MIAMI — Miami-Dade commissioners on Wednesday delayed a hearing on legislation requiring quicker reinspections of older buildings, the centerpiece of the county’s reform plan following the collapse of the condo building in Surfside last year.
Commissioner René Garcia, sponsor of the proposal, sent a memo saying he couldn’t attend the Policy committee meeting due to non-COVID illness, prompting commissioners to delay the hearing and preliminary vote until the panel’s next meeting, scheduled for May 11.
Garica’s legislation would require 30-year recertifications of buildings countywide, a decade sooner than the current 40-year recertification requirement. The recertification process involves buildings hiring inspectors to review safety and structural issues, with reports reviewed by city or county building officials.
While the legislation would give Miami-Dade the toughest rules in Florida for reviewing older buildings, the Miami Herald reported Tuesday it also falls short of reforms proposed by a county grand jury, which recommended recertifications no later than 15 years after construction. A state engineering group endorsed the change to 30-year recertifications, but with a 20-year rule for high-rises near the coast.
Commissioner Sally Heyman defended Miami-Dade County’s legislative response to the June 24 collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo complex, which opened in 1981 and was undergoing its 40-year recertification with the city of Surfside when the catastrophe occurred.
Heyman pointed to failures by the Florida Legislature to pass any building safety reforms after the Surfside collapse as the real problem.
“We assumed our responsibility, and yielded to the state,” she said.
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