HOLMES BEACH – A familiar topic is coming back to the agenda for a future city commission work session.
The 2022 Florida state legislative session came to a close without anything passing the House or Senate on strengthening the recertification process and other safety measures for condominium buildings. With more and more building issues being identified in Holmes Beach, commissioners are bringing back the idea of creating a local recertification process for some residential buildings.
Commissioner Terry Schaefer brought the subject up in his comments following a March 22 work session, saying he wants to reconsider local safety measures for multi-family structures since city leaders now know that no new regulations are coming from the state.
Mayor Judy Titsworth said she’s already got city attorney Erica Augello researching to see what other communities are doing so Holmes Beach commissioners can have a productive discussion on the subject at a future work session.
Though Holmes Beach thankfully hasn’t had a disaster when it comes to aging buildings falling apart, it has come fairly close in recent weeks. On March 18, Holmes Beach Building Official Neal Schwartz, West Manatee Fire Rescue Fire Marshal Rodney Kwiatkowski, HBPD Chief Bill Tokajer and city Code Compliance Supervisor James Thomas all responded to 2809 Avenue E, where tenants were evacuated due to issues at the three-unit property.
Some of the issues noted in a code compliance report include exterior stairs missing risers, a sagging outdoor second-floor porch that was not entirely connected to the home, damaged windows, missing exterior siding, mold and other structural issues. The officials present declared the property unsafe and removed the inhabitants.
Texts to code compliance officers from property owner Shawn Kaleta indicate that the building is being scheduled for demolition and messages from attorney Louis Najmy to Tokajer state the property was not rented to the people who were staying there. Code compliance officers also received messages from some of the tenants that they were renting the property from Kaleta and paying him $900 per month including utilities as payment using the mobile payment service Venmo.
In mid-July 2021, one of the two Fountain Head condominium buildings had to be temporarily evacuated due to a structural issue with some of the balconies. Earlier that month, a balcony collapsed on a single-family home, though that incident is believed by city leaders to be due to a lack of maintenance at the property.
Commissioners said they don’t want to wait until a disaster strikes before enacting regulations to at least recertify and make sure multi-family buildings are safe for occupants. In November 2021, Schwartz gave a presentation to commissioners on potential recertification regulations that Titsworth said will be a part of future discussions on building safety.
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