Norampac storm sewer line installed without permits.

Commercial storm sewer pipe

The largest construction project in the city of Niagara Falls, a $430 million, 250,000 square foot Norampac containerboard plant, now under construction on Packard Road, with more than 100 million dollars in subsidies and tax incentives, experienced a temporary plumbing shut down last week when it was discovered that nearly 2,000 feet of storm sewer line was installed without a plumbing permit.

“It was a mix up between Norampac and us. Nobody ended up getting the permit,” said Nick Yarussi contractor for Norampac.

New York State plumbing code requires underground plumbing to be permitted and visually inspected before it is concealed.
Acting code enforcement department head Dennis Virtuoso said he stopped the job temporarily last week but the work has resumed.

“They were supposed to get a permit. We found the work was being done without a permit, and we shut it down until they came in with the plans.”

Norampac, a French Canadian firm, has been criticized by local unions for hiring out of state non-union workers in spite of the fact that local and state taxpayers are subsidizing much of their construction and future business.

The Niagara Falls Reporter confirmed the work was done to bring the 48 inch storm sewer lines from the building to the street and, in some places the storm pipe is 18 feet below surface. The trenches dug to accommodate the storm sewer were covered over making visual inspection impossible.

After code enforcement officer for plumbing, Michael Lopez, discovered the job was not permitted, Virtuoso allowed a filing of a permit after the fact.

Site of Norampac construction

Lopez will be required to sign off on the proper installation. He told the Reporter that he will not require the company to dig up the entire 2,000 feet of storm sewer.

“It is kind of hard to have them dig all that pipe out. It is all covered up, said Lopez. He said he would do video inspection and visually inspect the joints and test compaction.

“We will use cameras and will have them dig (at various connections) to confirm it was done properly,“ said Lopez. “Everything should be fine from here on out.”

Steve Reddy, of Erie Niagara Plumbing, licensed master plumbers, filed and paid for permits for the job last week.

Reddy said his company did not do the installation of the storm pipe but were hired to facilitate inspections going forward.
“We are on site now and are completing the job and facilitating the inspection of the work that was done prior to the job being permitted.” Erie Niagara paid, records show, for three permits last week, totaling just under $10,000 dollars.

Reddy explained Yarussi, who is also a licensed master plumber, known for municipal road projects, probably thought it was permitted.

“Yarussi does not do cowboy work. They are a great contractor. You should have the permit in place before you start work, but electrical, plumbing and building permits were in place. Storm sewers however are a different kettle of fish. It is not sanitary sewer or fresh water. He probably thought he did not need (a separate permit.)

Earlier this year, when the Reporter uncovered that a city department head had remodeled his home without obtaining a required permit, the inspection department’s response was to require his permit fees be doubled.

Virtuoso said that his department will not be doubling fees for Norampac because the job was not entirely completed when his office discovered the violation; that it appeared to be an honest mistake, and that Norampac has paid more than $250,000 already in permit fees for aspects of this project.

“We are not inclined to penalize the owner or his contractors building a large scale project which will employ a sizeable number of people,” Virtuoso said.