Dayton officials said this was just a preliminary assessment that was based on limited information gathered by a visual inspection of the property, largely from an analysis of drone photos and videos.
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
They said information in the report could change after a more in-depth assessment.
“Future analysis will be much more thorough and comprehensive,” said Todd Kinskey, Dayton’s director of planning, neighborhoods and development.
The city this week also approved spending nearly $748,000 to make improvements to the exterior grounds of the Wright factory site.
WJE said it performed a preliminary investigation into the damage at the Wright factory site after the hanger buildings caught fire on March 26.
The 54-acre property, located south of West Third Street and north of U.S. 35, has five interconnected hangers, two of which are historic and were used by the Wright brothers to launch the modern aviation industry.
Hangers 1 and 2 are the historic airplane manufacturing buildings.
WJE said it did a visual assessment of the structures, but it could not enter parts of the property for safety reasons.
WJE recommended that the west wall of hangar 1 be temporarily braced because of a lack of support.
The assessment recommended installing temporary shoring near damaged trusses and purlins and temporary bracing of masonry walls or steel columns where the supports were damaged or the roof was compromised or missing.
WJE said a more thorough inspection of the buildings to determine their condition would be possible when debris is removed and possibly after some selective demolition. The firm also recommended protecting the buildings from further exposure to the elements.
The assessment provided the city with some guidance about options for shoring and stabilizing the structures, Kinskey said.
A more thorough analysis is needed because WJE was unable to enter the buildings to get a clear picture of the level of damage, he said.
City staff is working on a proposed contract with the firm to do additional work that will attempt to determine the true extent of the damage. The contract could head to the city commission in coming weeks.
After the next round of analysis, the city will work with its partners to determine if it can salvage all or part of the buildings and figure out next steps, Kinskey said.
Other upgrades to site
The Dayton City Commission this week approved a contract with Outdoor Enterprise LLC to pay for site work and the installation of recreational paths at the property.
“This is to address some of the issues at the Wright factory site,” said Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein. “This was in the works prior to the unfortunate fire that happened.”
The project would create a new concrete path that connects Frontage Street (along U.S. 35, east of the site) to the new Dayton Metro Library West Branch, says a memo from Kinskey.
A new gravel path also would be created east of the library. The library was the first redevelopment project at the 54-acre site.
The Frontage Street connection is meant to give pedestrians coming from the city’s southern neighborhoods a safer way to get there.
Frontage Street goes under U.S. 35, and the city hopes pedestrians will stop crossing U.S. 35 at Abbey Avenue to get to the West Branch library.
Outdoor Enterprise also will grade and seed the empty land around the hangars and install fencing.
The project is expected to be completed in spring 2024.
“It is site work that will address some of the blighting influence that sits on that site,” Dickstein said.
Previous plans by the city and National Aviation Heritage officials were to restore the historic hangar factory buildings to make them part of the Aviation Heritage National Historical Park. Plans called for an aviation museum surrounded by a mixed-use development.
The city has hired Dillin Inc. to work on master planning for the property.
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