Moreno Valley Mall management calls closure ‘a temporary situation’

Problems with exit doors, including “piles of storage” that could be obstacles to them, are among the violations found by fire inspectors at the temporarily shuttered Moreno Valley Mall, according to Moreno Valley’s city attorney.

The list of problems provided by Steve Quintanilla sheds more light on the city’s Thursday, Feb. 19, decision to close most of the mall until repairs are made, idling hundreds of workers and frustrating business owners.

RELATED: 9 violations led to Moreno Valley Mall’s closure, councilmember says

Meanwhile, mall management took to social media to ask for patience and sympathize with those affected by the shutdown.

“We want to be clear: this is a temporary situation,” read a post on the mall’s Instagram account. “We are committed to full compliance and to reopening only when every required standard is met.”

The unprecedented closure of the 87-acre, two-story mall, which opened in 1992, stems from what city officials described as “numerous health and safety code violations (that) have been identified as posing significant risks to tenants and customers alike.”

How long the closure lasts depends on “how quickly the property owner addresses and resolves the identified life-safety concerns,” according to a Q&A on the city website.

Macy’s, JCPenney and Harkins Theatres remain open. The department stores have enough exits and their fire protection systems are independent of the mall’s, according to the city.

Early Friday, Feb. 20, officials did not respond to requests for comment about the nature of the violations.

Later that day, Moreno Valley City Councilmember Elena Baca-Santa Cruz, whose district includes the mall, said nine major issues among “hundreds of violations” are standing in the way of the mall’s reopening.

On Friday evening, Quintanilla said via email that the list of fire code violations “is lengthy, but the main violations” that led to the mall’s closure “are directly related to the Mall’s failure to provide inspection, testing, and maintenance documentation … for various Fire/Life Safety Systems.”

“Systems of concern” for the city’s fire department — Moreno Valley has a contract with Cal Fire for fire protection — include fire sprinklers and alarms, fire doors, fire and smoke dampers and emergency generators and lighting, Quintanilla said.

Fire inspectors “identified a multitude of issues in designated areas of the Mall which need to be immediately addressed for fire safety reasons,” the city attorney added.

Examples include:

• Exit door signs and locks that need repair.
• Updated keys and key codes in all “Knox boxes,” wall-mounted lockboxes containing keys or access devices to allow first responders to enter the mall without forced entry during a fire emergency.
• “Piles of storage must be removed from certain corridors and near certain exit doors that can hinder evacuation during a fire emergency.”
• Smoke detectors in need of dust removal or replacement.
• Emergency generators “need to be diagnosed and tested, and all problem conditions must be corrected to ensure that they are fully functional during a fire and other types of emergencies.”

While a few violations have been fixed, mall management refused to sign an updated violation notice, Quintanilla said Friday evening.

On Instagram, mall management wrote: “We understand the weight of this moment.”

“This temporary closure affects small business owners who have invested their savings, their dreams and years of hard work,” the post read. “It affects employees and families whose livelihoods depend on this property. It affects residents who rely on its shops and services and who have built memories here for generations.”

While saying safety is top priority, management said: “This situation is not the result of long-term neglect, nor is it something we ignored after extended notification, as some rumors suggest.”

“These matters involve complex processes that require coordination and cooperation. There are always two sides to every story, but we are choosing to take the higher road. We are not here to assign blame or create division.”

Management said it has “consistently worked with the City in good faith and will continue to do so. Our focus is accountability, partnership, and solutions.”

The post added: “We have assembled a tremendous team of professionals who have rallied immediately to address every legal and code-related matter … We stand united. And we stand with our community as we move toward reopening and building the next chapter together.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.