Flagler Commissioners Briefed on Building Issues

In the wake of Hurricane Milton, Flagler County Commissioners were recently briefed on building and inspection issues by Growth Management Director Adam Mengel.

“What we saw, we did better than our peers,” Mengel said. “This was a great event for us (as) it showed a lot of unity, a lot of good response so we followed the plan. It’s great to see the unity that came out of this.”

Mengel said there is a lot county officials can learn from storms like Milton in the areas of planning, development, engineering, code enforcement and others.

“What I wanted to kind of talk about especially is how the building code changes when we have these events,” he said.

Mengel referenced Hurricane Andrew, the 1992 storm that devastated Homestead, Florida.

“Thank God we have never had anything like that here,” he said.

Mengel said the aftermath of that storm provided good lessons for building officials, including having a good building code to meet the challenge of strong storms, inspections that ensure adherence to the code and building to the code.

“I think it ends up being a partnership,” he said. “Builders have to learn it. The theory here is the building we have now is much different from what we had in 1992.”

One of the things Mengel highlighted in his presentation was that the state’s building code is a minimum code, saying building above code is a good idea.

“You can make these things resilient, that’s my emphasis,” he said. “You can see it. The more recent neighborhoods have the homes built for the more recent codes. We have a fairly recent housing stock.”

Asked by Commissioner Leann Pennington about stormwater management issues in unincorporated Flagler County, Mengel said it is an issue.

“It is something we need to think about as we move into land development code,” he said.

Commission Chair Andy Dance said there are things the county can consider in the comprehensive planning process.

“We need to take a look at those things that have the potential to mitigate those risks,” he said.