Skypoint Fire Systems & Safety : A detailed overview of what keeps us safe from fire and other emergencies.

Recently numerous questions were asked about Skypoint and fire/emergency safety. That prompted me to do some research and write this blog article. Where I did not have knowledge of the system I asked Bruce Furtado, our Building Engineer to help clarify.  I think these are great questions. Bruce gave me a great tour of some of our critical systems in the building which I really enjoyed.  I have expanded upon the wealth of information that Bruce provided me and here is the result: 

• Fire Detection System



Common Smoke/Heat Sensor in Residential Unit

• Smoke Detectors
• All smoke/heat detectors are hard wired.
• All smoke detectors are equipped with battery back up.
• The batteries in smoke detectors will commonly last 7 months depending on brand/manufacturer. Most fire districts recommend changing batteries when clocks are changed for day light savings time.
• Interior maintenance (or battery changing) at present is the responsibility of the unit owner and fire inspectors would not even entertain the thought of using their time to change out batteries.  
• This is NOT meant in any way other than a positive way but in a building this size there could be an opportunity for someone to provide this service, perhaps along with changing a unit’s filter or other things that some unit owners just don’t want to do and don’t require licensure or extensive training.  People who typically buy in a condo usually don’t want to have any involvement with their condo other than enjoying it.  It’s expected to just “WORK” but our condo docs specifically spell out mandatory things a unit owner must do on a certain timeline.  Anyone reading this may want to investigate providing these things (where possible) including changing smoke/heat detector batteries! What do you think?
• The hard wire aspect of the smoke detectors does not function as a battery charger. The smoke detector will“chirp” when the batteries are dying. When the batteries are completely drained a constant beep will be heard.
• Smoke/heat detectors do not activate the sprinkler system.  The activation of the sprinkler system is detailed below
• The smoke/heat operations room is located across from the lobby public bathroom.  
• Area(s) affected by smoke or heat (fire) can be indicated in this area.
• Fireman phone inventory is located in this room.  The phones that hook into the building intercom so that firemen throughout the building can speak to the chief in this control room.
• A small auxiliary  panel is located at the concierge desk for general alerts, that would then cause investigation of the indications in the fire control room.
• The Public Address system is also located in this fire control room.
• The fire department is automatically alerted depending on the type of warning without any initiation of human staff or residents.
• Heat Detectors
• Located generally in public areas and in control rooms
• Manual Red Fire/Emergency Pull stations



Manual Fire Pull 

• In the common hallways there are red manual emergency/fire pull stations.  By pulling down on one of these manual warning switches it will activate the fire/emergency warning system
• The Fire Alarm will sound (TONE)
• The adjacent red FIRE with high capacitor strobe light will flash at a constant interval until there the system is manually reset.
• Fire Suppression System



Typical Omni-directional sprinkler head

• Sprinklers
• The fire suppression system is a wet system designed with heat sensitive sprinkler heads. The entire building is equipped with the wet suppression system.  The system is constantly pressurized.  The water for the system is taken from our 8 inch main that the city provides the building.  The main water pipe after entering the building (which is located to the right of the up ramp on Zack St, inside the 30 minute lot next to the police car space) is split, one way goes to the water system and the other to the sprinkler system.  That water supply is then kept at a constant pressure that is sufficient to provide a more than adequate pressure at the highest points of our building (The pressure falls as the height climbs) There is an auxiliary pump that is used for small decreases in pressure sensed, to restore the ground floor pressure to the minimum pressure to supply the entire building, so there is one main pump and a secondary pump.  This means that at every sprinkler head there is positive pressure at all times.  The heads are designed to activate when the heat of a fire reaches a prescribed temperature by melting a plastic fuse. Each sprinkler head in EVERY space is specifically designed for that space taking into consideration walls, distance to the next head, etc.  The sprinkler head can also be activated inadvertently by force of say a hanger (yes people have hung their clothes on sprinkler heads) or by an accidental blow to the head of the sprinkler.  The sprinkler will continue to operate if either activated by a melted fuse plug (in the case of a real fire) or if inadvertently damaged until they are manually turned off. Panels in the master sprinkler room will alert what zone has been activated.
• DO NOT hang anything from a sprinkler head
• DO NOT paint or allow spray paint to contaminate a sprinkler head
• Positive Pressure Stairwells
• The concrete block construction with metal stairs in each stairwell is pressurized.  The pressurization of this stairwell column is to create a positive pressure as opposed to the pressure on the other side of each door at each floor.  The idea behind this type of arrangement is keep any smoke that is caused by a fire out of the stairwells.  This is also the reason why the doors are locked and should NOT be propped open for any reason.  Within the stairwells at certain floors there are intercoms that are directly connected to the concierge desk in the lobby.  Concierge remote access to open any adjacent door is not allowed by code above floor 7.
• 2 Hour Rated Walls
• Almost all walls exterior to the walls inside of your unit are rated to withstand a fire for up to 2 hours before burning through.
• 1 Hour Rated Walls
• I believe all interior walls are rated at a burn through time of at least 1 hour
• Automatically Closing Isolation Doors



Automatic Fire Doors Isolating elevators from residential  units

• Under certain conditions as determined by the fire detection system the field to the magnets that hold open the doors separating the elevator shafts from units will de-power and the doors will close by normal hydraulic closing units at the top. These are also fail safe in that if power is lost,such as in a possible fire, these doors will close when the electricity fails.  These doors will also keep any fire that could travel up the elevator shafts one more layer of protection for unit owners.
• Stairwells are located as far as possible from the elevator shafts as possible in case there is any smoke that could travel up the elevator shafts
• Dry Chemical Fire Extinguishers in hallways




Check your individual extinguisher pressure

• Generally there are two dry chemical fire extinguishers located on each residential floor, located near each stairwell.
• These are inspected and replaced if necessary by management yearly
• Dry Chemical Fire Extinguishers provided by the developer for each unit sold
• Each unit was provided a fire extinguisher by the developer
• These should be checked by the unit owner and if expired OR not in the green band it needs to be IMMEDIATELY replaced.  
• Emergency Public Alert Systems



Fire/Emergency Strobe

• RED FIRE with high capacitor strobe will flash at a constant interval
• These are either co-located with the manual fire pull switch, just above the switch or at other locations in the hallway about ⅔ up the wall
• Emergency Public Address System
• Also located in the fire control room mentioned above is the emergency public address system.  Anyone who has been in the building for more than a year can recall sometime around March the fire testing that takes place.  Bruce Furtado, accompanied by fire department inspection personnel start their test in the fire control room.  Before any test is started or any alarm sounded Bruce has become somewhat infamous for his “THIS IS A TEST” announcements! This system could theoretically be used not just in a fire, but for any catastrophe to provide a building wide announcement as to safe routes, procedures, or that help is on the way.  
• Unit Speakers



Typical Emergency address speaker in each unit

• These are the speakers that are hardwired and located in each bedroom that you hear the above messages on.
• Green Exit Signs with emergency lights powered by battery backup



Exit Signs with lights & Battery backup

• Throughout the building there are green exit signs indicating the way to the nearest exit.  These signs, other than the ones in the parking lot, have installed in the bottom two lights powered by batteries within the exit sign that are constantly kept charged when normal electrical power is provided to these signs.  In the event of a power failure these lights would automatically come on, and the batteries in the signs will also keep the exit signs lighted for a limited amount of time.
• Intercoms in stairwells

• There are intercoms that link points in each stairwell with the concierge desk.  Should the emergency be cancelled and you are stuck in the stairwell these can be used to call the concierge for assistance.
• Emergency Evacuation
• Although I could be wrong I do not believe that there is a written policy for emergency evacuation in the condo documents.
• That being said, there IS a policy manual that our management company will use should there be a need for an emergency evacuation.
• When in doubt GET OUT
• As a point of general advice:
• In the event of a fire alarm all occupants should enter into the stairwells to exit the building. The stairwells are pressurized therefore exit into a residential floor other than the ground/street level is blocked via a keyed lock.
• In the event of a fire alarm and you are in the parking garage, proceed to the nearest stairwell, walk down to street level, exit the building, and move away from the building until a fire official gives the all clear.
• Make sure that you indicate you pets in Building link or have them on file with Management so if possible your pets can be saved should there be a fire/emergency, keeping in mind that human life and the safety of the fire fighters will of course always take priority over pets.

I hope this helps you to understand all of the systems that are in place to keep you safe during a fire emergency. Your suggestions are always welcome.

Week In Review April 27, 2012

Week of April 20-27, 2012

Hello neighbors, friends, newly formed enemies! This is the week in review for Friday, April 27, 2012.  If you like suspense novels, this was your week.  There were so many twists and turns it started to feel more normal the crazier things got! Hang on, here we go! (Because of the complexity of the Management company situation some of this information may have already been mentioned, but something this complex needs context for full comprehension.

• The management company (Nuclear Option)
• The vote by Israel, Joel, and Todd created a very awkward environment
• Joel publicly complained about Homeowners Advantage (current management co)
• While Israel was the one who asked Homeowners Advantage to consider acquiring AMG 
• Net result if things happened as it all seemed it was going to happen would be Homeowners Advantage purchasing AMG, and other than a quick blink no one would hardly have noticed
• Our budget would have noticed though
• I call this the nuclear option because no one really wins, oh except for Jay/Jason Fink, the owner of AMG.
• Current Status
• Homeowners Advantage must be given a 30 day written notice of any deficiencies
• This is a result of an amendment to the current HOADV contract that the last board got passed last November\
• Joel seems to think that is suspicious, as he has mentioned it more than once.  
• I have not had deep discussions with Lew,Mike,Diana about it but it is my understanding that it was on advice of council to bring that contract up to standards, since it was originally written in 2007.
• Attorney's have legal opinions that are just that opinions.  Court, the assn attorney must have felt that it was necessary in his opinion.
• Let's even for argument's sake give Joel what he is hinting at, that it was done as a pre-emptive measure to protect the association from exactly what is happening now.
• The amendment was done in an open member meeting and was not kept from anyone. 
• It was not illegal
• It did not put the association at risk.
• It mearly gave a cure period, which is a good thing for both parties. 
• NO WRITTEN NOTICE as of today has been given to HOADV
• Board Meeting Agenda is properly posted with the agenda items on Monday
• Our new property manager Mike, started training with Greg Mark of HOADV.
• Mike's office is where Robert Neal's office was in the front of the building
• I learned that Mike is a small plane pilot, licensed but is not current.
• He has a lot to learn, in a short time.
• If you get a chance, stop by and say hi
• Promenade of the Arts update
• Work is progressing nicely on the opposite side of Zack
• Almost all of the poured concrete surface has been installed
• Light poles have gone up
• The shape of the crossing facilitator making more sense now.
• Walkway juts into the intersection at the ends where pedestrians will cross , narrowing the roadway.for the approaching cars
• Design is a vast safety improvement over 90 degree traditional cross walks
• Because the actual paved concrete pedestrian walki8ng bulges out at the crossing positions, it will allow for the traffic to see pedestrians much more clearly
• Tampa is one of the highest pedestrian kill cities
• CSX Tracks on Pulk St.
• About another week for some of the roads to open.
• As of yesterday tracks were in
• Plan your morning and afternoon commutes around heavier traffic on Ashley, as there is noticable increased congestion due to Tampa St being closed at Polk
• Horns are still as annoying as ever.  (Don't forget to look in the contents area of this blog for the link to complain about the excessive train horn blowing at 3am)
• Traffic detours posted in the elevator lobbies for each floor
• Zack Garage street resident ramp
• If coming from the WEST/NORTH accessible Via Polk and Ashley, right turn, limited resident only traffic on Tampa St to Zack OR
•   If coming from the South/East plan to wind up on Zack no sooner than Nebraska, often times you will have to extend past Marion to get onto Zack.
• President of the Association, Israel Diaz resigned his position
• He cited health reasons and retirement as his reasons for leaving
• Since he was the president, the executive authority that he had to have creates a slightly more difficult transition for the other board members.
• Checking accounts, lines of credit, anything that the President would possibly have to exercise his executive authority have to be changed to either a temporary acting President or a board member that could be voted in as the new president
• The board can fully operate as a board of 4 but their plan is to replace the board seat within two weeks
• The 4/25 board meeting was held in the 8th floor clubroom
•  Setup is a work in progress, but was very comfortable for everyone, with some minor adjustments for next month
• The remaining board members were there, Todd, Joel, Laurice and Karen. Along with Greg Mark, chaired the meeting assisted by Kathryn Pankow (HOADV).  Court Terrell, our association attorney was there as well .
• Approximately 11 residents showed up for the meeting and nearly everyone actively participated in one way or another. I think almost everyone spoke at least once.
• The meeting lasted almost two hours (to hear the audio from the meeting check the sidebar of this blog for the link
• Collections
• Collected nearly $59,000 since January
• The board contemplated making some rule changes for the Clubroom rental and removing some restrictions in place with coordinating use of the North Garden Terrace with adjacent clubroom rental. 
• Court Terrell suggested after listening to the board deliberate their ideas, that he write up a legal version of the changes and then go from there.  The issue will be addressed in the next meeting
• MASTER PROPERTY INSURANCE RENEWAL
• Current policy expires at the end of May
• THIS IS A CONSIDERABLE part of our operating budget
• To ensure competitive proposals there are already around 4 or 5 company that the board is courting, which includes our current provider.
• Need an apples to apples comparison
• Joel wanted to discuss increasing the residential board members from 3 to 5 total.  
• Bylaws do allow for this to be accomplished
• Require a 67% of the members in the affirmative to pass IF the Retail and Commercial parking specifically agree to this 
• SUMMARY: What an incredible waste of time including that on the agenda.  
• Joel also expressed concern over the voting share that she commands with her ownership of:
• The entire Retail area of Skypoint
• All the commercial parking spaces plus
• One residential unit.
• Laurice and her husband, hold the most combined and condensed amount of voting shares through virtue of their ownership interests
• They hold a grand total of around 206 shares of 506
• There is no one else on the board or in the building that holds such a high combined risk
• Often times the residential class board members would mention over and over again, using considerable time resources that residential issues have nothing to do with Laurice, Retail director and Karen, Commercial Parking Director.
• Their assertion is incorrect and although the interests that they represent are clearly different than the interests that the Residential class board members represent,  they still all have one equal vote and to never intentionally harm the association.  
• Reserve Study
• Every 5 years a reserve study is accomplished by the management company that adjusts for changes in use of an item or facility. 
• Currently there is around a $57,000 surplus that should more than offset the increased reserve requirements
• THE BIG IF
• Remember last week I talked about the exterior "slurry" that was evaluated during the past year or so?
• The specs of the exterior of our building, apparently were changed after initial deployment and more importantly will require that this slurry be applied in a special way to all exposed concrete parts of the exterior
• This is one of the last remaining items from the building turnover.  
• Cost of the entire building anywhere from 500,000 to well over a million
• HOADV is actively working with the former developer to try and obtain a commitment from them on the financial part of the deal
• IF they don't pay we will be stuck paying for it most likely in the form of a special assessment
• Elliptical Machines need replacing
• Two machines are nearly beyond repair and will need to be replaced.
• Agreed in principle to purchase the elliptical equipment after some evaluation
• RNC Event
• Republican National Committee will hold their convention in Tampa, steps from our building in August
• The Tampa Police Department recently submitted a 100 page report detailing the recommended changes to our building or procedure or both  to minimize the risk to the building and residents. 
• These changes are NOT funded at the moment and would have to be paid for by the association, hence through us , in the form of higher dues or assessment
• HOADV is exploring the availability of Federal and state grant monies that would offset the cost of these items
• There are rumored to be over 30 protest groups already registered with the city with the Curtis Hixon Park one of their designated areas of protest.
• Because of the complexity and demand of our resources the board voted into existence a committee to assist the board in getting ready for the convention.
• I am definitely interested and I encourage you to consider it. Here's why
• It is of a finite duration, there is an end to it!
• The implementation of whatever plan is adopted will be so critical I think the building needs us all right now,.  
• SUMMARY:
• The week of the convention has the potential to be THE most difficult week in the history of Skypint.  If you have the means and time and you don't plan on volunteering on the committee it may be best to just head out of town and let it be someone else's headache.  That will be one of the first things I will recommend to the board and get a tentative commitment by each resident as far in advance of the event as possible.  That could be one way to lessen the impact for everyone.  
• Remember short term rentals aren't allowed.
• Resist the temptation by remembering that we have to come back here and all live together when the RNC is long gone.  We need to protect our building and every resident against any possible hard.  Think Gasparilla on super mega steroids. Sounds like fun! YEA!
• Since the garage lasers and entry systems were a big part of the discussion two weeks ago I just wanted you to know that Bruce recently had the lasers re-calibrated.  Please post if problems with the gates are not improving
• Don't forget to subscribe to this blog if you want posts to be sent to you automatically 
• twitter.com/myskypoint is also linked automatically with facebook.com/myskypoint and this blog:  http://myskypoint.blogspot.com  For downloads, streams, or audio of any kind of the board meetings etc visit:  blogtalkradio.com/myskypoint 

 If you have a few monents would you please add your comments to this information good or bad they are both equally as important to me.  Also if you know something that I didn't mention either comment and add it or shoot me a quick email and I will add it if you would prefer.  


Have a great weekend,
Jeff 

I believe in the power of a good team!

 

Board of Directors Meeting Recap for 04.25.2012

Hello neighbors. Tonight was the first night in years that the Board of directors meeting was held in the 8th floor clubroom.  There were approximately 11 residents that showed up in addition to our board members; Todd Williams, Vice President; Joel Burt, Secretary; Laurice Hachem, Retail Director; Karen Lillie, Commercial Parking Director.  Noticeably absent was Board President, Israel Diaz.

Mr. Diaz turned in his resignation earlier citing health reason and plans to put his condo up for sale and "re-retire"

 Assisting the Board members were our Greg Mark, of Homeowners Advantage (HOADV), Kathryn Pankow, HOADV administrative assistant, and Court Terrell, our legal council.

The meeting started promptly at 7pm with the call to order and determination of a Quorum (Minimum of 3 Board members, there were 5 present).  The proper meeting notice was confirmed (that by the way if you are interested has to happen 48 hours prior to the meeting and the posting is hung in the  mail room, in the case with all agenda items to be discussed).

The minutes from the last meeting were approved unanimously, and the board promptly went into closed session to discuss  these requests.  Ultimately the request from unit 1512 was approved, while the request from unit 3011 was denied (It was their third renewal request).

Lew Sibert kicked off the Resident open Forum with a question directed to Court Terrell, Association attorney to clarify that all board members, regardless of the class that they were elected from hold and EQUAL vote in all matters of the association.  Mike Miller, and myself, having submitted requests to speak two weeks ago prior to the agenda being made public, opted not to contribute anything to the forum.   Because I didn't record the meeting, but I will obtain a copy of the official recording, I am doing this update from memory and notes so I am unfortunately omitting some other resident comments, not on purpose, but just at the interest of getting this update out tonight.

Collections efforts since the beginning of the year have resulted in approximately $58,760 in lost revenue.  Unit 2508, a short sale could also be close to a sale, which will net even more past due association dues.

Many different combinations of rules and regulations changes were contemplated for the Clubroom and the Garden Terrace, but ultimately it was tabled for a later date as Court Terrell, council will be assisting in the legal wording of the new revised rules.

Our Master property insurance policy will be up near the end of May, giving us almost a month to solicit bids from competitors for an efficient insurance policy.  There are numerous companies, most of the Florida Companies, included in the proposed review.

Laurice, Retail Director asked management to please include her and Karen Lilly, Commercial parking Director in all mailings from the association that are addressed to the other three board members.  There was no opposition.

Joe Burt, Secretary proposed increasing the residential class directors from 3 to 5, therefore diluting the voting shares of the Retail Director and Commercial Parking Director.  Court Terrell, assn attorney stated that that could only be done as directed in our bylaws.  Those state that the owner of the Retail and Commercial parking would first have to agree to the change, and that they would be crazy to do so.  This denial would prevent the vote from being placed with the association members (unit owners) since it would be a moot point.

Our required 5 year reserve study was just in.  Skypoint is in a great position as far as reserves, roughly $57,000 over, but that could quickly change as the last hand over item from the developer was addressed.  This item, called the exterior slurry is a coating that would need to periodically be applied to the concrete portions of the exterior surface of the building, to prevent the crumbling of the concrete.  The cost could range from hundreds of thousands to over a million.  The cost of this preventative maintenance looks to be absorbed by the developer, but the final word is not set in stone.  This is a major item to keep an eye out for and has the most potential to impact the budget, hence causing higher monthly assessments in the future.

Two elliptical machines in the cardio room will need to be replaced.  A proposal by a local company is due tomorrow, and from that a decision will be made in the future.

RNC Report.  The Tampa Police submitted their recommendations in over 100 pages of what they think Skypoint should do in preparation for the upcoming RNC convention in August.  These items could be costly and federal/state/local grants as well as other funding sources were contemplated to offset the dollar amount of these recommended items.  Greg Mark will review this document and cost the items out.  The Board also created a RND preparedness Committee that will work to have the items implemented and to work with sources as the date approaches.  IF YOU ARE A RESIDENT UNIT OWNER AND YOU WOULD LIKE TO SERVE ON THE COMMITTEE PLEASE LET MANAGEMENT KNOW.

Greg Mark presented the management report and highlighted the improvements to our community website, BuildingLink.  If you haven't gotten your access to BuildingLink, you are missing out on so much.  Sign up with management to get your pass to explore this great source of information.

I did not hear the date of the next meeting.  Please stay tuned for that.  I hope you enjoyed this synopsis of tonight's board meeting.  For the audio of the meeting please check youtube.com/myskypoint or http://www.blogtalkradio.com/myskypoint.

Thanks for reading my blog, please consider subscribing to it so you don't miss anything or pass it along to another resident that you think may find it interesting, or need sleep!
Jeff

Promenade of the Arts (Zack St) photo update

The south side of the promenade is taking shape between Ashley and Tampa St.

 

Existing Zack Street (Bad pic of a pic)

 

Zack St. Looking toward Tampa St. 

 

Zack St. Looking out parking garage

 

Proposed Layout