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Without Walls Sees Fire Code Fine Cut To $2,000

Tribune file photo by JAY NOLAN (2007)

Fire officials inspected the building a year ago and found more than 20 problems in the church's sanctuary and administrative building.

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By BAIRD HELGESON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 2, 2009

TAMPA - Without Walls International Church has won a significant reduction in the fines it had received for failing to fix fire code violations.

Tampa's Code Enforcement Board will reduce the fines from $11,200 to $2,000 if the church pays the penalty by March 11. The fine reverts to the full amount if the balance isn't paid on time.

Penalty reductions are common once a building owner makes the necessary repairs, said Wendelin Anderson, a spokeswoman for the board. The goal is compliance, she said.

Fire officials inspected the building a year ago and found more than 20 problems in the church's sanctuary and administrative building. They found several items that needed repair or replacement, including emergency lighting, exit signs and fire extinguishers.

The church also needed to have the alarms and sprinklers inspected to ensure they work.

None of the violations was a direct threat to public safety, fire officials said.

The Code Enforcement Board gave Without Walls until Dec. 18 to make the repairs.

The church completed the work by Feb. 12, according to code enforcement officials.

Without Walls received daily fines of $100 per building, totaling $5,600 for each structure.

Diane Kaulave, the church's point person with the city, could not be reached for comment. The fines remained unpaid today, Anderson said.

Without Walls has had a rough couple years. Founders Randy and Paula White divorced, and U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa launched an inquiry into whether the Whites abused the tax-exempt ministry to pay for their lavish lifestyle, which included several homes, a private jet and a Bentley.

In November, the Evangelical Christian Credit Union in California began foreclosure proceedings against the ministry and its Lakeland branch.

As city fines began to mount, the church moved its staff offices out of the administrative building into the sanctuary.

Reporter Baird Helgeson can be reached at (813) 259-7668.

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