(UPDATE 4:25 p.m.) A review of Crystal Lake Apartments by the Macon-Bibb Fire Department and Code Enforcement has lead to mandatory evacuation of residents from some buildings.
Those buildings are the high-rise and mid-rise and the order is effective immediately.
That affects around 70 people for an indefinite period of time.
The buildings are to remain unoccupied except by workers fixing the issues and will be closed until they are deemed to be safe.
EMA Director Spencer Hawkins said people should seek out friends and family to stay with while the repairs are underway.
He said if people didn't have a place to stay, they could go to the Salvation Army headquarters on Broadway.
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More than a year ago, a report from Bibb County inspectors said Crystal Lake Apartments' main high-rise building was filled with safety violations and called it "unfit for human occupancy."
Just last month, the owner's lawyer asked the county to put off a court hearing on code violations at Crystal Lake.
According to county documents, the lawyer wrote that they were in the process of selling the complex and planned to repair the building's stairs.
The new owners would fix the remaining problems, the lawyer wrote, according to inspection reports and other documents obtained by 13WMAZ Friday.
Problems at the complex on Chambers Road came to a head this week when the Macon Water Authority shut off service to the 287 units there.
They said the owners owed more than $41,000 in past-due bills.
When the water was turned back on, leaks knocked out power to the 10-story high rise, but tenants say that's just the latest in a string of problems.
A September 2017 inspection by Bibb County's property maintenance division found nine violations in the high rise.
The report called it unsafe and "unfit for human occupancy."
According to the report, inspectors also found:
- Foundation walls in the building's southeast stairwell needed to be repaired or replaced
- Stairs, landings, balconies and other walking surfaces are not structurally sound
- The elevator needed to be repaired or replaced
- Exposed electrical wires were found in the southeast stairwell
The letter from William Mander, the county's abatement officer, gave Crystal Lake Holdings LLC. 10 days to make the repairs or obtain permits for construction work.
But last month -- 16 months later -- the lawyer for Crystal Lake's owners wrote to Mander, asking to postpone a court hearing on the violations to March.
County records show five other inspections of individual units around the Crystal Lake complex during 2018.
They show leaking ceilings and roofs, holes in ceilings and floors, faulty smoke alarms, toilets, appliances and lights that didn't work and doors that needed repairs.
The Bibb County letter threatened up to $1,000 in fines and up to 180 days in jail for the owner if the problems weren't remedied.
County records don't indicate how many of those problems got fixed or whether the county did followup inspections.
But last month, a lawyer for Crystal Lake's owners wrote to Mander, saying the complex could be sold soon. He said they could close on deal by mid-March
On Jan. 15, Todd Robinson, an Atlanta attorney, wrote that "The new buyer will take responsibility for remedying the code violations except for the stairs" -- which he said would be completed in two weeks."
He asked Mander to postpone a court hearing scheduled for that week to March.
Two days later, Robinson wrote again, "The purchaser has indicated that it will take him six months to complete the elevators..."
"Can we come to an agreement that your department will refrain from issuing violations while construction is ongoing?"
The county records don't include Mander's response.
WMAZ could not reach Robinson for comment Friday.