Construction Board of Adjustment and Appeals
Official description
The Construction Board of Adjustment and Appeals reviews and grants or denies applications for variances and waivers of all technical codes, including the building code, the plumbing code, the gas code, the mechanical code, the electrical code, the minimum housing code, the unsafe building abatement code and the swimming pool code but not the life safety and fire prevention codes. Serves as the regulation and discipline board for holders of City plumbing and gas certificates of competency. Reviews the appeals of the interpretation of the Building Official in regards to technical codes.
Membership: Seven members and two alternates, appointed by the City Council. The board shall be comprised as follows: one (1) registered architect, one (1) registered professional engineer, one (1) general or building contractor, one (1) electrical contractor, one (1) plumbing and gas contractor, one (1) mechanical contractor and one (1) member at large from the public. Alternates shall be one (1) member at large from the construction industry and one (1) member at large from the public. Board members are not required to be City residents.
Term of office: Three years (alternates serve two-year terms)
Financial disclosure required?: No
Meeting schedule: As needed on first Wednesday of every month at 2 p.m. at City Hall and upon call of the Chairman
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The members of the Construction Board of Adjustments and Appeals routinely violated Florida Statutes, Standard Building Codes and City Ordinances which control construction which I initially discovered at the hearing regarding the illegal Certificate of Occupancy requirement, in 1999, i.e. the Board Members ignored all exceptions written into these regulations which specifically excluded historic properties because they didn’t want to exclude them – no matter what the law dictated. During the hearing, Members of the Construction Board admitted to breaking the pertinent Certificate of Occupancy law themselves and denied my request that the Building Inspection Department obey the pertinent regulations covering the Certificate of Occupancy requirements.
It appeared that the City Officials and members of the Construction Board had joined forces in order to institute and continue the illegal requirement for a “new” Certificate of Occupancy each time a tenant or occupant changed. Since the Construction Board consisted of individuals in construction, they benefited from this illegal requirement which they used to require unnecessary construction. These unnecessary construction requirements were also in violation of the Federal, State and City regulations concerning property and especially the restoration of documented historic properties listed on the Nation Registry of Historic Places which ours was. The Certificate of Occupancy for our building, which was on file when we bought the property, was finally acknowledged to meet all of the legal requirements and is still the one on file for our property.
THE CONSTRUCTION BOARD OF ADJUSTMENTS AND APPEALS
1999
Appointment
Type/DateA = Appointment Employment/
R = Reappointment Appointed by Name Background
A 1994 Mayor John Fogg Kenneth Woolf, Kenneth H. Woolf,
R 1996 Architect Architect, P.A.R 1999
A 1994 Mayor John Fogg Donald Jehle, Jehle-Halstead Inc.
R 1997 Engineer Does business withthe City
A 1996 Councilman James Boyd, Boyd Plumbing
Anderson Plumber Does business with
the City
A 1994 Mayor John Fogg Fred O. Fell F&M Electric Inc.
R 1996 Electrical R 1999 Contractor
A 1994 Mayor John Fogg Stephen Ritz Tower East Group
R 1997 Mechanical has a lease with the Contractor City
A 1994 Mayor John Fogg Kimberlee Anderson Pres, Gulfside
R 1995 At large from Public Mechanical Inc. Does business with
the city
A 1994 Councilman James C. Moulton Moulton Properties
R 1995 Eubanks General or Building Does business with
Contractor the City
Alternates
A 1994 Mayor John Fogg Don Jackson – At ConstructionR 1996 large-Construction
Industry
R 1996 At large from Air Conditioning
Public
All of the initial appointments were made in 1994. Mayor John Fogg made most of the appointments and, in violation of Florida State Statutes, appointed individuals who had contracts with the City which was a conflict of interest. Each of the appointed individuals who had a conflict of interest signed a statement declaring they met the requirements. They signed a false statement as they did not meet the requirements of having no conflict of interest.
Mayor John Fogg appointed the individual who was supposed to represent the non-construction public. This individual was not really a representative of the non-construction public but was in the construction industry: Ms. Kimberlee Anderson, the President of Gulfside Mechanical Inc., who did business with the City.
Mayor John Fogg appointed the individual who was supposed to represent the non-construction public. This individual was not really a representative of the non-construction public but was in the construction industry: Ms. Kimberlee Anderson, the President of Gulfside Mechanical Inc., who did business with the City.
It appeared that the goal of the appointments was to load the Construction Board with construction professionals, most of whom worked with or for the City, instead of staffing the Board with members who were independent and impartial and who would make decisions based solely on regulations controlling construction.
