Suhair blog

Plans for RI fire memorial in limbo; land tied up

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Small photographs, crosses and assorted knick-knacks adorn the grassy site of one of the nation's worst nightclub fires, a makeshift memorial whose modesty belies the enormity of a disaster that killed 100 people eight years ago Sunday.

Survivors of The Station nightclub fire and relatives of those killed have marked each anniversary with a somber service at the West Warwick site, hoping that the coming year will be the one when the property owner will cede control of the land so they can erect the stirring, permanent memorial they envision.

Next month, an anxious group of relatives plan to ask the West Warwick Town Council to acquire the land through eminent domain and transfer it to them for use as a memorial.

The families say the owner had promised to transfer it to them once all the lawsuits over the fire were resolved, which happened last year when a judge signed off on a $176 million payout to hundreds of survivors and victims' relatives. But that handoff hasn't happened, and the property owner says it never committed to giving the land to any one group.

Without ownership of the land, the people affected by the fire say they've been entirely stalled in their memorial design plans.

"We need people to know that we're not giving up on this. We need the public to know that this is going to happen," said Chris Fontaine, the president of the Station Fire Memorial Foundation whose 22-year-old son, Mark, died in the fire.

The blaze on Feb. 20, 2003, began when a flashy pyrotechnics display from the 1980s rock band Great White set afire cheap soundproofing foam on the walls and ceiling of the building. Besides the 100 killed, more than 200 were injured in the fourth-deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history.

The fate of the site is essentially the last unresolved issue in the case.

Club owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, who installed the foam, and Daniel Biechele, the Great White tour manager who set off the pyrotechnics, pleaded either guilty or no contest to involuntary manslaughter charges in 2006. Michael Derderian served less than three years in prison, Biechele less than two. And proceeds from the $176 million settlement reached with dozens of people, companies and governments have already been paid out.

But the site, where victims' relatives will gather Sunday afternoon, looks more or less the same as it did soon after the rubble was cleared.

Mary Jo Carolan, president of Triton Realty Inc., which owned the property at the time of the fire and has since placed it under the control of a related limited liability corporation, told The Associated Press in an e-mail that the company tried unsuccessfully to donate the land to the town several years ago but was rejected because of concerns over maintenance. She said the company had told representatives from the foundation that it "would contact them to discuss the development process of the land at the appropriate time," and that it was still interested in discussing how best to use the land.

"We're just getting to the end of all the legal issues that we have here. Basically, there's no deadline. We didn't commit to any one organization," she said in a phone interview.

It's highly unlikely a private developer would have much interest in building on the .66-acre site, which town property records list as assessed at $51,500, given the searing emotions still wrapped up in the property.

The foundation commissioned a design competition for the memorial and unveiled a winning plan in 2008 that called for a 100-string harp that would be played by the wind, gardens and a memorial park. But that plan was largely set aside because of concerns that it would be too difficult to maintain. A group of construction unions has volunteered its labor but hasn't been able to access the land for even routine topographical surveys.

Town Council President Angelo Padula said he had reservations about taking over the land through eminent domain, fearing that would set an unwelcome precedent. He said he'd rather the town act as a mediator between the dispute rather than get in the middle.

West Warwick, which has severe financial troubles and was among the dozens of defendants sued — ultimately reaching a multi-million dollar settlement — didn't want to be responsible for ownership of the land or the maintenance, Padula said.

"We want to know what's going on with that because it does look kind of terrible," Padula said. "Nobody's there to upkeep the property. In the summertime the grass grows and the victims' parents take care of it or family members."

Dave Kane, whose 18-year-old son, Nicholas O'Neill, was the youngest victim, said he was "heartsick" that the memorial plans are in limbo.

"It's been through eight years of weather and wear and tear and, poetically, tears," Kane said. "And we're going to hear this now? Maybe we'll give it to you?"