Post by Admin on Mar 21, 2016 9:05:53 GMT -5
Jm Herbst, an owner with lifetime experience in municipal government, was curious about the long time it was taking Polk County to issue permits on stab's existing towers on our property. Since we owners get NO meaningful information from our own leadership/management (aka MANBOD), he made an inquiry directly to Polk County for the truth. He asked me to post his findings for him on this forum and I felt it important enough to start a new thread.
What I Found in Bartow
As I was becoming increasingly concerned about the safety of the KCNET towers in S-bag and the slow pace at which the Polk County was enforcing the building code requirements for those towers, I decided to embark upon a mission to discover the history of the towers.
About a month ago, I submitted a Public Records Request for all internal correspondence among the various departments of Polk County for the past 15 months regarding the S-bag Towers. In response to my request, I received two data disks containing staff memoranda between various Polk County offices. I was charged $30 for the data disks.
I then reviewed all the information on those disks and highlighted areas that were particularly significant. I then filed a second Public Records Request to inspect the engineers drawings submitted to the Polk County Plan Review office in connection with SLohA’s recent application for a building permit. I was directed to Mr. Rikki West, Supervisor of the Plan Review Office. I made an appointment last week with Mr. West and spent a morning in his office, pouring over documents.
What I found was intriguing.
SLohA submitted an application to Polk County for a building permit for the towers in October of 2015. In conjunction with that application, a set of engineer’s drawings were received by the Plan Review Office on January 26, 2016. The drawings were done by Robber T. Haug, P.E., Structural Engineer. These were “As Built” drawings, i.e., they represent what actually exists rather than what is proposed to be constructed. The drawings from Haug were also stamped “Revised” from the original drafting date of November 23, 2005.
Mr. Richardson advised me that, while the drawings bore the original drafting date of 2005, they were never submitted to Polk County. In fact, there is no record of an application for a building permit for the S-bag towers prior to October, 2015.
It is my understanding that, back in 2005, internet service was being provided to S-bag by Lake Wales Wireless. LWW went out of business in 2007 and was replaced shortly thereafter by KCNET.
My conjecture is that the front office tower and the bathhouse #2 tower were originally constructed by Lake Wales Wireless. And, although LWW had commissioned Mr. Haug to prepare a set of engineering drawings, they never submitted those drawings to Polk County, and they never applied for a building permit. It also appears that no building permit was ever applied for regarding the tower at 28 Grayhackle, prior to October, 2015.
So, where do we stand now?
Based upon my conversation with Mr. West, the Polk County Plan Review Office has approved the engineer’s drawings for the five S-bag towers but has withheld the issuance of building permit. Before a permit will be issued, Polk County requires evidence that the towers were constructed by a licensed professional contractor. Based upon my understanding about who actually built those towers, it is doubtful that a building permit will ever be issued.
So, are the towers safe? Based upon my research, I would say “Yes”.
But there still is one potential problem. If there ever were a catastrophic incident involving the towers, I question whether our insurance carrier would honor the claim, given the fact that there is no building permit for them (and probably never will be). Insurance carriers are not known for paying off claims when there is a way they can weasel out of them. The fact that the towers were, technically, illegally erected may very well provide our insurance carrier with that excuse. If that were to happen, we must then ask ourselves where the money would come from to pay off the claim.
Courtesy of Jm Herbst (researcher and writer)
What I Found in Bartow
As I was becoming increasingly concerned about the safety of the KCNET towers in S-bag and the slow pace at which the Polk County was enforcing the building code requirements for those towers, I decided to embark upon a mission to discover the history of the towers.
About a month ago, I submitted a Public Records Request for all internal correspondence among the various departments of Polk County for the past 15 months regarding the S-bag Towers. In response to my request, I received two data disks containing staff memoranda between various Polk County offices. I was charged $30 for the data disks.
I then reviewed all the information on those disks and highlighted areas that were particularly significant. I then filed a second Public Records Request to inspect the engineers drawings submitted to the Polk County Plan Review office in connection with SLohA’s recent application for a building permit. I was directed to Mr. Rikki West, Supervisor of the Plan Review Office. I made an appointment last week with Mr. West and spent a morning in his office, pouring over documents.
What I found was intriguing.
SLohA submitted an application to Polk County for a building permit for the towers in October of 2015. In conjunction with that application, a set of engineer’s drawings were received by the Plan Review Office on January 26, 2016. The drawings were done by Robber T. Haug, P.E., Structural Engineer. These were “As Built” drawings, i.e., they represent what actually exists rather than what is proposed to be constructed. The drawings from Haug were also stamped “Revised” from the original drafting date of November 23, 2005.
Mr. Richardson advised me that, while the drawings bore the original drafting date of 2005, they were never submitted to Polk County. In fact, there is no record of an application for a building permit for the S-bag towers prior to October, 2015.
It is my understanding that, back in 2005, internet service was being provided to S-bag by Lake Wales Wireless. LWW went out of business in 2007 and was replaced shortly thereafter by KCNET.
My conjecture is that the front office tower and the bathhouse #2 tower were originally constructed by Lake Wales Wireless. And, although LWW had commissioned Mr. Haug to prepare a set of engineering drawings, they never submitted those drawings to Polk County, and they never applied for a building permit. It also appears that no building permit was ever applied for regarding the tower at 28 Grayhackle, prior to October, 2015.
So, where do we stand now?
Based upon my conversation with Mr. West, the Polk County Plan Review Office has approved the engineer’s drawings for the five S-bag towers but has withheld the issuance of building permit. Before a permit will be issued, Polk County requires evidence that the towers were constructed by a licensed professional contractor. Based upon my understanding about who actually built those towers, it is doubtful that a building permit will ever be issued.
So, are the towers safe? Based upon my research, I would say “Yes”.
But there still is one potential problem. If there ever were a catastrophic incident involving the towers, I question whether our insurance carrier would honor the claim, given the fact that there is no building permit for them (and probably never will be). Insurance carriers are not known for paying off claims when there is a way they can weasel out of them. The fact that the towers were, technically, illegally erected may very well provide our insurance carrier with that excuse. If that were to happen, we must then ask ourselves where the money would come from to pay off the claim.
Courtesy of Jm Herbst (researcher and writer)
