Was the Key Colony Beach City Hall really condemned? Really?
The Citizen broke the story of the long hidden FEMA denial of KCB's City Hall claims.
The Weekly further reports on the $3M FEMA Denial Letter.
(Some readers have reported difficulty with external links so we also maintain local copies of the Citizen article and the Weekly article.)
Here's the history of the attempts KCB officials made to "prove" that Irma damaged City Hall beyond repair:
» Residents were told the building was condemned although no "substantial damage letter" has ever been presented to the public. By sharing experiences and dates, this letter details that the Marble Hall and post office were not condemned. Marble Hall was quickly brought up to working condition and remained in service until recently. The post office was still in service until May 27, 2023, when it was arbitrarily moved. The bathrooms and hall and offices were locked away from the public but were used by the city staff. All city meetings and community activites were held in the Marble Hall and the building department remained in that "condemned" building until the commission rented even more trailers in the parking lots. Read that letter here.
» From jack-hammering part of the floor in City Hall to "prove" it had sunk to refusing to follow the City Engineer's plan to add pinpiles, this letter documents some of the efforts to abandon the perfectly sound building. Read that letter here.
» Mayor John DeNeale reported to the City Commission that FEMA and the independent engineer didn't find enough damage to warrant demolishing and rebuilding City Hall. Contractor Jeff Rider estimated about $275 per square foot to rebuild. Commissioner Ellis said to move back into City Hall while another building is constructed. Replacing some drywall would be cheap. Despite that, they hired an architect to design a new city hall. Read the commission meeting minutes here.
» Building Official Ed Borysiewicz did not condemn City Hall. Read about his actual memo here.
» Contractor Ed Sims discussed his quote of $300,000 to repair City Hall in a letter. That didn't fit the city commission's plan to "condemn" the building, tear it down, and build the LIVS-designed city hall complex. Read that letter here.
» Building Official Ed Borysiewicz stated that "The City Hall Complex was NOT structurally damaged" in an email discussing the history of the building. Read that email here.
» The City Engineer reported "The overall condition of the structure is in good condition" on April 8, 2019. Read that letter here.
» The Wright National Flood Insurance proof of loss showed $134,201.90 in damages claimed. The actual cash value of the building structure was shown to be $1,917,596.71. FEMA did not provide more funds because the adjuster had determined the damages were no more than that. Read that Proof of Loss here.
» Norry Lynch noted that "NFIP and PA undertook several, separate inspections as is routine. The only commonality among the inspections was that each documented only cosmetic damage to the building." Read the background and report here.
» It wasn't until July 1, 2022, 4 years 9 months 21 days or 1,755 calendar days after Hurricane Irma "condemned" City Hall, that the city officials actually closed the building. "Condemned" or not, it had been in use all that time.
» At Commission meeting after Commission meeting, residents have decried "throwing away" City Hall to build anew. "We have nothing to show for 2,048 days of delays. Oh, sure. The city has clogged our parking lots with trailers, spent over a million bucks, and barred us from using our perfectly goood building," one resident said after the April 20, 2023, meeting. That's not progress.
» Hundreds of residents have asked the Commission to rebuild.
» At the April 20, 2023, commission meeting, the Commission decided to "kick the can down the road" again. They will consider going out for quotes to repair the existing City Hall but not until June after they have the bids in hand for the LIVS-designed city hall complex. The timing means most residents will be away from KCB when the bids are opened by the side of the road.
» At the July 20, 2023 commission meeting, Commissioners Harding, Trefrey, and Vickrey continued to ignore their own experts and their constituents. They spoke in lockstep in favor of adopting the unqualified bid $8,375,000 H-O-B bid. We estimate that the final cost of that bid will approach $21,000,000. Commissioners Foster and Raspe voted against the motion to accept the home remodeler's bid.
» (And here's the "companion" question, Did the KCB City Hall floor actually sink several feet as has been claimed?)
» The Citizen reported on a newly uncovered FEMA letter that "clearly stated that 'based on FEMA policy and project cost calculations, [the KCB City Hall] project does not meet the 50% rule and does not qualify for replacement'." The Weekly further reported that an engineering group hired by the city commission to buttress the claims they condemned the building admitted it "never inspected the damaged City Hall building or reviewed any other damage data or assessments."
Excerpts from pages 7-8 of the FEMA Memorandum:
"FEMA does not provide funding for repair of damage caused by ... the applicant's failure to take measures to protect a facility from further damage ..."
The engineering report commissioned by the NFIP Insurer and dated 8/3/18 found:
A) The building is not unfit for occupancy.
B) The voids [under the floor slab] can be filled.
C) The slab problems all predate the disaster.
Here are the associated documents:
» December 15, 2017 Post Irma Certifications
» March 7, 2019 Correspondence from Peters Engineers
» October 6, 2022 FEMA Determination of Ineligibility for Funding
»