DALLAS — Three weeks after the crane collapse that killed one apartment resident and displaced hundreds more, residents of the Elan City Lights apartments say they are still waiting for a definitive answer when they will be able to retrieve their personal belongings, clothes, furniture, heirlooms and automobiles they were forced to leave behind.
"We were supposed to initially start getting our stuff back in mid July," said Austin Adams, standing outside the now fenced off complex at Good Latimer Expressway and Live Oak Street. "But it could be August, it could be six months from now."
He is among the more than 500 residents still waiting for approval from Elan City Lights and its parent company Greystar to allow access to their apartments to retrieve their personal property.
"And getting answers has not been easy," said apartment resident Eddy Hamamci, whose car is still in the apartment complex parking lot.
"I just want a timeline so that I can take action."
A spokesperson for OSHA says they are not keeping residents out of the building, that it is an apartment owner and management decision. Any additional information on the investigation, according to OSHA, will be released when the investigation ins complete, a process that could take six months.
Their voicemail is the same as it was a week ago, telling residents that "while we previously communicated that the process to remove your personal belongings would begin this week, there are factors beyond our control that are delaying this process."
In a message to residents sent July 2, the apartment complex wrote:
"Dear Residents,
We know you have been awaiting answers regarding your belongings and vehicles. There has been a lot of work and planning going on behind the scenes with various governmental agencies to develop a plan to safely recover your belongings. Here is what we know currently:
Units Within the Impacted Zone:
- The impacted zone includes areas of the building directly impacted by the crane collapse, including the entire parking garage, and other areas that are structurally damaged, unsafe to enter, or that may contain evidence that OSHA has ordered to be preserved.
- Please review the attached map for further detail on apartment units and portions of the building located in the impacted zone.
- These portions of the building cannot be accessed until engineers have reviewed and certified the safety of the impacted structure. In addition, some of these areas will not be accessible until OSHA has completed their investigation and the crane has been removed.
- The only entry and exit point to the parking garage was destroyed. No cars can be removed from the parking garage until the crane has been removed, the site has been released by applicable authorities and a plan has been put in place to extricate them from the remaining structure.
- The collapsed crane also damaged Oncor’s electrical infrastructure. The above described access cannot be made until electrical service is restored.
- A plan to remove the crane is in progress and involves multiple experts, including contractors, engineers and governmental agencies.
- Elan City Lights has asked these parties to expedite their analysis and to finalize this plan as quickly as possible due to the impact it has had on residents of the community.
- Engineers, crane specialists, and disaster recovery contractors are on site this week assessing the plan for the removal of the collapsed crane as well as structural integrity of building within the impacted zone. Until these assessments are completed, we cannot provide a timeline for access within the impacted zone.
Units Outside the Impacted Zone:
- There are 184 apartments outside of the impacted zone which are currently being reviewed by engineers and disaster recovery contractors to develop a plan for the safe recovery of resident belongings.
- The plan requires several key components, including:
- Certification by a structural engineer as to the safety and integrity of the units outside the impacted zone (Completed on 7/1)
- Restoration of power in this area via commercial generators (in progress)
- Inspection and recertification of the freight elevator (in progress)
- A move out plan to professionally pack and move apartment contents (in progress)
- Elan City Lights is expecting to have these required items completed and the plan submitted for final approval by authorities next week.
- Given limitations on ingress/egress within this area, any removal of resident contents will only be performed by contractors under tight controls for safety and security.
- We wish we could provide you with a more definitive timeline, but as you can see, there are many factors outside of our control. We understand your frustration and will continue to update you as we receive further information from authorities."
For residents, their frustration is magnified by the construction crews continuing their work at the building the same company owns next door, workers still active around the base of the crane that still sits twisted and mangled just as it did the day it fell.
"When you lose everything you own, that's a grieving process that has to happen," said apartment resident Bria Jones, who is living temporarily with her mother in Collin County. "And a lot of us are stuck in limbo waiting to hear if we just need to move on with everything or if we need to hold out hope that we're going to get some of it back."
"We're in a predicament where we don't know to start over again and then claim out our insurance or to wait," Adams said.
A wait, today, three weeks and counting.