What next for residents of unsafe NMB high-rise? City: Repairs up to condo association

The condo association for Crestview Towers Condominium has not applied for a permit to perform necessary structural and electrical repairs to the nearly 50-year-old building, North Miami Beach city officials said Saturday at an emergency meeting to discuss next steps after residents were forced to evacuate late Friday.

Dozens of residents of the 10-story building, which has 156 units, were provided temporary lodging more than 20 miles away at the county Youth Fair complex off Florida’s Turnpike and Coral Way, where they are getting beds and meals at least until Monday.

It is not clear how many residents of Crestview Towers were displaced, or when they will be allowed to return to their homes. But as of Saturday, 28 families — about 100 individuals — were staying at the shelter in South Miami-Dade.

“They have toilets and showers,” said City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey. Evacuated residents can stay in the shelter through Sunday, Sorey said. City officials are working with the Homeless Trust and other organizations on a plan to house displaced residents beyond Sunday.

One thing was clear from Saturday’s emergency meeting of the city commission: North Miami Beach officials placed the onus on the condominium association to complete the needed repairs, which have been delayed for nearly a decade and involve undisclosed structural and electrical issues, according to a building inspection report the city received on Friday before ordering its temporary closure.

“The building had a responsibility to maintain itself and to do this more than 10 years ago. Unfortunately they’re in this position but we’re here to help,” said Mayor Anthony F. DeFillipo. “We can try and get these people back into their homes if they’re livable.”

City’s engineers inspect building, too

Sorey said city engineers performed an inspection of Crestview Towers on Saturday morning along with engineers hired by the condominium association. A report of their findings is expected Tuesday or Wednesday.

DeFillipo said city and county inspectors also will be part of the review process, and that the city will not simply accept whatever the Crestview Towers association’s engineers report about the building’s condition.

“We don’t only go by what the association turns in to us. Our building department officials go out there and certify and look at these documents that are turned in ... to ensure they are acceptable to standards,” he said.

While city officials await the report on Crestview Towers, some commissioners said they worried that the other residential buildings in North Miami Beach are also at risk of being unsafe.

“We have plenty of buildings, I think, with concerns that need to be addressed,” Commissioner Barbara Kramer said.

Kramer urged her colleagues on the commission to consider launching a public awareness campaign targeted at renters as well as owners of high-rise homes.

Sorey, the city manager, agreed and added that he anticipates there will be buildings lacking needed structural maintenance and repairs. He said the city’s building department hasn’t “scratched through the surface of buildings that aren’t compliant.”

Disagreement among commissioners

The meeting turned tense, however, when the interim city attorney, Hans Ottinot, suggested that North Miami Beach consider its legal options for compelling the Crestview Towers condo association to complete the needed repairs.

Commissioner Michael Joseph agreed. “They had every opportunity to fix this problem and they did not. Now it’s our problem,” he said, asking if the condo association can be forced into a court-ordered receivership.

Ottinot said he had asked the city’s building department if there were any permit applications for repairs to the building and was told there were none.

“I was shocked by that answer,” he said, “because those repairs should have been started in 2012, 2013. They don’t even have a permit application in. Can we trust a board that’s suspect?”

Ottinot asked commissioner to grant him the authority to research and draft a legal memorandum that will explore “possible action we can take to make sure the condo association comes into compliance and makes the necessary repairs.”

But Kramer cautioned against discussing the situation further in a public setting and said she thought the emergency meeting had been called to gather information.

“I really think we should think this through,” she said. “I don’t know where we come in getting into a legal battle with a condominium. They need to take care of this. I don’t know what we can do legally to make them take care of things.”

Commissioner McKenzie Fleurimond said he wanted the city attorney and staff to draft a report “that deals not only with this issue but moving forward with other buildings that have similar issues.”

DeFillipo then said he wanted to hear from the city’s building official, Daniel Ozuna, who was on the video conference call. Sorey declined to make Ozuna available for comment.

Sorey told the commission he was concerned the matter “may come to legal later down the line, anything we say here. We’re getting to the point where we should almost stop talking here.”

Commissioner Fortuna Smukler urged her colleagues to act “sooner rather than later” and focus on what they can do to prevent another building catastrophe if possible.

“We need to stop talking and talking and we need to start accomplishing,” she said. “We need to say this is what we’re going to do, and this is how we’re going to do it.”

To that end, commissioners agreed that Ottinot and Sorey will draft a report recommending actions the commission can take to resolve any issues found in the engineering reports, including repairs.

Cheryl Stopnick, a North Miami Beach spokeswoman, said the condo association informed the city that it was contacting all unit owners in the building and that owners will update renters.