“It was definitely not large enough to be what the city would call an ‘open space balcony,’ where groups of people could stand outside,” said Carrie Olson, whose 14-year stint on the review committee termed out last year. “This was meant just to be a place where someone could stand out for bit, get a breath of fresh air. Not for something like 13 people.”
This is the dumbest comment ever. Regardless of what this untrained committee member thought, it was still designed per code. The failure currently looks like the result of dry rot due to insufficient waterproofing. The investigation will review the ultimate cause but will likely take a long time to identify. Unless you're a licensed architect or structural engineer, you probably shouldn't make public statements like this.
The small balconies at the Library Gardens apartment complex in Berkeley were designed more as decoration than a sturdy platform to entertain large groups of friends, according to a member of the Berkeley Design Review Committee that approved the project in 2001. The 176-unit, five-story stucco Library Gardens apartment complex on Kittredge Street in downtown Berkeley came under heavy scrutiny Tuesday morning after six young people, five of them…