Hannah Morse|Palm Beach Post
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The process that requires high-rise buildings that are 40 years or older to be inspected for safety — a review that was due this year for Champlain Towers South in Surfside — was born of another tragedy almost 50 years ago.
A downtown Miami building that housed the Drug Enforcement Agency collapsed on a summer day in 1974, killing seven people and injuring 16.
More: 'We will not rest': Second condo tower evacuated in wake of collapse; audit of buildings underway in South Florida
Nearly a year later, Miami-Dade County updated the South Florida Building Codeto include mandatory recertification of buildings that are 40 years or older, with inspections every 10 years thereafter. Broward County followed decades later.
But no other countiesin Florida, besides Broward and Miami-Dade, regularly review aging high-rise buildings.
How to help: And other things to know following the Surfside collapse
This is likely to change, as rescue crews continue to search for survivors in thepartial building collapse in Surfside.
Those fresh concerns about building safety are already starting to resonate. On Friday, city officials in North Miami Beach ordered the evacuation of a condo towerjust five miles from the Surfside site. Authoritiessaid the closing of the 156-unit Crestview Towers, which was built in 1972,stems from an audit prompted by the Champlain condo disaster.
Scrutiny of high-rise condos already resonating along Florida coast
Forty miles north of Surfside, in Boca Raton, Mayor Scott Singer said the city will soon propose its own building recertification process. While the details are still being worked out, Singer said they may require these routine inspections for buildings newer than 40 years old.
“Our building inspectors continually review and respond to issues that arise. From time to time, they’re on site and see issues and follow up with the condo association,” Singer said. “This would create a more tracked and formalized process.”
In Remembrance: The victims who died in the Champlain Towers condo collapse in Surfside, Florida
Singer hopes the changes will happen across the region. In West Palm Beach, another area of Palm Beach County with a concentration of high-rise buildings, Mayor Keith James announced the day after the collapse that he directed staff to research the “viability” of a 40-year inspection program.
Miami collapse spurs changes
The DEAbuilding on Northeast Second Avenue in Miami was last inspected in 1971, three years before the collapse. That's theyearit had permitted structural column work done, as well as aconcrete slab on the building’s roof that was not permitted, according to a Miami-Dade inspector general report. The agency parked cars it seized on the roof — 57 were there when the roof collapsed.
At the time, the city of Miami required annual building inspections, "but it was widely acknowledged that the city did not have the number of inspection personnel needed in order to comply with this annual requirement," the 2016 IG report said.
More: Harrowing escape from Surfside south tower: I opened the doors 'and a wall of dust hit me'
In 1975, Miami-Dade County Commission approved new rulesto require a recertification of buildings that are 40 years or older, with inspections every 10 years thereafter. Theserules were drafted with the help of veteran engineer John Pistorino, who was hired to study the Surfside collapse and the 2018 Florida International University pedestrian bridge collapse.
Broward County approved its own 40-year inspection program in 2005, modeling it off of its southern neighbor.
“Both counties have had instances of structural building failures,” states a document outlining the rules of Broward’s program. “By having such a program in effect, both counties are minimizing the possibilities of future building failure and will be better prepared for hurricane winds.”
In the week followingthe Surfside collapse, Palm Beach County officials and the local League of Cities metwith building officials for the 39 municipalities to “discuss and develop a plan to address recertification of these types of structures as soon as possible,” wrote County Administrator Verdenia Baker in an email to commissioners on the Sunday after the collapse.
Baker added that county staff believe there might have to be a change to the state’s building code, which was significantly overhauled after Hurricane Andrew ripped through southern Miami-Dade Countyin 1992.
More: 'It takes a tragedy': Florida's hands-off approach to condo regulations tested after Surfside
The county does not regularly inspect these high-rise buildingsbut will conduct a review of a “questionable building” brought to the attention of the county’s building official, Baker wrote.
The Town of Palm Beach encouraged condo associations to “undertake both a structural and electrical evaluation of your building’s current safety conditions, and to undertake the corrections of any deficiencies that pose an immediate threat to life safety,”according to a letter.
“We remind you that Florida Statutes stipulate that condominium associations are responsible for maintenance of the common elements of the condominium property and that associations may be found liable for non-exercise of its powers,” the letter added.
Status quo across the state
For local governments in the rest of Florida's 65counties, high-rise inspections really happen only before the building is ready to be occupied, when permitted work is done or when dangerous conditions are brought to the local governments’ attention. These records are often retained by the municipality.
Otherwise, routine inspections of high-rise properties are up to the building owner or manager.
“The only time Florida’s building code would require an existing building (to)have some components re-evaluated structurally by an engineer would be if the use of the building changes,” Joshua Gideon, the chief of Jacksonville’s Building Inspection Division, said by email.
That means an old office building or factory that’s being turned into apartments in a redeveloping neighborhood would have to be inspected, but an old apartment tower that keeps housing people for generations wouldn’t.
Newer buildings aren’t immune from failures either, of course.
In 2002, five people in Nassau County were hospitalized after a third-story balcony on a condo collapsed, dropping them onto a second-floor balcony that also collapsed before they hit the concrete on the ground floor. At the time, that building was 19 years old.
Some officials — including in Naples, Marco Island, Destin and Brevard County — have indicated they are reviewing their inspection policies and may consider instituting their own recertification process.
Officials for the city of Sanibel, on a small barrier island off the coast of Lee County, said they were closely following the investigation into the cause of the Surfside collapse.
"At this time it would be premature to speculate on what changes may or may not be prudent until the official cause of the collapse is released," said Judie Zimomra, Sanibel city manager.
More: Surfside building official was on roof 14 hours before condo collapsed
But staffing may be a concern for those looking to bolster their inspection processes.
"There's no such thing as a city structural inspection," said Cocoa Beach Mayor Ben Malik, who represents a city with a number of high-rise condos. "We don't have the resources or the capacity to do that," with Cocoa Beach employing one building inspector — who is not an engineer.
Several Florida cities including Cape Coral have adopted an ordinance that recognizes the International Property Maintenance Code.
The International Property Maintenance Code sets minimum standards for buildings in areas such as light, ventilation, sanitation, protection from elementsand “a reasonable level of safety from fire and other hazards.”
More: Surfside building: Engineer who probed FIU bridge collapse to investigate Surfside condo
“The building inspectors of the Cape Coral code compliance divisions utilize this code to enforce a variety of requirements for the exterior of properties,” said Assistant City Manager Connie Barron. “Most of the structures in Cape Coral, residential or otherwise, are less than 40 years old; there are some buildings that were built pre-1980 but not many.”
Adoption of the code by city ordinance recognizes the intent to “ensure public health, safety and welfare as they are affected by the continued occupancy and maintenance of structures and premises.”
Dozens of waterfront condos have been built in Fort Myers Beach over the decades. The city requires that a structural engineer who is hired by the contractor complete an inspection of any four-story building under construction or renovation.
Bonita Springs code requires that an engineer hired by the contractor inspect a structure after it is substantially complete. A city official will then conduct a final inspection, noting any changes from the development order, then issue a certificate of compliance once the official says the building meets safety and structure standards.
In Florida’s capital, the city of Tallahassee is the enforcement agency for permits and ensuring structures adhere to the state’s building code, including condominium towers.
During new construction, repair or restoration projects, the state requires the enforcement agency to perform structural inspections on threshold buildings.
By state law, a threshold building must be taller than three stories or 50 feet and havean occupancy of greater than 500 people.
There are only a few condominium towers in landlocked Leon County, and condominium towers are not permitted in coastal counties in the Big Bend, including Franklin and Wakulla counties.
In Panama City Beach, which is experiencing a record number of tourists this year, there are no requirements to regularly inspect the height of condos, according to Mark McWaters, building official for the city.
This makes it almost impossible to determine whether a building is slowly sinking into the sand over time, a phenomenon addressed in a report from Florida International University that said Champlain Towers South was sinking at a rate of two millimeters per year in the 1990s. It also makes it difficult to foresee a tragedy similar to what happened in Surfside, the cause of which has yet to be determined by officials.
"There's always a worry," McWaters said. "Things are man-made. They're not perfect and so there could be a flaw in something that's not seen. If something is seen, we will address it."
He added that the Department of Business and Professional Regulation does require condos to perform biannual or triannual inspections to guardrails, along with annual inspections to elevators. That information is then recorded by the department.
The Panama City Beach Fire Rescue performs annual life-safety inspections to check condo features, including fire extinguishers, emergency lighting, exit signs and egress paths, McWaters said.
On Okaloosa Island, the county is bound by federal law to building heights no greater than 75 feet above the mean low-water level.The height restrictions don't apply to Fort Walton Beach to the west of Okaloosa Island or to areas east of the bridge that connects the island to the popular tourist destination of Destin.
More than one quarter of the 290 structures listed as condos on the Okaloosa County Property Appraiser's website are 40 years or older. Six built in 1960 have reached the age of 60.
"Recurring inspections are incumbent upon the facilities themselves," Okaloosa County Administrator John Hofstad said.
"We're no longer involved once it's up," added Elliot Kampert, head of Okaloosa County's Growth Management Department. "Once they pass the final inspection, that's it."
Kampert could not recall any specific complaints made to his department about structural damage being detected at county condominium complexes. He said such complaints would likely start at the code enforcement division level, and if officers found something that suggested a clear structural issue, the county's building official would be called in.
Eleven people were injured at Sandpiper Cove condominiums in Destin in March 2017 when a second-floor balcony they were standing on collapsed, after which thecondo owner ordered inspections. The condo was built in 1980.
Both Okaloosa’s Hofstad and Walton County Building Official Billy Bearden said that unless otherwise instructed by the governing boards of their respective counties, it is likely that they will wait to see what actions Florida lawmakers take to strengthen structural maintenance regulations.
Kampert said the state's Building Code Commission is gearing up now for its every third-year review and revision of existing Florida codes. He said he expects commissioners to suggest ways to improve structural maintenance oversight.
Suzanne Harris, president and CEO of the Edgewater Condominium complex in South Walton, said ever since the parking area of her building was damaged by a hurricane, the homeowners association is proactive on structural maintenance.
"Every time we have a hurricane, we evacuate the building and we don't let anyone back in until we have a structural engineer look it over and certify it as safe for re-entry," Harris said. "If we know there's a life safety issue, we fix it and assess the owners. If they don't like it, they can find another place to live."
Harris said, in her opinion, beachfront rental properties across the Panhandle should, in the wake of the Surfside condo collapse, immediately bring in engineers to examine structural integrity.
"They all need to have their concrete re-evaluated. All of their boards of directors need to get very concerned," she said.
Former Surfside official offers advice
Boca Raton resident Joe Graubert was “horrified and heartbroken” when he learned about the partial building collapse.
Graubart served on Surfside’s town commission from 2010 to 2014and was chair of the town’s planning and zoning board for two terms.
“When you become an elected official, if you really want to be public-serving, you would start to think about issues to protect the residents,” he said.
So, he typed an email to Palm Beach County Commissioners on Tuesday with a list of changes he felt were necessary.
“I reached out to them because I wanted to do something,” he said, noting that during his time in office, he never heard complaints about Champlain Towers South.“I felt helpless.”
He offered ideassuch as requiring transparency with building maintenance needs so condo residents know the state of their structures; and dedicating a municipal official who specifically deals with the recertification process, when such a process is put in place; or mandating that critical maintenance be addressed in a quick time frame. It was unclear whether the county would consider these suggestions.
“I really think that this tragedy could have simply been avoided,” he said. “It appears that it’s a very sad example of penny wise and pound foolish.”
USA TODAY NETWORK-Floridareporters Dave Berman of Florida Today; TaMaryn Waters of the Tallahassee Democrat; Omar Rodriguez Ortiz, Jake Allen and Thaddeus Mast of the Naples Daily News; Tom McLaughlin of Northwest Florida Daily News;Nathaniel Cobb of the Panama City News Herald; Bill Smith of the Fort Myers News-Press; and Steve Patterson of the Florida Times-Union contributed to this story.
hmorse@pbpost.com
