Work on exterior only allowed at old hospital

With still no “professional of record” signed on, work at the former Rayne-Branch Hospital is limited to exterior cosmetic projects.
Rodney “Coonie” Richard, owner of Building Code Inspection Services, LLC, the city of Rayne’s third-party code inspector, told members of the city council recently that a “stop work” order has been issued as it relates to all interior work at the facility.
Tim Cormier appeared before the city council in July to tell his plans for the former hospital.
Cormier’s Recovery Ministries recently purchased the former Rayne-Branch Hospital building and is in the process of converting part of it into a “faith-based Christian retreat center providing hope and healing for individuals, families and communities struggling to recover from alcoholism and drug addiction.”
But, according to Richard, it’s going to take a lot more than discarding old equipment and cleaning up the individual rooms to reopen the building for public use.
“In any building in which there is overnight occupancy, a sprinkler system is required,” Richard stated. “The hospital was built in the 1950s, long before such systems were common.”
Then there’s the asbestos and the mold to deal with.
Richard said Cormier obtained permission to get one of the air conditioning chillers “up and running” to help deal with the mold and he has obtained a permit to reroof the building.
As is common practice with construction/renovation projects, the city granted Cormier 90-day permit for utilities, which, according to Mayor Charles “Chuck” Robichaux, “we’ll probably extend so that he doesn’t lose everything to mold again.”
Richard, a state Certified Building Official, said he got involved with the project at the mayor’s request after the issue “hit the fan” last month.
“With a change of occupancy or change of use such as what is being planned, he (Cormier) is required to have a professional of record to submit design plans for the renovation work,” Richard said. “The building is not in code compliance right now and the code for an institution — which is what this will be — is the strictest next to hazardous material.”
Richard said he has given Cormier three names of professionals.
“We’ve gone into the building and taken pictures of every room to verify no work is being done inside,” said Richard, who will have the final word on code compliance before the city will issue a certificate of occupancy.