Post by fuzzyscorpio on Oct 15, 2006 10:00:25 GMT -5
Last time I read about "the JCOW mess," as succinctly described by Bossman, it sounded as if resolution was moving along, though slowly. But the article below, from the AC Press yesterday, indicates the superior court judge involved is not taking his eye off this football, having threatened to revoke the certificate of occupancy for the 19 buildings that haven't settled their safety issues with the JCOW yet, and directed JCOW to make it snappy with those cases. In addition, the continuing safety review of the new condos has led to 29 more violation notices, and a JCOW official says there could ultimately be as many as 80 more.
It seems reasonable to assume that this continuing drama is at least a bit discouraging to both prospective buyers and prospective developers. I'm not suggesting we should be happy for the misfortune of unsuspecting condo buyers, but if the jeopardy of existing condos serves the purpose (intended or not) of keeping a lid on further condo development at the expense of the island's doo-wop legacy, that will be a good thing...
Buildings get 1 week for safety in the Wildwoods
Judge says he'll revoke COs over violations
By TRUDI GILFILLIAN Staff Writer, (609) 463-6716
Published: Saturday, October 14, 2006
CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE — Attorney Henry Lewandowski predicted Friday that economic chaos is ahead if Superior Court Judge Steven Perskie follows through with his intention to revoke the certificates of occupancy on as many as 19 Wildwoods condominiums believed to have fire-code violations.
The list of properties with violations, identified late last year by the state Department of Community Affairs, started with 79 buildings and has been whittled down to 19 through a series of inspections and agreements designed to resolve the violations, which range from buildings missing an extra set of stairs to others deemed to have insufficient firewall protection.
Perskie said Friday that he would give the owners of the remaining 19 buildings until Oct. 20 to resolve the violations via compliance agreements with the Joint Construction Office of the Wildwoods.
After that, certificates of occupancy will be revoked for those unable to reach such an agreement, Perskie said.
Perskie said he did not want to be in this position, but he determined that fixing the violations came down to “critical issues of public safety.”
“I don't want these properties closed, any one of them, for a minute,” he said.
He then directed the Joint Construction Office to make inspecting those properties and resolving the code issues its priority for the coming week.
Lewandowski and other attorneys argued Friday that having an agreement in place Oct. 20 would not immediately make those buildings any safer than they are now, and that revoking the certificates of occupancy would instead cause tremendous hardship to the owners, particularly those who live in the affected units year-round.
Many owners who bought condominiums in the Wildwoods as second homes relied on rental income to pay for those homes, and many were unable to rent them this past summer, Lewandowski said.
“I have many clients perilously close to foreclosure,” Lewandowski said.
If the units can no longer be occupied, Lewandowski said, the owners could in turn lose their homeowner's insurance and see their credit ratings tumble.
Such concerns have kept the phones of his law practice ringing.
“We have gone from a law firm to crisis counselors at my office,” Lewandowski said.
He also warned that the damage would reach beyond individual unit owners, negatively affecting the island and its ratable base.
Lewandowski told the judge that the violations were not an imminent threat, a belief previously expressed by the Joint Construction Office and state officials. Joint Construction Office attorney Glenn P. Callahan noted that the office is not asking to revoke any certificates of occupancy.
He added that the owners he represents have worked to resolve the problem and found contractors trying to take advantage of their situation by price gouging. At one building, for example, a contractor wanted $50,000 for a new deck, he said.
The unknown costs of the repairs made it impossible for his clients to enter into agreements specifying what repairs would be done and by what date, he said.
During Friday's hearing, construction official Mario Zaccaria testified that the buildings in question were identified as having violations under the state's accepted building codes for multi-family properties designated as R-2 and R-3.
Zaccaria said the Joint Construction Office first notified the architects of the problem.
Many of the remaining 19 buildings were designed by architect Kevin Young. Zaccaria said Young's designs lacked sufficient foundation to roof firewalls, designed to give occupants two hours to escape during a fire. The units also lack sufficient fire protection at the top floor, where layers of gypsum board are installed to provide horizontal fire protection, he said.
Other buildings by other architects in some cases lack the required numbers of stairs, or means of egress, for a given number of units, Zaccaria said.
Zaccaria said some buildings were approved as either R-2 or R-3 designs and they are in fact compliant under either standard.
Under questioning by Lewandowski, Zaccaria admitted that the Joint Construction Office had not inspected each and every building's interior in the months since the violations were first noticed.
“You don't know what exists there,” Lewandowski said.
Zaccaria added that in some cases the architect's plans were not used and the final building was built correctly because the builder used a superior design.
Zaccaria also testified that if he believed there was an imminent threat to the public, he would have taken action.
“The issue is: Are they compliant?” Perskie said, adding that he placed no trust in the findings of the very same people who incorrectly issued the certificates of occupancy to the affected buildings.
Perskie agreed that the owners are innocent victims in this case, but he said they are responsible for having the repairs made. He said he would not want to receive a call telling him that someone had been injured in a fire in one of the listed properties.
The judge will hold another hearing Dec. 21 to determine whether any properties have not complied with the abatement agreements and whether they are at least making good-faith attempts to do so.
After Friday's hearing, Lewandowski said he was baffled as to why there has been no public outcry over the botched construction and inspections.
“Nobody can go to bed tonight knowing they're going to stay off the list,” Lewandowski said.
The Joint Construction Office continues to review other island construction projects and Callahan said he expects that as many as 80 more buildings could be affected by the code review.
So far, 29 more already have been issued violation notices.
Edit: forgot the link to the article...
www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/local/capemay/story/6841231p-6706966c.html
It seems reasonable to assume that this continuing drama is at least a bit discouraging to both prospective buyers and prospective developers. I'm not suggesting we should be happy for the misfortune of unsuspecting condo buyers, but if the jeopardy of existing condos serves the purpose (intended or not) of keeping a lid on further condo development at the expense of the island's doo-wop legacy, that will be a good thing...
Buildings get 1 week for safety in the Wildwoods
Judge says he'll revoke COs over violations
By TRUDI GILFILLIAN Staff Writer, (609) 463-6716
Published: Saturday, October 14, 2006
CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE — Attorney Henry Lewandowski predicted Friday that economic chaos is ahead if Superior Court Judge Steven Perskie follows through with his intention to revoke the certificates of occupancy on as many as 19 Wildwoods condominiums believed to have fire-code violations.
The list of properties with violations, identified late last year by the state Department of Community Affairs, started with 79 buildings and has been whittled down to 19 through a series of inspections and agreements designed to resolve the violations, which range from buildings missing an extra set of stairs to others deemed to have insufficient firewall protection.
Perskie said Friday that he would give the owners of the remaining 19 buildings until Oct. 20 to resolve the violations via compliance agreements with the Joint Construction Office of the Wildwoods.
After that, certificates of occupancy will be revoked for those unable to reach such an agreement, Perskie said.
Perskie said he did not want to be in this position, but he determined that fixing the violations came down to “critical issues of public safety.”
“I don't want these properties closed, any one of them, for a minute,” he said.
He then directed the Joint Construction Office to make inspecting those properties and resolving the code issues its priority for the coming week.
Lewandowski and other attorneys argued Friday that having an agreement in place Oct. 20 would not immediately make those buildings any safer than they are now, and that revoking the certificates of occupancy would instead cause tremendous hardship to the owners, particularly those who live in the affected units year-round.
Many owners who bought condominiums in the Wildwoods as second homes relied on rental income to pay for those homes, and many were unable to rent them this past summer, Lewandowski said.
“I have many clients perilously close to foreclosure,” Lewandowski said.
If the units can no longer be occupied, Lewandowski said, the owners could in turn lose their homeowner's insurance and see their credit ratings tumble.
Such concerns have kept the phones of his law practice ringing.
“We have gone from a law firm to crisis counselors at my office,” Lewandowski said.
He also warned that the damage would reach beyond individual unit owners, negatively affecting the island and its ratable base.
Lewandowski told the judge that the violations were not an imminent threat, a belief previously expressed by the Joint Construction Office and state officials. Joint Construction Office attorney Glenn P. Callahan noted that the office is not asking to revoke any certificates of occupancy.
He added that the owners he represents have worked to resolve the problem and found contractors trying to take advantage of their situation by price gouging. At one building, for example, a contractor wanted $50,000 for a new deck, he said.
The unknown costs of the repairs made it impossible for his clients to enter into agreements specifying what repairs would be done and by what date, he said.
During Friday's hearing, construction official Mario Zaccaria testified that the buildings in question were identified as having violations under the state's accepted building codes for multi-family properties designated as R-2 and R-3.
Zaccaria said the Joint Construction Office first notified the architects of the problem.
Many of the remaining 19 buildings were designed by architect Kevin Young. Zaccaria said Young's designs lacked sufficient foundation to roof firewalls, designed to give occupants two hours to escape during a fire. The units also lack sufficient fire protection at the top floor, where layers of gypsum board are installed to provide horizontal fire protection, he said.
Other buildings by other architects in some cases lack the required numbers of stairs, or means of egress, for a given number of units, Zaccaria said.
Zaccaria said some buildings were approved as either R-2 or R-3 designs and they are in fact compliant under either standard.
Under questioning by Lewandowski, Zaccaria admitted that the Joint Construction Office had not inspected each and every building's interior in the months since the violations were first noticed.
“You don't know what exists there,” Lewandowski said.
Zaccaria added that in some cases the architect's plans were not used and the final building was built correctly because the builder used a superior design.
Zaccaria also testified that if he believed there was an imminent threat to the public, he would have taken action.
“The issue is: Are they compliant?” Perskie said, adding that he placed no trust in the findings of the very same people who incorrectly issued the certificates of occupancy to the affected buildings.
Perskie agreed that the owners are innocent victims in this case, but he said they are responsible for having the repairs made. He said he would not want to receive a call telling him that someone had been injured in a fire in one of the listed properties.
The judge will hold another hearing Dec. 21 to determine whether any properties have not complied with the abatement agreements and whether they are at least making good-faith attempts to do so.
After Friday's hearing, Lewandowski said he was baffled as to why there has been no public outcry over the botched construction and inspections.
“Nobody can go to bed tonight knowing they're going to stay off the list,” Lewandowski said.
The Joint Construction Office continues to review other island construction projects and Callahan said he expects that as many as 80 more buildings could be affected by the code review.
So far, 29 more already have been issued violation notices.
Edit: forgot the link to the article...
www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/local/capemay/story/6841231p-6706966c.html
