TAMPA, Fla. — On Wednesday's Hillsborough County Commission agenda, you'll see a recently added item: Direct staff to bring back to the BOCC a report on possible implementation of a recertification process to audit buildings, modeled after Broward and/or Miami-Dade Counties' 40-Year Building Safety Inspection Programs.
What does this mean? Hillsborough County is looking to implement a policy that would impact buildings that are 40 years and older by mandating inspections.
In Florida, only two counties currently have such policies in place; Miami-Dade and Broward. They require buildings to be inspected once they hit 40 years old, and each decade after that.
Hillsborough County Commissioner Kimberly Overman is looking to bring such a policy to the Tampa Bay area.
"Buildings that were built over 40 years ago or 40 years ago may not have been built to the standards we have now for hurricane safety and flood safety," said Overman.
In Miami, if property owners do not comply, they face penalties of up to $10,510.
Overman said she recently met with county commissioners from across the state, shortly after the Surfside condo building collapse. She said that tragedy is the reason she is proposing this ordinance for her county.
"I felt it was important that we recognize that we have buildings of age as well," she said. "And as a consequence of that, it'd be a wise idea to be proactive and make sure that we don't have a similar tragedy in Hillsborough County."
Overman said she knew of the inspections process in place for new construction. But was unaware of the lack of policy for existing buildings.
"I was a little surprised to see that Hillsborough specifically didn't address the structural and electrical type of audit that is being recommended in this particular action," Overman said.
The proposal will be introduced during the July 14 county commission meeting, which begins at 9 a.m. The meeting will be live-streamed here.
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