Into the Gap

Enron Field is, according to a lot of fans, a wonderful place to see a baseball game. It also just might be a dangerous one, if you’ve got some hyperactive kids.

Throughout the upper deck are scattered areas reserved for the handicapped. Built to meet federal Americans With Disabilities Act requirements, they feature open spaces for wheelchairs. The regular-seating rows in front of those open spaces are placed significantly lower than the distance between two standard rows, so that the handicapped fans can see the action even if the guy in front of them jumps up for a double down the line.

The drop-off between rows is more than 30 inches, so railings are required in front of the handicapped rows. City of Houston building codes, mirroring national standards, say that such railings cannot have a gap in them big enough to allow a four-inch sphere to pass through. You don’t want the kiddies sticking their heads in and getting stuck.

Not only do the railings at Enron have space enough for a four-inch sphere, there’s room enough for a kid to jump though. Or, more likely, to fall through. The guardrails, perhaps three feet high, are supported by vertical bars every two feet or so; there’s nothing in between the vertical bars.

Some areas of the park have Plexiglas shields to fill in similar gaps, but not the rails in the upper-deck handicapped sections.

“When I saw those I wondered how they could even open the stadium; they’re obviously not meeting the code,” says one person familiar with building requirements, who did not want his name used. One caller to a local sports-radio show recently described how he had to spend a game keeping one eye on his son, who seemed to be determined to fall though the gap at any minute.

The stadium opened for three consecutive days of exhibition games beginning March 30 with much work still to be done. Like any commercial building, it had to receive a certificate of occupancy from the city signifying that it met the building codes and was safe for public use.

According to Dan Pruitt, a city inspection official, Enron Field opened and is operating under a temporary certificate of occupancy. The railings in the handicapped areas are part of the reason for the “temporary” status.

“We are aware of it; we went in right before opening day. It’s something they are in the process of correcting,” Pruitt says. The temporary certificate is good for 30 days, although it can be renewed for another 30 days.

Pruitt says the granting of such temporary permits is relatively common, although specific figures are not available.

“Temporary certificates are issued only if the code-enforcement office and the fire marshal are convinced that conditions are not a threat to public safety,” he says. No one was injured at the first three games because of the railings.

Still, it’s difficult to imagine a lonely building inspector proclaiming — as the city salivated for the opening of its new ballpark — that the building didn’t meet the code and had to remain closed.

Astros spokesman Rob Matwick says the issue of the guardrails “is being investigated as part of the normal shakeout of new construction.” He adds, “As you know, the facility was not complete when we opened.”

He notes that any solution will have to come from the building’s owner, the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, and the architects. “They are working through the permitting issues now, and [the guardrails are] one thing on a list of things that need to be investigated,” he says.

E-mail Richard Connelly at rich.connelly@houstonpress.com.