Irving and state officials disagree over which building records should be kept on file for nonresidential construction — a difference brought to light after the collapse of the Dallas Cowboys practice facility.
The city believes state law requires them to retain only building permits and certificates of occupancy. However, state officials say the law also includes blueprints and specifications, The Dallas Morning News reported Sunday.
The newspaper said its review of documents on file for several Irving properties and the Cowboys' headquarters showed no uniformity in the city's system.
Irving's policy regarding building documentation was questioned after the Cowboys' tentlike practice facility collapsed on May 2, paralyzing scouting assistant Rich Behm and injuring 11 others. Irving officials said they no longer had the documents detailing the structure's design and construction.
"I don't see, nor does our lawyer see, a retention schedule for blueprints and specifications," Brenda McDonald, Irving's real estate and development director, told the newspaper.
But the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, which oversees state document retention requirements, believes state law does cover those documents.
The state agency does not have any enforcement powers over the retention of documents but it is against state law to intentionally destroy public documents. Local district attorneys' offices typically investigate the misdemeanor crime.
Terri Moore, Dallas County's first assistant district attorney, said it is too early to comment on whether her office is looking into Irving's practices.
The newspaper reviewed documents on file for eight randomly selected Irving properties and the rest of the Cowboys' Valley Ranch headquarters. It looked at documents for the Exxon Mobil Corp. headquarters, the Omni Mandalay Hotel at Las Colinas, Irving Mall and a Jack in the Box restaurant on Belt Line Road, and found no uniformity in what the city had on file.
The city provided documents for seven of the properties. Although records for the Jack in the Box were more than 35 years old, the city did not produce similar records for a 24 Hour Fitness center built in Valley Ranch in 2006 or a Fiesta supermarket built in 1999.
There was also no uniformity in planning documents such as blueprints, elevations, site plans and general specifications. Few of those documents were available for construction done before the mid-1990s.
Earlier this month, an Irving inspections department employee said the city doesn't retain building specs and blueprints from before 1995.
There also appeared to be no uniformity in what documents were available for work done on structures since 2000.
That work included several projects at the Cowboys headquarters. For instance, the city provided floor plans for a 2000 renovation at Cowboys headquarters and a 2002 renovation of the main building's lobby, as well as plans for work done on the property's guard house in 2003 and an addition to the headquarters building from 2004.
However, the only planning document available for the practice facility that collapsed was a general site plan showing where on Cowboys property the building was erected in 2003.
McDonald said the city considers site plans are among the documents useful to retain.
Meanwhile, the city did keep some plans for a 2003 renovation of Exxon Mobil's lobby, and for work done on the Circuit City store at Irving Mall one year after the Cowboys practice facility was built. There were also demolition, landscaping and site plans done at a car dealership one year before the Cowboys practice facility went up.
