “as comparable as possible” to their own apartments, or remain in the building.
Five residents left and 17 tenants decided to continue to live at Walnut Place. The five vacant apartments are being used to shuffle in tenants for temporary housing as each wing of the building is worked on. A respite trailer is parked near the back of the property.
The renovation project, which is being run by Petaluma-based Midstate Construction, was expected to begin last summer but was delayed due to permitting issues with the county and pending approval from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, which subsidizes the rentals.
The project’s first of four phases began in January, and Ms. Berard expects the major renovation work to be completed by mid-July.
Bill Hoffa lives in one of the six apartments included in the first phase of the renovation. A retired contractor, Mr. Hoffa said that even after he moved back in, workers returned to replace his window. And the job is still incomplete, a plastic tarp covering the opening while venetian blinds lay on the floor.
“We’re all disappointed,” he said. “They moved me back and then took away my windows. Then why did they move me back? My neighbor next to me came home and said the same thing. I can almost understand it—I was in the business for 30 years—but I never did a government job, and this is what it is.”
Ms. Berard said residents were told “several times” at meetings that the window installations were on a separate schedule than the interior renovations.
The building’s elevator, slated for modernization, has been out of commission since February. This has proven troublesome for second-floor residents who must now rely on an outdoor stairway to get to and from their apartments.
One resident said she sprained her ankle while walking up the stairs and that her doctor advised her to keep off stairs. She said she stays in her unit except for one excursion a day.
According to Ms. Berard, the elevator is scheduled for a state inspection and should be functional next week. It was expected to be decommissioned for about five weeks, she said, but electricians ran into difficulties testing the new elevator, leading to the delay.
Relentless drilling has proved the biggest burden for resident Gail Greenlees, who keeps a pair of ear muffs by her side (EAH Housing provided them.) “These are saving me,” she said. “If the noise is around me, I put these on to manage it. But sometimes it drives me out [of the building]!”
Upset over the renovation isn’t new. Last summer, over a dozen tenants formed a tenants’ association to voice their concerns to EAH Housing. Peggy Day, the association’s coordinator, said the group sent management a list of requests two weeks ago.
Those requests included giving tenants their own keys to the respite trailer, installing proper signage to identify construction zones, providing adequate warning before Saturday work and offering financial compensation for the tenants who remained at Walnut Place.
The group cited the California civil code known as the “covenant of quiet enjoyment,” which stipulates that citizens are entitled to reasonable privacy, peace and quiet, freedom from disturbances brought by landlords, and more.
Ms. Day said EAH Housing has granted most of their requests, but not for financial compensation. The tenants association asked for $590—or half of the stipend given to tenants who moved out during construction.
Earlier this month, the association invited Supervisor Dennis Rodoni and his aide Rhonda Kutter to visit Walnut Place for a tour and to hear their concerns.
Mr. Rodoni, who worked as a contractor before stepping into the role of county supervisor in January, told the Light in an email that he had spoken with the project manager for the construction company and offered to help facilitate changes to expedite the remodel.