Aventura Puts Safety First: Attention Aventura Condominium Associations

An Update from the City Manager
As a community which is almost entirely made up of high-rise condominiums, we continue to receive numerous calls from concerned residents, regarding the structural integrity, of their properties. The City of Aventura is being proactive and reactive, on its approach to make sure that building property managers, are doing what they are supposed to do, in terms of properly maintaining their properties in accordance with the 40-year and 50-year certifications as governed by Miami-Dade County.

Proactively: We have ordered inspections of every building coming up on their 40-year certification, as well as all buildings older than 40 years, which have not been recently re-certified. This is only the start of our process, not the end. We continue to work with our building experts, business partners, we will consider making any and all necessary adjustments, through review processes, to ensure that we remain compliant with all current and any, potential, future County and State guidelines.

Reactively: We are continuing to respond and track all calls from concerned residents, that identify conditions such as concrete fractures, cracks in floors and ceilings, rust spots on concrete, possible spalling inside building garages, etc. and will inspect specific concerns, regarding a building's, structural integrity. An inspector is responding to each and every location, if deemed necessary, they will require the property manager, to have an engineer’s report, completed, which outlines, any necessary repairs, in order to address the issue(s) at hand. In most cases, this step is unnecessary, because the properties located here, are generally well-maintained and in, good repair.

Additionally, the City is adding two (2) Building Department Staff and a Full-Time Code Official, to ensure we have sufficient personnel, to assist in conducting building inspections and responding to residents’ calls.

Please know that going forward, if you have any concerns about specific issues within your own building, we encourage you to address them with your property manager and board members. If you believe any issue poses a life/safety issue, we ask that you call and report it to the City. You can do so, by emailing photos or videos as well as a written description to the Community Development Department at: code@cityofaventura.com. Or call the Department at: 305-466-8940.

Public safety will always be the single most important role, our City plays in the lives of our residents. We want you to feel safe and most importantly, be safe, when you are home, in Aventura.

Attention Aventura Condominium Associations
In an effort to protect public safety, the City of Aventura has passed an ordinance, requiring all building associations to share structural engineering and life-safety reports, with the City.

The new ordinance, which passed on the first reading at the Commission Meeting held on Thursday, June 22nd, 2021, requires both condominium board representatives and managers of homeowners, condominium and cooperative owners associations, to provide a copy of any engineering report concerning structural, electrical, or life-safety concerns, of a building to the City, within twenty-four hours of receiving such a report. Any owners association or property manager, who violates this new ordinance, is subject to penalty.

The ordinance must be approved again on a second reading, before it becomes law. Given the critical nature of the item, the City Commission agreed, to schedule a special meeting on Tuesday, August 10th, 2021, for the second reading and final adoption, of the ordinance.

The City is committed to the safety and welfare of the community it serves and will continue to take the necessary steps to ensure its commitment. For more information, please contact the Office of the City Manager at: 305-466-8910.