23-Aug-15 – It has been five months and the city has settled with only 18 of the residential buildings it was suing over violations of the new Life Safety ordinance.

Between March 3 and May 14, the owners of 95 Chicago buildings were sued, each housing complaint filed in the Municipal Division of Circuit Court.

The buildings had flunked their Life Safety Evaluation, in which a licensed architect or professional engineer looks for fire hazards, such as an apartment door that does not close on its own.

The lawsuits asked the court to require each building to correct violations or else pay $500 for every day not in compliance.

The list included buildings with homes worth millions of dollars in upscale neighborhoods north of the Loop – 209 East Lake Shore Drive, for example, where a nine-room home sold for $7.4 million last year. Another building on the list was Marina City, which flunked inspection last November but passed a re-inspection on July 7.

Since May 27, the city has settled with two buildings in the Gold Coast, three buildings in River North, and three buildings in Streeterville. Most of those cases were dismissed by agreement but in one, the judge stopped the lawsuit because the city lacked evidence or otherwise could not make its case.

While owners of these buildings have expressed frustration over the city’s handling of violations, one apartment dweller is frustrated because her building is not being sued.

Lynn Lipsig, a management consultant in Chicago, says she has complained to the city over two wooden structures erected on the roof of 1260 North Dearborn Street, which she says were done so without a building permit. Although the apartment building was cited twice by the city, according to Lipsig, the structures have not been removed.

She says the structures, one of which she describes as a tent with retractable windows, are fire hazards.

“While I am all for the city enforcing the Life Safety ordinance, it seems only a matter of time until a tragedy occurs because the city Buildings Department is so focused on Life Safety,” says Lipsig (left). “Ironic, since both of the structures at 1260 [North Dearborn Street] are fire hazards.”