On Its 8th Life, Hacker Dojo May Run Out of Time

Hacker Dojo hopes to still be in Mountain View in 2013, but it's not quite there yet.

The "community of members" that like to create and develop things, located at 140A South Whisman Rd., must—by the end of the year—at the very minimum meet the fire safety code regulations established by the City of Mountain View in order to remain open. If not the conditional use permit approved on July 27, 2012 will be "null and void," according to code enforcement agent Anthony Ghiossi.

"We are trying to work with them," Ghiossi said. "Ultimately they have to provide plans for use of the building to comply with code requirements."

Katy Levinson, one of the founders of Hacker Dojo and now director of development, explained to Mountain View Patch that while they reached their goal on the online fundraising site Kickstarter, they still sought about $80,000 of the $250,000 they needed to renovate the space.

"We need the money soon too, because the city requires the updates to be finished by the 27th of December or they will shut us down," Levinson wrote in an email. "December seems like a long time away, but we need time to hire the contractors and have them do the physical upgrades."

According to Ghiossi, Hacker Dojo has to at the very least meet the fire safety requirement. That means putting up exits signs, physical exits and sprinklers in rooms that need them. If they meet that requirement, then they can move on to adding the railings on stairways and handicap accessible bathrooms.

"We want to see a building safe and in compliance," he said. "Otherwise their zoning permit will be null and void."

Ghiossi recognized that the "Dojo" grew much faster than the founders expected it to. "They've been successful," he noted, but since the building's intended use has change—the structure has to change to accomodate, and be safe for, the amount of people that attend workshops, hack-a-thon and other fun events.

Currently, the Dojo has a permit that allows the space to be used for office space, or about 49 people. However when the number of people grow to "75, 100 or 150" for an event, "the rooms aren't designed for this type of use," Ghiossi stated.

And while the city wants to be supportive, they recognize that every project can be different because of the workload, submittals, and the time contractors take to complete the work, noted Ghiossi.

Members of Hacker Dojo and the city met on Monday, Aug. 20 to discuss the tenant improvements they must make to fit the needs of how they want to use the building. 

However, "ultimately they have to provide [architect] plans," to the city, Ghiossi explained.

"They seem to be progressing, but not fast."

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