Airport retaining wall work gets OK after permit obtained

Tonya Maxwell, tmaxwell@citizen-times.com 2:01 p.m. EST January 26, 2015

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

Crews with Thalle Construction Co. worked last month to contain sediment from washing into the road after a retaining wall at Asheville Regional Airport collapsed Dec. 24.(Photo: Katie Bailey/bkbailey@citizen-times.com)

ASHEVILLE A construction company building a retaining wall up to four stories high at Asheville Regional Airport without a permit has been given the go-ahead to continue work, Buncombe County officials said.

The contractor, Thalle Construction Co., based in Hillsborough, paid $22,274 for the permit late last week, said Matt Stone, director of the permits and inspections office. That cost included a fine, which doubled the permit cost, for failing to obtain the required documentation before construction of the wall.

Shortly before Christmas, wall panels on the structure, nearly complete, began collapsing on one end and buckling on the other following rain. The wall is composed of concrete panels about five feet square and is four-stories tall at its peak and nearly one quarter of a mile long.

Fill dirt from behind the structure washed across Ferncliff Park Drive and into wetlands adjacent to the French Broad River, prompting the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to issue a violation notice for the leaching sediment.

Afterward, county officials learned Thalle Construction Co. had never pulled a permit for the $2.6 million project.

Original post:
Airport retaining wall work gets OK after permit obtained