• Welcome to the new and improved Building Code Forum. We appreciate you being here and hope that you are getting the information that you need concerning all codes of the building trades. This is a free forum to the public due to the generosity of the Sawhorses, Corporate Supporters and Supporters who have upgraded their accounts. If you would like to have improved access to the forum please upgrade to Sawhorse by first logging in then clicking here: Upgrades

Surfside Condo Collapse Update

The board members of the Condo Board accepted a duty. The failure to educate themselves about their duty and to try to fulfill it is not excusable.

While the results are typically not so drastic there are many inspectors that will tell the owner that the project is safe or good quality. Building departments should educate their inspectors.

There was a case where a structural engineer visited the site. The engineer was not involved with some trenching but did comment to construction personnel that the sides of the trench seemed to be stable. Shortly the side of the trench collapsed, and a workman was injured. The engineer was sued and found negligent for his comment. Why should the building inspector have similar liability?

While government employees typically have broad immunity there are exceptions. A major exception is when the employee goes beyond what the job requires and establishes a special relationship to protect the owner. Thus, when the inspector or building official tells the owner or other relevant person that a building is safe, he or she has invoked an exception and could be found liable when there are problems.
 
The engineer that provided the report was doing more. He had renovation plans already drawn and was working with the city to get approval for various items not related to the repairs. He had not filed for a permit yet but was in discussion about site related items from what I read.



May 20, 2021 Town of Surfside 9293 Harding Avenue Surfside, Florida 33154 Attention: Mr. Walter Keller Town Planner Re: Champlain Towers South Condominium Expanded OnSite Parking Along 88"' Street MCJobff 18217 Dear Mr. Keller: The community of Champlain Towers South Condominium (CTS) is about to embark on a major restoration project to adhere to the Town of Surfside 40-Year Recertification requirements. The scheduled work will include numerous improvements that must be made to assure that this building structure remains safe and meets the requirements of the 2020 Florida Building Code (2020 FBC) and 2020 Florida Existing Building Code (2020 FEBC). Morabito Consultants, Inc. and its design team has the contract documents complete and ready to submit to the Town of Surfside Building Official for building permit. Before we do, we have an important design change that we would like preliminary feedback from the Town of Surfside. CTS has a dire parking situation on its campus. Within the last few years, CTS has lost 22+ parking spaces on 87th Terrace. In addition, and the traffic on 88th Street has become a vehicular and pedestrian nightmare since the Town of Surfside allowed pedestrian beach access, emergency vehicle beach entrance, and added street parking on 88th Street where none of this existed previously. It is truly hazardous on 88'^ Street all day, every day. In order to help elevate the present lack of parking around CTS, MC has developed a plan that will add 5 additional parking spaces on CTS property that will be accessed thru a new curb cut on 88''" Street. Landscaping planters will remain between these new parking spaces and the north exterior wall of CTS. This will provide CTS with a total of 7 parking spaces that have access thru curb cuts along 88'^ Street that will be used for valet and contractor parking. Structural Engineers | Remediation & Parking Consultants 206 Via Condado Way | Palm Beach Gardens, PL 33418-1701 561-316-7660 I www.morabitoconsultants.com May 20, 2021 Champlain Towers South Re: Champlain Towers South Condominium Expanded On-Site Parking Along 88"' Street MCJobff 18217 Page 2 It is our understanding from discussion with Mr. James McGuiness, Building Official and Mr. Walter Keller, Town Planner that MC needs to provide Mr. Keller with the following documents to perform a preliminary review of this expanded parking request. • Recently prepared site survey drawings. • Proposed entry level plan of entire CIS site. • Proposed entry level landscaping drawings. • Proposed expanded parking layout drawing. The above referenced documents are attached to this letter. CTS respectfully requests a Memo of Understanding from the Town of Surfslde that outlines what CTS needs to do to allow the construction of the proposed expanded parking along 88*^ Street to proceed. Once this Memo of Understanding is prepared and accepted, MC will revise its present contract documents for the 40-Year Recertification Remediation to include the expanded parking spaces and submit the prepared plans for permit review. If you have any questions concerning this letter's content, please do not hesitate in contacting our office. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Very truly yours, MORABITO CONSULTANTS, INC. Frank Morabito, PE SI President cc: Mr. Scott Stewart, LCAM - CTS Association Manager Enclosure fpm/18217/Documents/MC/MC_CTS-88StExpandedParking_20210520.pd
 
bill1952 said:
How would a condo owner know the engineer's report was any more legit than the director of the building department?
Click to expand...
Because the engineering report was from an engineer with a specialized license in threshold (high rise) buildings and the building official is not an engineer and only read the engineer's report. The BCO did not do nor is he qualified under FL statutes to do any structural inspection of that building. Again, shopping for what they want to hear.
 
Mark K said:
The board members of the Condo Board accepted a duty. The failure to educate themselves about their duty and to try to fulfill it is not excusable.

While the results are typically not so drastic there are many inspectors that will tell the owner that the project is safe or good quality. Building departments should educate their inspectors.

There was a case where a structural engineer visited the site. The engineer was not involved with some trenching but did comment to construction personnel that the sides of the trench seemed to be stable. Shortly the side of the trench collapsed, and a workman was injured. The engineer was sued and found negligent for his comment. Why should the building inspector have similar liability?

While government employees typically have broad immunity there are exceptions. A major exception is when the employee goes beyond what the job requires and establishes a special relationship to protect the owner. Thus, when the inspector or building official tells the owner or other relevant person that a building is safe, he or she has invoked an exception and could be found liable when there are problems.
Click to expand...
Mark,
One of your better posts. I agree.
 
jar546 said:
Because the engineering report was from an engineer with a specialized license in threshold (high rise) buildings and the building official is not an engineer and only read the engineer's report. The BCO did not do nor is he qualified under FL statutes to do any structural inspection of that building. Again, shopping for what they want to hear.
Click to expand...
I think its absurb to think condo owners would understand that, especially since we someone who should, the building official, didn't tell them and maybe didn't know himself.
 
It's good the the dangerous parking was so important to fix that it delayed the repairs of the structurally deficient building...
mtlogcabin said:
The engineer that provided the report was doing more. He had renovation plans already drawn and was working with the city to get approval for various items not related to the repairs. He had not filed for a permit yet but was in discussion about site related items from what I read.



May 20, 2021 Town of Surfside 9293 Harding Avenue Surfside, Florida 33154 Attention: Mr. Walter Keller Town Planner Re: Champlain Towers South Condominium Expanded OnSite Parking Along 88"' Street MCJobff 18217 Dear Mr. Keller: The community of Champlain Towers South Condominium (CTS) is about to embark on a major restoration project to adhere to the Town of Surfside 40-Year Recertification requirements. The scheduled work will include numerous improvements that must be made to assure that this building structure remains safe and meets the requirements of the 2020 Florida Building Code (2020 FBC) and 2020 Florida Existing Building Code (2020 FEBC). Morabito Consultants, Inc. and its design team has the contract documents complete and ready to submit to the Town of Surfside Building Official for building permit. Before we do, we have an important design change that we would like preliminary feedback from the Town of Surfside. CTS has a dire parking situation on its campus. Within the last few years, CTS has lost 22+ parking spaces on 87th Terrace. In addition, and the traffic on 88th Street has become a vehicular and pedestrian nightmare since the Town of Surfside allowed pedestrian beach access, emergency vehicle beach entrance, and added street parking on 88th Street where none of this existed previously. It is truly hazardous on 88'^ Street all day, every day. In order to help elevate the present lack of parking around CTS, MC has developed a plan that will add 5 additional parking spaces on CTS property that will be accessed thru a new curb cut on 88''" Street. Landscaping planters will remain between these new parking spaces and the north exterior wall of CTS. This will provide CTS with a total of 7 parking spaces that have access thru curb cuts along 88'^ Street that will be used for valet and contractor parking. Structural Engineers | Remediation & Parking Consultants 206 Via Condado Way | Palm Beach Gardens, PL 33418-1701 561-316-7660 I www.morabitoconsultants.com May 20, 2021 Champlain Towers South Re: Champlain Towers South Condominium Expanded On-Site Parking Along 88"' Street MCJobff 18217 Page 2 It is our understanding from discussion with Mr. James McGuiness, Building Official and Mr. Walter Keller, Town Planner that MC needs to provide Mr. Keller with the following documents to perform a preliminary review of this expanded parking request. • Recently prepared site survey drawings. • Proposed entry level plan of entire CIS site. • Proposed entry level landscaping drawings. • Proposed expanded parking layout drawing. The above referenced documents are attached to this letter. CTS respectfully requests a Memo of Understanding from the Town of Surfslde that outlines what CTS needs to do to allow the construction of the proposed expanded parking along 88*^ Street to proceed. Once this Memo of Understanding is prepared and accepted, MC will revise its present contract documents for the 40-Year Recertification Remediation to include the expanded parking spaces and submit the prepared plans for permit review. If you have any questions concerning this letter's content, please do not hesitate in contacting our office. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Very truly yours, MORABITO CONSULTANTS, INC. Frank Morabito, PE SI President cc: Mr. Scott Stewart, LCAM - CTS Association Manager Enclosure fpm/18217/Documents/MC/MC_CTS-88StExpandedParking_20210520.pd
Click to expand...
 
Ultimately the courts will decide the percentage of liability for everyone named in the various lawsuits. Reading a few of the documents it appears the Condo board had the engineer move forward with designing the repairs and he ran out of time before he could get a permit and start.
Evidently the engineer did not think the building was in imminent danger of collapse. Either way the big screw up seems to be with the construction first and it will be years before the reason or combination thereof are know to everyone.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top