Parking structure bill; lawmakers propose measure after Bayshore
GLENDALE, Wis. - Nearly a year ago, a parking garage at Bayshore collapsed under the weight of heavy snow.
Nobody was injured, but several cars ended up stuck or damaged.
On Wednesday, Feb. 7, a group of lawmakers came together to make sure something like that doesn’t happen again.
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SKYFOX of Bayshore parking garage collapse
State Rep. Darrin Madison (D-Milwaukee) said he started to look at state statute surrounding parking structure inspections.
"When that situation first happened, I got a lot of constituent calls, asking what can be done," Madison said. "They're classified as public buildings, which means they're governed by the commercial building codes, which only requires them to be inspected post-construction unless there is alterations to the building being done."
This week, Madison and other state lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan bill to require structural inspections at parking garages.
"Every five years," he said. "If those inspections aren't done by both public owners and private owners, there's a small grace period, then there are fines."
The grace period is six months. According to Madison's staff, the owners of the garage would be fined $200 every month for six months.
Crews work to melt snow after parking garage collapse at Bayshore
"Then the public structure is closed until that inspection happens," Madison said.
Glendale Mayor Bryan Kennedy is backing the bill.
"I think it’s well overdue," Kennedy said. "The incident at Bayshore last year was a fluke. Somebody piled a whole bunch of snow in one little particular spot that was not equipped to handle that level of weight."
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Madison said the Bayshore situation brought him back to 2010, when a partial parking structure collapse killed 15-year-old Jared Kellner and hurt two others.
"Our goal is to get a hearing and get it to the floor and if we get it to the floor and get a vote on it, we get the governor to sign it," Madison said.
He said it’s the early stages of hopefully preventing this from happening again.
Lawmakers said this would bring parking structures closer to the inspection required for bridges, which are currently required to be inspected every two to four years.