In wake of deadly tower collapse Surfside wants to have recertifications moved up 10 years

In the wake of last week’s collapse of Champlain Towers South, the Town of Surfside has requested that all owners of structures more than 30 years old and over three stories high begin assessing their buildings for recertification — a change from what has until now been a 40-year recertification deadline.

The town called it an “acceleration” of the program.

Champlain Towers collapsed a week ago Thursday in the middle of the night, killing at least 18 and leaving more than 140 others missing under piles of rubble. The calamity occurred just as the building was cycling through its 40-year certification process, a comprehensive checkup that can require expensive repairs that are billed to unit owners based on square footage.

An engineer’s report as part of the process had noted “major structural damage.” And yet more than two years after the report was issued — and shared with the town building department by a member of the condo board — the damage had not been rectified.Owners in the tower were facing large assessments to cover the cost of the restoration, stirring dissension and the resignation of condo board members.

The request to push the timeline up to 30 years from 40 came in a letter from James P. McGuinness, the town’s building official.

In addition to hiring a Florida-registered structural engineer to perform an analysis, the town wants property owners to hire a Florida-registered geotechnical engineer to zero in on the foundation and subsurface soils of their building.

The letter said it is particularly important for properties on the ocean side of Collins Avenue — the side where Champlain Towers South was located — to heed the instructions.