Panel seeks tighter condo regulations
Broward official overseeing code may stand in way
A Broward County condo task force voted Monday to recommend earlier safety inspections, more education for board members and higher hurdles for those who don’t want to fund reserves properly, a slate of reforms aimed at preventing another condo catastrophe.
But the task force, convened by Broward
Mayor Steve Geller after the collapse of the Champlain South Towers in Surfside, already is meeting with resistance from one of its members — a leading official overseeing the county’s building code. His sentiment could portend a rocky road for some of the reforms.
The official, Dan Lavrich, said there’s no evidence to support changes — no proof that poor maintenance played a role in the tower’s collapse, no data showing climate change affects a building’s structural integrity, and no justification
for requiring earlier safety inspections.
His circumspect approach represents one side of the debate soon to unfold, as officials scramble to react to the Champlain condo collapse. As chairman of Broward’s Board of Rules and Appeals, which oversees the building code, Lavrich also could influence the outcome of some of the measures, which require approval from the Florida Building Commission.
Lavrich said he is involved in meetings between industry experts in Broward and Miami-Dade counties examining the issue, as well.
“It’s not something that just should be done as a kneejerk,” Lavrich said Monday at Broward’s Condominium Structural Issues Committee.
Lavrich recommended against changes to the 40-year condo safety inspection program in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. The committee forged ahead anyway, recommending inspections start at age 30 and spread statewide. The hitch: the committee has no authority to implement the changes.
If the Legislature agreed to impose it statewide, it would go to the Florida Building Commission for implementation. Lavrich sits on the Florida Building Commission’s Structural Technical Advisory Committee. If Broward ends up alone in seeking changes to the safety inspection program, it will be up to Lavrich’s 13-member Board of Rules and Appeals to vote to recommend it to the Florida Building Commission.
The Champlain’s concrete was deteriorating, the pool deck was improperly constructed, and water was pouring into the garage from above when it collapsed. But the cause is still under investigation.
“We keep talking about the fact that it was caused by a lack of maintenance and a lack of care,” Lavrich complained at one Broward task force meeting. “We don’t know that. I don’t know why we keep going to that conclusion.”
Lavrich’s caution is at odds with other leaders in Broward who said the collapse opened their eyes to significant condo issues: improper maintenance, insufficient reserve funding and insufficient knowledge and know-how on condo boards.
State Sen. Lauren Book, the Senate Democratic leader and one of four legislators on Broward’s condo safety committee, said she was frustrated by talk of proceeding slowly.
“I want to be clear as one of the senators who are going to go up and fight on legislation, that we are not going to wait until a final report comes out about what happened at Champlain towers,” she said. “At the end of the day, 98 people died, lots of people lost everything they had. We are not going to wait.”
Book also took aim at skepticism that climate change is endangering buildings and accelerating deterioration at oceanfront condos like the Champlain, as well as condos farther inland.
Lavrich questioned whether climate change is a factor in building deterioration in a lengthy back and forth a week ago with Broward’s climate change sustainability director, Dr. Jennifer Jurado. Jurado said flooding, increased humidity and heat, harder rainfall and other climate change factors contribute to a building’s early aging.
“You mentioned climate change is going to cause issues with the structures,” Lavrich began after Jurado spoke at the task force’s meeting a week ago. “How long has climate change been going on? ... I’m just trying to get some data.”
Book said it’s clear that “sea level rise is something that needs to be considered,” in reforms to make condos safer.
Despite Lavrich’s concerns, the task force’s mix of state legislators, city and county elected officials, condo and real estate advocates agreed to move forward. Their recommendations will get final votes on Sept. 17 at 10 a.m.
Ahead of Monday’s condo task force meeting, members were asked to submit recommendations for change. Lavrich had none, and argued against change. He said experts in Broward and Miami-Dade should be allowed to explore the ideas with more deliberation.
“There is no indication that the collapse was due to the insufficiency of the Building Safety Inspection Program as employed in Dade or Broward Counties,” he wrote in his memo for Monday’s meeting. “... I question the wisdom in changing the time frame with no scientific basis for such.”
Lavrich was one of two people voting no on the 30-year recommendation Monday. Thirteen voted yes. Also voting no was Fred Nesbitt, president of the Galt Ocean Mile condo association in Fort Lauderdale.
Lavrich had more success at his own Rules and Appeals structural committee, which voted in July to recommend taking no action.
“Until we get the information I don’t know that we need to do anything,” Lavrich said at that meeting, “because we wouldn’t know where to start because we don’t know what the problems were.”
It could be years before the National Institute of Standards and Technology uncovers the cause of the Champlain collapse. NIST is requesting photos and videos from the public at an online portal, where results of the investigation also will be posted.
But Lavrich, a structural engineer for 46 years, said he has admonished anyone who asked him for his “best guess” on what happened to the Champlain. He said he tells them, “Engineers don’t guess.”