Insurance Commissioner
A spokesman told the N&O that conditions at the new dorms could be fire hazards -- including the use of wood in walls in stairwells and elevator shafts as well as the location of water pipes in the stairwells, which could make it difficult to get out during a fire.
Students began moving in late Friday as part of the deal struck between Causey and UNC Asheville Chancellor
The five new residence halls, called The Woods, offer apartment-style housing with full-size kitchens. The buildings are four stories each, with a capacity of 294 students.
As part of the agreement, the university must allow the
Additionally, a 24-hour fire watch by a "competent adult" must be implemented in the four dorms not housing firefighters.
"This is something that will allow the students to move back even though the hazards are still there while the repairs are taking place," Smith said in an interview on Sunday. "We wanted to make sure there will be more protection there to mitigate the hazard.
"You will have firefighters right there and a truck there. They will be able to fight a fire almost immediately."
To mitigate the hazards, the university must reposition the valves on the water supply pipes in the stairwells so that they will no longer pose an obstruction to evacuating residents, the news release said. Also, the school must install a sprinkler system in the attic of each dorm.
"I want to thank
The news comes during Cable's first week on the job at UNC Asheville, a public liberal arts school with about 3,900 undergraduate students. Some university officials said they were not happy with the way Causey handled the situation, the N&O reported.
In a message to the campus community on Thursday, Cable said she received an email from Commissioner Causey at 5 that evening saying that he was prohibiting use of the dorms -- about the same time his office sent out a news release describing them as unsafe.
"To say that we were trying to move students into an unsafe environment is absolutely incorrect," Smith said in an interview with the N&O on Friday.
Smith said the State Construction Office, which oversaw construction of the five dorms, apparently disagreed with the
However, Barry Smith, the
"They were not blind-sided on anything," Barry Smith told the N&O on Friday. "This has been going on for months. They knew that we did not feel that the dorms are safe."
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