Tall order: Backup power for elevators urged in shorter buildings in Florida

Article Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel

By Joe Kollin

Published December 9, 2008

 

Second floor or sixth, your condo apartment could become a prison for weeks after a hurricane, despite a state law designed to let you escape.

That law requires all residential buildings taller than 75 feet high, or about seven stories, to have a generator to power at least one elevator for an unspecified number of hours each day for five days following an electrical disruption.

But some local and state officials say it should be rewritten to apply in buildings as low as two floors.

"In reality, if you're in a wheelchair on the second floor, you have just as much of a problem getting to the ground as if you're on the seventh floor," said Vince Bonvento, an assistant county administrator for Palm Beach County.

Rabbi Yossi Gansburg and his wife, Baila, saw that problem firsthand in 2005 as they knocked on doors offering water and food after Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma. In a four-story building in Century Village in Boca Raton, the Gansburgs found severely dehydrated residents trapped and unable to call for help because phone service was out.

"If you know someone is up there, seven floors isn't a problem, but if you don't, then even three floors is a problem," said Gansburg, spiritual leader of the Chabad Lubavitch of Coconut Creek-Pompano Beach.

Legislators adopted the law in 2006 and gave building owners until last week to comply. They came up with the seventh floor as a compromise, experts said, because some associations were lobbying against any requirement for generators while others were arguing for them.

Yet the lack of generators appears to be a bigger problem in low-rise buildings.

The 26 high-rises in the Galt Mile Community Association in Fort Lauderdale have generators, according to Pio Ieraci, chairman of its Presidents' Council.

"The buildings on Galt Mile, for the most part, have complied for years," he said.

The 10-story Runaway Bay on the 17th Street Causeway, also in Fort Lauderdale, has a generator.

"We've had it since I can remember and we have it serviced every year and checked every month," said Gladys Tendler, a resident since 1980.

The law requiring generators doesn't say who enforces it or what the punishment is for not complying. The exception is in newly constructed buildings taller than 75 feet that can be denied building permits or certificates of occupancy.

"Why put a law on the books without enforcement?" asked Cecil Howard, Tallahassee-based general counsel of the Florida Commission on Human Relations. The commission enforces over-55 age restrictions but wasn't given authority to enforce the generator law even though residents older than 55 are most affected.

The law requires local building departments and county emergency management agencies to review compliance but doesn't necessarily let them enforce it.

The Broward County Emergency Management Agency has identified 481 residential buildings that may be 75 feet or higher, according to spokesman Carl Fowler. Elevator inspectors also may try to enforce the law. Sam Farkas, spokesman for the state department of Building & Professional Regulation, which oversees the Bureau of Elevator Safety, said its personnel will check for compliance during annual inspections. In Broward, where the Building Code Services Division inspects elevators rather than the state, similar attempts at enforcement are expected.


Q&A
Q. A couple bought a Cooper City house but never received the homeowner association documents. They asked their association for a copy but it wanted $27.50. Believing the association should supply documents to buyers, the husband and wife ask exactly who is responsible for providing them, sellers or associations?

A. Florida homeowner association law imposes no obligation on a seller to provide a purchaser with free copies of the official records of the association, says West Palm Beach attorney Mark G. Keegan. Similarly, he says, Florida law does not require a homeowners' association to provide a purchaser with free copies of its records. Associations may charge fees that cover the costs, with 50 cents per page the maximum if copied on its own photocopier. If the association doesn't have a photocopier, or if the request is for more than 25 pages, the association may have copies made by a vendor and charge the actual cost.

Condo law, which is different, says only that an association may charge its actual costs for copying.
CONDO ARTICLES HOME NEWS PAGE