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 knee
jerk,” 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.”