Hello all! I was thrilled to come upon this website/bloggers site. 'Well done' to the Editor.
I am a snow bird and have owned in Century Village East (Deerfield Beach) for 6 years. Like many (too many) we suffered damage to our condo on the porch side as a result of Wilma. We have been talking about hurricane shutters each year and finally arranged with an installer (who's ad was in the CVE Reporter) to do the work for us. We neglected to get a building permit, which we are rectifying - and that is fine with the Building Inspector who I have talked with - they are built to code, so no problem. However, we also failed to get the permission of our Board President. We had talked at length with a neighbour and former board member and the red flag of "president's permission" was just not raised. Yes we should have known better!
Now the City of Deerfield has no problem, but we may not get the President's/Boards approval. He has ordered us to remove them; says an Engineers Report was needed before installation, AND that Florida condominium law says that shutters can only be on the front of a condo, not the back.
Our logic said we were protecting our investment and the investment of the whole building. Yes we did not follow the steps properly. We apologize. We are trying to do the right thing now. Can a President refuse to give permission because his authority was overlooked (that is the real issue here, I am sure) or can we supercede that permission now that they are actually installed?
Any insight would be most welcome! Oh, and to complicate things.. we are back in Ontario now! Thanks in advance....
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The BLOGMEISTER replies.
This one is such a baltant example of Condo Kommando-ism that I must reply here rather than in the comment stream.
Let's start with Florida Statute FS-718:
REF: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=Ch0718/ch0718.htm
FS 718.113
(5) Each board of administration shall adopt hurricane shutter specifications for each building within each condominium operated by the association which shall include color, style, and other factors deemed relevant by the board. All specifications adopted by the board shall comply with the applicable building code.
(d) Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in the condominium documents, if approval is required by the documents, a board shall not refuse to approve the installation or replacement of hurricane shutters by a unit owner conforming to the specifications adopted by the board.
So, while a dedicated autocrat may throw obstacles in your path, he/she cannot refuse to approve a Code Compliant installation.
The requirement for an Engineer is ludicrous for the installation of hurricane shutters, as is the claim that they are prohibited on rear decks and patios.
Dave Israel
PS: Welcome aboard Deerfield Beach!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
The Politics of Hurricane Shutters
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7 comments:
Do you have a Board with common sense or an ombudsman or a lawyer? Call Planning and Zoning to clear up your local code rules for shutters. Sorry I cannot be much help but we are glad to see a Deerfielder on the Blog.
Our village is less centralized than yours so every association here is its own little kingdom. Most have not enforced any limits on hurricane shutters so we have canvas, or clear corrugated rigid, or metal corrugated rigid, or none, or floor to ceiling grey metal (ugh), many without presidential / board permission. One large building mandated a particular style and vendor which then could not pass inspection (ouch). We do have shutters on rear windows and porches IAW the owners wish and pocketbook, I have never heard of a restriction on rear areas.
Section 718.113(5), Florida Statutes, provides the following
Each board of administration shall adopt hurricane shutter specifications for each building within each condominium operated by the association which shall include color, style. and other factors deemed relevant by the board. All specifications adopted by the board shall comply with the applicable building code. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in the condominium documents, if approval is required by the documents, a board shall not refuse to approve the installation or replacement of hurricane shutters conforming to the specifications adopted by the board.
Prior to 1991 and the enactment of the above provision, the installation of hurricane shutters by unit owners was considered a material alteration and could only be allowed as authorized in a condominium declaration, which often required the approval of a large percentage of the condominium's unit owners."The enactment of section 718.113(5), Florida Statutes, excluded the installation of hurricane shutters from the definition of 'material alteration,' authorized condominium boards to adopt hurricane shutter specifications, and prohibited boards from refusing to approve the installation of shutters that were in compliance with the board's specifications even where the condominium documents contained blanket provisions prohibiting their use."
The first sentence of section 718.113(5), Florida Statutes, clearly requires condominium association boards to adopt hurricane shutter specifications. The board cannot prohibit the installation by individual unit owners of hurricane shutters that comply with such specifications.
If no hurricane shutter specifications were properly in place prior to the installation, the board cannot apply its rule on hurricane shutters, which permits only a uniform shutter style, against a unit owner who possessed non-conforming shutters prior to the rule.
Also, it is unreasonable and arbitrary for the association to deny an owner permission, before or after the fact, to install a particular style of hurricane shutter, where the exterior of the condominium building already resembled a hodge podge of different styles.
Way to go, now I know. Many thanks Randall and Dave.
There does seem to be a silly idea floating around some parts of CV that Association Presidents have a sort of absolute power over all sorts of things. Very unfortunate.
So just smile at the bastard and ignore him, which is the Canadian (and infinitely more civil) version of “eff yoo”. I would just say eff you which is why I am always in hot water.
Hi Margot, I was curious about Deerfield CVE I looked at link to your website http://cvedb.com/index.php and http://www.cvereporter.com/ colorful newspaper. Do you have a CVE blog, or other links?
To the best of knowledge - CVE does not have a blog. I only recently found the CVE Reported available on line - and was thrilled to be able to read the local news back home.
I really appreciate all of the detailed informative responses and the other colorful commentaries! You have all really been helpful and I do appreciate it. I will keep you posted if we run into any further challenges; we are in the process of getting the building permit now, but i have not had contact with the President since he was very 'testy' with me over the phone (demanding the shutters be removed etc.)
I suspect from some of the comments over the past few days that we could really collect some interesting stories for a 'believe it or not' article on some of the things Presidents have done or attempted to do over the years!
I for one have book marked this blog and look forward to following the news and sharing any from CVE that you might find entertaining or informative!
thanks again Dave, Elaine, Randall, Picruise and Don!
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