Editorial: Palm Beach Town Council right to hit pause on condo safety regulations
It's time to "pump the brakes."
Following the Surfside condominium collapse last summer, there was a call to action: Implement a building inspection program as quickly as possible so the horrors associated with the loss of Champlain Towers South do not happen again.
But the Town Council has decided that a wait-and-see approach is the right way to go right now. We couldn't agree more.
The reason? Town officials want to bide their time so they can see what comes out of Tallahassee before deciding whether they need to embark on their own program, Planning and Zoning Director Wayne Bergman said at the Feb. 9 council meeting.
“I thought this would be a good time to pump the brakes for a few months and see what emerges from the state,” he said.
Two bills, SB 1702 and HB 1391, are making their way through the legislative process (the House approved its bill Thursday), so it would be counterproductive to start a local program only to have it usurped by a state initiative.
The town should know in April or May whether the state fully passes either bill. If not, the town is ready to step in, said Bergman, who has been part of a county task force developing a plan.
Town officials, who sent a letter to all condominium associations immediately after the tragedy to encourage them to get their own safety inspections, have already created the necessary ordinances, resolutions, checklists and guidelines to present a program to the council for final approval if the state measures falter.
The sad and shocking collapse of the Surfside condominium June 24 killed 94 people. The state, county and town must do everything in their power to make sure such a needless catastrophe never happens again.
But it doesn't make any sense to start a town program only to have to put a halt to it to make way for a state plan of action.
Kudos to town officials for developing their own guidelines and having the sense to know when it is time to pump the brakes. Sometimes you have to slow down to get there the fastest.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Editorial: Palm Beach leaders smart to follow state's lead on condo safety
