Developers whose workers violate Palm Beach construction ordinances may soon be required to sign a management agreement with the town, which would allow officials to closely monitor the work for additional violations, and halt the projects if they continue.
During a June 11 meeting, the Town Council voted 4-1 in favor of a draft ordinance that would require a building team to enter a construction management agreement if a project receives one strike under the town’s “Three Strike Rule” regulating construction management, if it violates code, or if it incurs a stop-work order.
Council Member Ted Cooney voted in opposition, citing concerns over the code violations and one-strike CMA trigger. “Just a notice of violation … I think that’s a pretty low bar,” he said.
Council Member Bridget Moran also thought the single-strike trigger could be overly sensitive.
But Planning, Zoning and Building Department Director Wayne Bergman said he would have the discretion to waive the ordinance, such as if a project is a month away from completion.
He said the ordinance would be enforced once a contractor has exhausted all their appeals. For example, if the contractor lost an appeal against a first strike or was found to be in violation of code by the Code Enforcement Board, then the law would be triggered, Bergman said.
Town Attorney Joanne O’Connor said staff had chosen the first strike because a project could be nearing completion by its third strike. “I don’t think a construction management agreement would have a lot of sense or merit if it’s the end of the project,” Bergman said in agreement.
A construction management agreement would require contractors to follow policies set forth in the document. They can include a predetermined construction schedule, mandatory updates, traffic circulation plans and limits to when materials can be unloaded.
The ordinance will be returned for final approval during the council’s July 9 meeting.
It comes as Palm Beach’s latest attempt to reduce the traffic and parking impact of construction work, including another ordinance approved during the June 11 meeting that would bar construction between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day.
The measure also marks the council’s increased interest in requiring CMAs when possible. Before the legislation, the council had weighed an ordinance that would require contractors for large or high-value construction projects to shuttle their workers to and from job sites through a CMA with the town.
However, that ordinance has remained at a standstill after facing pushback from contractors during the council’s March 4 meeting. They said the measure unduly targets the construction sector as a primary factor of the town’s traffic woes.
Diego Diaz Lasa is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at dlasa@pbdailynews.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Council gives first approval to law requiring town oversight of scofflaw contractors
Reporting by Diego Diaz Lasa, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
