A condo owner from Stuart is turning to WFLX to help her efforts to bring condo associations together from the Treasure Coast to Palm Beach County.

“We need to do something, and we need to do it now,” Darlene VanRiper said. “It is time to rally together. You’d be amazed what people can do when they’re united.”

She spoke with WFLX reporter Joel Lopez about her issue. “Just seeing the people there that you all interviewed and the people that stood up and voiced their opinion, we know we can get something done,” VanRiper said. She has formed what she’s calling the Treasure Coast Condo Alliance to take on the Structural Integrity Reserves Study (SIRS) that condos in the state will have to face by the end of the year. “We’ve seen that this legislation can happen pretty much overnight. It was forced upon us. We are hiring a lobbyist so that we will have a voice at the table,” VanRiper said. “We really need to let them know what the practical problems are.”

 

Condo associations from the Treasure Coast to Palm Beach County are welcome to join.

“When you consider everything that people have on their plate right now, inflation, insurance and now this? It’s unsustainable,” VanRiper said.

She is a resident at Harborage Condos and on the board of the building’s condominium association.

VanRiper said an engineer came out and recommended $6,480,000 worth of repairs to the buildings to meet SIRS needs.

She said that’d average an extra $3,000 more per resident every month.

“If those fees keep going up like that, I’m not sure if I can do it,” resident Candy Raulerson said. “I would have to budget and rethink everything.”

She said she is a small business owner that runs her own mortgage company.

“If we don’t voice our opinions to the state, how are we going to make a change?” Raulerson said. “You think about seniors too. ... It’s going to impact them greatly. I can’t imagine them being able to afford it, somebody living on Social Security.”

VanRiper said hiring a lobbyist would come with about a $1,000 fee per resident, but that they would also represent them when it comes to insurance issues, vendor issues and other long-term situations.