Pools closed, gyms barred — residents groan: Condos adjust to life in the COVID era
Some of the perks of living in condos or apartments in South Florida are free use of pools and gyms — places that have been put off limits for the last few months, much to the frustration of many residents.
As Miami-Dade Country reopens restaurants and public spaces with restrictions intended to keep the coronavirus at bay, condo owners and managers are trying to do the same for their private spaces — setting up mask and social distancing rules and, in a few cases, even imposing fines on violators.
So far, there haven’t been many reports of people breaking the initial rules — but then most of those pools have yet to open. Mia Patch, a managing broker at Realty Solutions Group of Miami and a board member of the Brickell Alliance, an organization of condo managers representing about 40 buildings in Brickell and others across Downtown Miami and Edgewater, said most residents are obeying the mandate to wear masks in common areas and remain six feet apart.
“Based on the conversations that I’ve had, there’s always a few people who don’t wear a mask,” Patch said. “For the most part, everyone is adapting because it’s become the norm. You have to wear one everywhere you go, from when you’re walking down the street to going to a grocery store.”
But preserving social distancing can be a challenge, she said, especially in elevators. Managers in the Brickell Alliance are discussing strategies to keep residents six feet apart.
“It isn’t always possible to enforce social distancing. You can’t tell people to wait for the next elevator,” she said.
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While most people are conscientious, some condos are looking for legal ways to enforce the rules on those who aren’t.
“In extreme cases where there is a repeat offender, a letter is sent from an attorney. They need to understand that they are putting people’s lives at risk,” she said.
To remind residents, some managers are marking floors to delineate safe distances. They’re also asking building staff to remind residents about social distancing and to call to schedule grabbing packages from the front desk to avoid lines.
On Belle Isle, buildings have taped the floor six feet away from the front desk in lobbies, indicating a safe distance where residents can stand, and added hand sanitizer dispensers in common areas, said Scott Diffenderfer, a real estate broker with Compass and the head of the Belle Isle Neighborhood Association. Diffenderfer is also the condo association president for the condo Nine Island Avenue.
The Belle Isle condominium Nine Island Avenue agreed Wednesday to have the infractions committee issue $100 fines for residents who repeatedly fail to wear a mask, said Diffenderfer.
“There are always one or two people that think the rules do not apply to them,” he said.
Not everyone in the condo world says fines are the right solution. Donna DiMaggio Barger, a condominium and planned development law specialist at the law firm Becker and Poliakoff, said fines for something as important as enforcing COVID rules can sometimes fail to drive the point home.
“Instead, a resident who violates a prohibition against bringing guests to the pool could either be sent directly to the association attorney for potential injunctive relief or that resident’s access to the pool could be denied if the association has an access control system,” she said.
She also observes that liabilities for condo managers have increased.
“Many counties have pushed the responsibility for resident safety squarely onto the shoulders of volunteer board members,” she said.
Condo managers continue to discuss how to manage other concerns. The most common complaint managers are facing, Diffenderfer and Patch said, regards closed pools.
“People don’t understand that, in the case of my building, I would love to open my pool but I can’t do it,” she said.
City, county and municipal leaders all have to be in agreement before condo managers can open pools, she said. “People are getting sound bites from other news feeds and Twitter and it’s a lack of cohesive news that makes this challenging,” Patch said.
Some condominium associations are taking steps to urge policymakers to open pools in condos, Diffenderfer said. Nine Island Avenue signed a petition to ask the City of Miami Beach to urge Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez to allow condominiums to open pools to residences.
“There are so many people screaming about the pools,” he said.
Gregory Eisinger, partner at Hollywood-based Eisinger Law, which specializes in community association law, says he’s heard of some cases of residents breaking into pools or gyms.
But the biggest concern is trying to comply with the patchwork of overlapping city, county, state, and U.S. Centers for Disease Control rules governing what’s allowed.
“It’s been chaos,” he said.
Derrick Severan, 37, is sanguine. A self-described “safety geek,” he says he will take sanitary matters into his own hands as he prepares to move into a large apartment building downtown. While its pool and gym remain closed, he said he knows they’ll open up eventually.
“I’m saving money on paying for an outside gym membership,” he said. “So, in the end, it will work out.”
This story was originally published May 23, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
