T
here are some events that make waves, and others cause tsunamis. The fatal structural failure of a balcony at 2020 Kittredge St. in B2oJP`˘)´T`¯i: tsunami event. Few outside the industry imagined that within four years of that tragic collapse nearly every HOA and apartment in Cˇ2iPfiƒƒ2P—ˇ2P deluge. By September, after the June 2015 collapse, Berkeley’s Planning and Development, Building, and Safety Division of Housing Code Enforcement had already issued the Exterior Elevated Elements Inspection Guidelines and applied them broadly to nearly all multi-family structures in the city, including those within HOAs. Inspections and reports for those multi-family structures on all balconies, stairs, and walkways higher than six feet above adjacent grade became mandatory.
DESIGN PROFESSIONALS INNOVATE TO MEET THE NEEDS OF
“THE DECK LAW” By Scott Swinton
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Vision Summer 2022 | cacm.org
By the end of the decade, the state had gotten involved. SB-721 skated through the senate and nearly netted HOAs in 2018. Attorneys and lobbyists for the HOA industry fought their way out of that legislation, but in retrospect, HofioH2fifiˇ2o—/ˇ22. Barely preceding the incoming pandemic P:)SBLˆ´˘:Pfi2fiH:ioHH radar of managers and construction industry professionals in January of 2020. Those who had been involved with Berkeley’s E3 and 2PHoSBL˙´`1PPo2NfiHHSBLˆ´˘ would raise monumental challenges for HOAs. ˇiA 2HP:H2PPH—H2:) architects, engineers, and attorneys began holding back-room meetings in an attempt to get out in front of the huge wave of frustration and angst that was racing along with hidden intensity. There were a lot of coffee-stained P/:ˇSBLˆ´˘fifiP:HP:Pfi2 daily scrutiny.
