Barnstormer Bar Whitmore Lake Opening Again

Annette Calhoun, right, stands with her fiance, Steve Verhelle, at their residence in Saline. The couple recently had to relocate their wedding reception from the Barnstormer Entertainment Circuitous on brusque notice due to numerous lawmaking violations discovered by township officials.

Angela J. Cesere | AnnArbor.com

When before long-to-be-bride Annette Calhoun met Mon with wedding ceremony coordinators to finalize details of her ceremony and reception at the Barnstormer Entertainment Circuitous in Dark-green Oak Township, the Saline resident expected to deliver the final head count for her June 18 wedding.

Instead, it turned out to be the offset time that Calhoun and her fiance, Saline resident Steve Verhelle, found out that Barnstormer's banquet hall — a popular nuptials venue near Whitmore Lake — had closed due to numerous code violations discovered by township officials.

Inspectors say the Barnstormer Entertainment Complex in Green Oak Township should non be allowed to reopen its banquet rooms until "dangerous" conditions are fixed.

Nathan Bomey | AnnArbor.com

"I'chiliad just sitting there in daze," Calhoun said, describing the moment she was told her reception would have to move. "I was just flabbergasted. I'm simply watching my wedding get down the toilet that I've planned for two years at this point. Information technology just kept getting worse and worse."

The closure of Barnstormer'south banquet hall reduces the Whitmore Lake business organisation' indoor chapters from 2,000 to 180 until the owner can consummate renovations required by inspectors, Township Supervisor Mark St. Charles said.

Inspectors hired by the township recently delivered a 74-page written report detailing numerous code violations and accusing Barnstormer of repeatedly flouting permitting requirements and various state regulations.

The feast facilities at the 25,000-square-foot edifice on Nine Mile Route are dangerous and cannot be occupied until extensive renovations are completed, the inspectors said.

The situation threatens to disrupt a number of weddings and receptions scheduled to occur at the venue, which hosts upwards to 12 betrothed events a month.

Barnstormer's 2d story, where three separate rooms make up the banquet hall, is closed at least until a July 12 "dangerous edifice show cause hearing" scheduled to take identify at the township hall.

St. Charles said in that location was "potential for a ending" if an emergency were to occur and people had to exit the facility quickly.

"We have tried everything we tin can to work with the owner. We're non making progress. The potential for loss of life in the event that at that place was some type of emergency — whether it be burn, natural disaster or somebody firing a gun or any, information technology doesn't matter — is extensive."

Rob Cortis, who owns Barnstormer, acknowledged that the building's capacity had been restricted but said "no one's ever told me" that the banquet hall was dangerous. He attributed the township'south crackdown to "a dissimilar person interpreting the ordinances."

"From what's been brought to my attention, there are some things that need to be corrected and we're going to piece of work on those items to get them corrected," Cortis said. "We desire to go through this."

Cortis said that couples who accept scheduled weddings or receptions in one of the banquet rooms can be moved outdoors or to the downstairs bar area, which continues to host the Crome dark order. Otherwise, Barnstormer volition work with couples to help them relocate their events, he said.

The 25,000-square-foot Barnstormer complex on 9 Mile Road has been expanded several times since 1982 without permits, according to a new written report past township inspectors.

Nathan Bomey | AnnArbor.com

Asked whether Barnstormer had informed future nuptials couples that the venue's capacity had been restricted, he first said: "Nosotros are informing and dealing with the potential customers in the order of their functions, getting ane office taken care of and moving on to the next one. Nosotros are letting them known that we accept to exercise a room change. We're working in every chapters to accommodate, assist and straight the bride in their room changes."

Later in the interview, he said he had "already talked to some of the customers" with events scheduled in July, August and September.

"Nosotros're keeping them posted," he said.

Calhoun said she was left scrambling after Barnstormer's manager told her Monday that she had to move her wedding and reception outdoors, without a tent, or downstairs to the venue's bar area.

"And then they said, 'Well maybe we can help you observe somebody else, but it'south going to cost yous more,'" she said.

She regarded that equally a breach of her understanding with the venue and found herself looking for a new location.

Her sister-in-law, Daphne Slater, who is helping to manage the issue, worked out a deal with the Ann Arbor Country Club and caterer PrimOvations, which collectively agreed to host and cater Calhoun's wedding and reception with nearly 200 guests on brusk notice.

"It was wonderful," Calhoun said. "Monday and Tuesday I was only in absolute shock and horror, I'grand contemplating how am I going to phone call most 200 wedding ceremony guests and tell them there'due south no wedding?"

Now, she said, her priority is getting her $i,500 deposit refunded from Barnstormer. She said she hasn't heard dorsum about her asking all the same. Until and so, she said, she'southward borrowing money from family to compensate for the lost funds.

The inspectors' report, obtained past AnnArbor.com, spells out a litany of "very troubling" violations at the 25,000-square-foot facility, a renovated barn that dates back more than a century.

The report states that, of most xv additions or building changes since 1982, many "disregarded" public safety and were completed without permits or certificates of occupancy.

The inspectors also said that a 300-square-human foot outdoor gazebo congenital without permits, inspections or approvals in 1995 has "leaning structural integrity problems."

"Eventual collapse is expected," the inspectors wrote.

The banquet area has insufficient exits and emergency lighting, exit doors locked with dead bolts, lack of enough level flooring and stairways that are too narrow to make for a safe exit in the event of an emergency, the inspectors found.

"I call up everybody was merely diddled away at the condition of the building," St. Charles said. "Nosotros've tried to piece of work with the guy. We are very pro-business organization and we're very saddened that we take to accept this position with a business, but over again it's the rubber of patrons, the prophylactic of residents."

He predicted that the situation would probably end up in litigation.

The inspectors — Integrity Diagnostics' Dale M. Stevens and WRJ Assembly' Wayne R. Jewell, both hired by the township — recommended that the unabridged business be temporarily shut downwardly and forced to stay closed until fire inspectors can examine the facility and renovations are consummate.

That should include "the redesign of the unabridged facility with the main goal of reconstructing the unabridged facility to come across the minimum requirements" of state building codes, the inspectors wrote.

At the dangerous edifice hearing on July 12, a committee will let Barnstormer "to bear witness crusade why the building or structures should not be ordered demolished or renovated and made safe," Greek Oak Township acting edifice official Wayne Jewell wrote in a detect sent to Barnstormer. Later on the hearing, the township Board will have the authorization to act further.

Cortis said Barnstormer would take to make a relatively pregnant investment to become upwardly to code, though he declined to place a specific pricetag on the necessary upgrades.

A visit to the property on Fri showed that the fenced-in outdoors area behind the Barnstormer complex has grass that hasn't been mowed in weeks, ii snowmobiles parked in the middle of the lawn and pieces of garbage strewn about parts of the yard.

"We're doing everything in our ability to cooperate with the township," Cortis said.

Cortis emphasized that Barnstormer continues to host weddings and receptions at the remaining parts of its facility that are open and outdoors.

"Some brides may be inconvenienced but well-nigh of the brides are happy that we're working with them and that we're dealing with them," Cortis said.

Contact AnnArbor.com'southward Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can as well follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's newsletters.

witherscoctur.blogspot.com

Source: http://www.annarbor.com/business-review/wedding-plans-disrupted-as-inspectors-say-barnstormers-banquet-hall-is-dangerous-wedding-venue/

Share this post