Building inspectors said design for expansion must include tornado shelter under International Building Code
City of Erie Building Code Board of Appeals refused to grant variance that would have eliminated shelter requirement; Prep-Villa takes case to court
The multimillion-dollar expansion of the campus of Cathedral Preparatory School has landed in court in a fight over tornadoes and the risk of them touching down in the city of Erie.
Erie Catholic Preparatory School, the entity that makes up the all-boys Prep and the all-girls Villa Maria Academy, is suing in Erie County Court to get an exception to a building code requirement. It mandates that Prep-Villa include a tornado shelter as part of the three-story addition to Prep's main building as it faces West 10th Street in downtown Erie.