CAI-NJ September 2021

A Message from the CAI-NJ Infrastructure Task Force

A s we are all aware, on June 24, 2021, a building that was part of the Champlain Towers South Condominium suf- fered a tragic collapse. Although numerous media reports have speculated on the cause of the collapse, the actual causes of the tragedy that led to the loss of many lives are unknown at this time. As board members, managers, engineers, attorneys, and other allied parties in the community association world, an event of the magnitude of the Florida collapse requires us to re-examine standards of care in the maintenance, repair, replacement, and inspection of critical building infrastructure that we have come to rely upon. Community associations have been managing buildings of various types starting in the ‘60s and accelerating though the following decades. It is only now that many community associations are respon- sible for buildings that are 30 years and older, when many building components start to show their age and require more than routine maintenance. While replacing roofs when they start to leak excessively may be obvious, other building parts do not announce their age or critical condition with the same urgent voice but are no less important. Some suggest that the Department of Community Affairs periodic inspections of multifamily buildings should provide comfort to New Jersey associations concerning structural issues. But we know from experience and DCA’s statements since Champlain Towers that its focus is on the habitability of individual dwelling units, not on essential building infrastructure. While an individual report may note a readily observable structural components requiring repair, the DCA inspectors are neither trained in structural engineering nor involved in uncovering problems that are not observable in an expeditious building walk-through. The Community Associations Institute has convened panels of national experts including engineers, Reserve Specialists, managers, insurance professionals, and attorneys to study the issues that have arisen following Champlain Towers, survey professionals and associations with respect to current practices, and promptly seek solutions that will reduce the possibility for future catastrophic events.

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The New Jersey Chapter of CAI, through the New Jersey Legislative Action Committee (LAC), has assembled a subcommittee of both LAC members and others with special areas of expertise regarding the proper maintenance of building infra- structure, inspection and the myriad related issues. While the assembly of expert panels by CAI national is critically important to this effort, each state has a differ- ent mix of building types, common practices, and laws and regulations that deal with infrastructure maintenance, mandatory or voluntary reserve funding, periodic inspections, and special assessment of owners to fund the cost of unanticipated expenses when necessary to fund maintenance. It is apparent from early analysis that no single solution will suffice. The fre- quency and types of engineering inspections, early recognition of building conditions that may evidence serious underlying structural issues, discov-

“...Community Associations Institute has convened panels of national experts... to study the issues that have arisen following Champlain Towers...”

ery of possible latent construction defects, resetting the reasonable budgeting expectations of volunteer board members, examining funding methodologies of both expected and unexpected capital expenses, and avoiding overwhelming negative owner response when the need for critical infrastructure maintenance occurs, all play essential roles in seeking a solution to this issue.

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