Condo group prepares to fight insurance hikes

Condo group prepares to fight insurance hikes

By MARGIE KACOHA
Daily News Staff Writer

Friday, December 01, 2006

SOUTH PALM BEACH — As with their neighbors to the north, condominium owners are considering banding together in the fight against rising insurance rates.

Leaders of the South Palm Beach Condominiums & Cooperatives Association Wednesday discussed gathering information from the town's 24 associations.

Chairman Murray Fox, who founded the association last year, cited insurance rate increases ranging from 20 percent to 50 percent because of the storms that ripped through Palm Beach County in 2004 and 2005.

"It's gone crazy," Fox said. "It's a mammoth problem."

The Citizens' Association of Palm Beach has formed an insurance committee to analyze the problem and formulate possible solutions.

Fox said the South Palm Beach group will do the same, with the help of Floyd Nichols, an agent with Insurance Office of America in Jupiter.

Nichols was the guest speaker at Wednesday's session at Town Hall, which drew about 70 residents to the 90-minute morning meeting.

Options addressed included self-insurance and the joint purchase of insurance by the associations.

Nichols will assist the group in formulating a list of questions to send out to the individual condominium

associations.

The Citizens' Association of Palm Beach is starting its insurance research in much the same way, sending a survey to each of its member buildings.

Fox said his group will form an insurance committee.

"We're going to start the questionnaires and get the ball rolling," he said.

State legislators will gather in January for a special session to address Florida's insurance woes.

They will use the recent recommendations of the Property and Casualty Insurance Reform Committee as a framework.

Two other issues Fox brought to the meeting were beach restoration and the town's current comprehensive plan review.

"I think the beach is the heart of the town," he said. "Without the beach, we have no town.

"It's time for creative solutions. I don't know what to do, but I'm a businessman," Fox said. "I know how to get things done. We have to be imaginative."

South Palm Beach officials and residents will receive a county report at the Dec. 19 Town Council meeting, outlining recommendations for the shrinking shoreline.

According to preliminary details provided by the Palm Beach County Department of Environmental Resource Management, a full-scale sand-dredging program is not a likely solution because of environmental concerns.

More likely, the town would best be served by constructing a breakwater and possibly rock groins to keep sand on the 5/8-mile-long beach.

Fox also explained the town's current comprehensive plan review after a show of hands indicated that most in attendance did not know of or understand the state-mandated process.

One element of the review is land use within the town, including redevelopment of existing properties.

Residents continue to focus on a preliminary proposal by the Palm Beach Oceanfront Inn to build a high-rise luxury hotel/condominium. The owners have not filed an application for any redevelopment.

Many residents at Wednesday's meeting indicated they would not favor any new building that exceeds the current six-story maximum height. Councilmen Marty Millar, Robert Gottlieb and Chuck McCrosson have indicated they oppose large-scale redevelopment within the town.

Attorney Ron Kolins, who represents the inn, asked residents Wednesday to keep an open mind and assured them any redevelopment application would be subject to town scrutiny and openly discussed in public meetings.

The South Palm Beach Condominiums & Cooperatives Association will hold its next meeting on Dec. 20.