DESTIN — Residents of
Shoreline Towers Condominium complex have succeeded in their
effort to remove the majority of members from the building's
homeowner's association governing board.
Six of seven members of the board of directors were
successfully recalled by order of a state arbitrator.
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The Shoreline Towers condominium building on Holiday Isle in Destin. |
At the time the petition for recall
was presented bearing the signatures of more than 50% of
condominium owners, the board of directors voted to reject
it. Members cited discrepancies on petitions signed by
owners or representatives of 36 of the 195 condo units and
10 town houses at the complex as their rationale for denial.
Getting started: Pre-renovations begin at Destin's
aging Shoreline Towers condo. What's the fate of the HOA?
The arbitrator, appointed by the Florida Department of
Business and Professional Regulation, ruled in December that
the contested recall petition was valid and all board
members for whom enough recall signatures had been received
should be removed.
"The petition filed by Bernhardt Riley argued ... the
assessments would cause the owners to suffer serious and
irreparable harm if the board was not immediately recalled,"
the news release said.
Board members had until Jan. 21 to appeal the arbitrator's
decision, the Bernhardt Riley news release said. They did
not do so.
The news release announcing the removal of the Shoreline
Towers board of directors did not address that status of the
renovation project. But in early September Mike Kent,
owner/manager of Progressive Management of America, the
company that has overseen the planning of the building
renovation, confirmed a scope of work had been approved and
contracts signed.
Efforts to obtain comment on the status of the project from
Bernhardt Riley were not successful. Kent did not return a
phone call.
The renovation work was commissioned after a study of the
building conducted by the engineering group O'Connell &
Associates found it in need of a great deal of structural
repair.
"It's one of the oldest condominiums in the city, in the
Panhandle really," said Destin Mayor Gary Jarvis, who said
he had heard nothing of the successful recall or the status
of the planned renovations.
The list of work to be done was extensive. Initial plans
called it to get underway in mid-September of last year and
take up to 18 months to complete.
Included in the renovations were removal and repair of
deteriorated or damaged concrete as well as the removal and
replacement of windows and sliding glass doors.
Balcony enclosures were to be replaced and almost all
existing exterior wall coatings would be removed. Cracked
stucco was to be sealed and damaged stucco repaired, a scope
of work said.
The scope of work also called for the painting of all
ceilings and walls as well as painting building balconies,
walkways, stairway interiors and parking garages. The
balconies also would be waterproofed.
"All of the repairs are very essential, and if they're not
done immediately there will be continued structural damage
occurring at the complex," Kent said at the time the recall
petition was being discussed.
Kent also said assurances had been given that none of the
four buildings that comprise the high-rise Shoreline Towers
condominium and town home complex was in imminent danger of
structural failure.
In the aftermath of last January's collapse of the Champlain
Towers East Condominium in Surfside, Destin officials
decided to inspect two condominium complexes about which
visitors or owners had expressed concerns to the city. One
of those was Shoreline Towers.
"You all need to put the hammer down on Shoreline Towers,"
the message to the city said. "Same age (as Champlain Towers
East) and it just got a scathing engineering report
outlining very similar concerns. $10 to $20 million worth."
The City Council in January rejected a proposed ordinance
that would have required periodic inspections of tall
buildings in Destin, deciding instead to ask local state
legislators to strengthen the state’s oversight of high-rise
condominiums.
Seventy-two of 290 structures appearing on the Okaloosa
County Property Appraiser's list of structures considered
condominiums are over 40 years of age.