Article
Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel
An Opinion By Ellyn Setnor Bogdanoff
Published February 18, 2017
For more than a decade older high-rise condominiums
throughout Florida have been discussing, debating, and exercising their
legal rights with regard to sprinkler system retrofitting requirements. In
2003, the Florida Legislature responded by allowing each community to vote
to opt out of sprinklers inside their units and the right to opt out of
installing an engineered life safety system (ELSS). Many communities missed
the opportunity to exercise this right because they were pressured by their
local fire marshals to hire life safety engineers and commence installation
of a full sprinkler system at a significant cost to the residents.
In 2010, responding to the outcry from the condominium community, as a
member of the Florida House I sponsored House Bill 561 to allow associations
the right to opt-out of sprinklers in the common areas and reduced the vote
requirement from 2/3 to a simple majority. However, as a compromise, the
words "engineered life safety system" were removed from the statute because
we were assured that an ELSS system was cost effective, and much less
intrusive than the installation of a fire sprinkler system. As a result,
associations taking an opt-out vote after July 1, 2010 could not opt out of
an ELSS.
Now, fast forward to January 2017. Scores of local fire marshals throughout
the Sunshine State are knocking on the doors of high-rise condominiums that
previously opted out of sprinklers (and some who opted out of both sprinkler
systems AND ELSS) and advising them that they must immediately hire life
safety engineers and begin to pull permits to install an ELSS. Many of these
same officials are telling high-rise condominiums that an ELSS will actually
be MORE expensive and more intrusive to install than a full sprinkler
system.
Moreover, there is no clear description of what an ELSS system looks like
and some are being told that they will need to install a comprehensive fire
sprinkler system to "pass the test," so to speak.
Where do we go from here?
The 2017 Legislative Session begins on Tuesday, March 7. Representative
George Moraitis (R-Fort Lauderdale) has sponsored HB 653 (Senator Kathleen
Passidomo (R-Naples) will sponsor the Senate version) which seeks to address
the ELSS problem. This bill would allow older high-rises to opt out of an
ELSS and, for those who do not or cannot, provides more time for
installation of an ELSS beyond the current 2019 deadline. HB 653 also
addresses the confusion that erupted in mid-2016 concerning whether low and
mid-rise buildings are required to retrofit and clarifies that they do not.
This will be a huge fight against the special interests that profit from
this requirement and those that have little evidence that installing an ELSS
is necessary for the safety of residents.
It is imperative that our elected officials understand that a promise made
must be kept. We promised more than a million Floridians living in older
multifamily buildings that were code-compliant at the time they were
constructed that they would not have to undergo the financial or operational
rigors of retrofitting their buildings. Call it a full sprinkler system, an
ELSS, or something else entirely, the fact remains that our condominium
residents should not be facing a deadline they thought was in their rear
view mirror.
Former State Sen. Ellyn Setnor
Bogdanoff is a shareholder with Becker Poliakoff, a Fort Lauderdale
headquartered law firm, and represents a number of condominium associations
throughout Florida on the ELSS issue in Tallahassee.
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