By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN

PAWTUCKET — Both to send a stern message and to protect the displaced tenants, the city's zoning director said he will be seeking substantial fines from the developers of the Union Wadding complex for allowing people to illegally occupy apartments there.

Last Wednesday, some 20 to 25 people were evicted from 14 rental units at the former mill site at 125 Goff Ave. Among numerous fire and building code violations, the complex was found to have no working fire alarms or sprinklers, and the developers had not yet received an occupancy permit from the city.
The developers, Garfield and Rebecca Spencer of First National Development, have been cited by the city for allowing 14 rental units to be occupied without having an occupancy permit, along with other violations involving methods of egress, stairways and corridors . They have been summonsed to appear in Pawtucket Municipal Court on Friday morning to answer the citations.
Ronald Travers, the city's zoning and code enforcement officer, said that due to the seriousness of the situation and the number of tenants involved, he would be asking the judge to set the fines at a “high amount — higher than we normally ask for” in the case of this developer.
He said he had based his remediation request on the state building code, which allows for a $500 fine for each offense, per day.
Based on the 14 units, a month's worth of offenses could amount to around $210,000, he stated.
“Everybody over there--the tenants I mean-- needs to be made whole,” Travers said, of his intention to seek the high fines. He added that the city, under order from the state Fire Marshall, has had to post a firefighter at the apartment complex, so the money would be needed to cover those types of costs.
Travis added, however, “We don't want to be in a situation where we kill the project. Basically, it's a good project. It will provide housing, which is needed,” he said.
Travers, like the fire chief, mayor and other city officials, expressed disappointment over the Union Wadding situation, particularly since the city had worked closely with First National Development and its representatives for the past few years to help get the project off the ground. “In my previous dealings, the representative of the developer has obviously not been forthcoming. Now, I'm going to be leery of  what takes place there,” said Travis.
Travers said that work has been progressing steadily at the complex since the eviction, but he still estimates that the project is about a month away from completion. Project Manager Aurora Leigh has maintained that the work will be finished much sooner.  “Anything is possible. I've seen projects go quite quickly sometimes, he added.
Fire Chief Timothy McLaughlin said that while contractors have been working “diligently...almost around the clock,” he also thinks it will be another few weeks before all of the fire code and life safety issues are finalized. He said that the fire alarm and sprinkler systems have now been installed, and work has been done to widen some staircases and corridors that were found to be too narrow. However, since a  final inspection of the entire apartment complex will be required before an occupancy permit can be issued, the fire chief said he concurs with Travers that it will likely be about a month before tenants can move back in.
If the developers decline to show up in court on Friday, Travers said the the case will be continued to April 17.
Some of the tenants had reportedly been living in the rental units since the fall, although the development firm didn't start collecting rent until March. The tenants were reportedly being charged $800 a month for the contemporary, loft-style units.
Leigh had maintained that since the individual apartments had all been equipped with smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, she didn't think the tenants' safety was being jeopardized.
Leigh said that the developers were paying to put up the displaced tenants at the Comfort Inn hotel on George Street. Reportedly, several have banded together to seek legal action to recoup their rent and security deposits in the event that it doesn't come from the developer.