LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The cause of the condo collapse in Surfside, Florida is still being investigated, but the tragic incident has brought attention to building inspections on high-rises, which may leave some Kentuckians wondering what are the requirements in the Commonwealth.

For Louisville resident Tracey Smith, news about the building collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside hits close to home.

“I am the type that I see something like that, and I have those times where I think, ’It could happen to me. I’m in a high-rise building, too,'” Smith said.

Smith lives on the 20th floor of the 800 Tower City Club Apartments in downtown Louisville. However, despite the tragic news, Smith said her fear didn’t last long because she’s confident in how her building is maintained.

“I haven’t heard of any issues with the building. They are pretty good at telling us if anything is going on, like today they were working on fire alarms and working on the plumbing. So I think, you know, it sounds like they would let us know if something was wrong with the building itself,” Smith said.

The Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction (HBC) oversees the construction industry in Kentucky. According to a statement from HBC, its Division of Building Code Enforcement “reviews plans and inspects new building construction, as well as additions, alterations, renovations and buildings involved in a change of occupancy or use."

The statement also said there are regular elevator inspections. In addition, HBC’s Division of Fire Prevention conducts inspections of existing public buildings for compliance with state fire and life safety codes. An information officer with the Public Protection Cabinet told Spectrum News 1 in an email that fire departments also complete inspections within their district.

Beyond that, there is no state requirement for high-rise buildings to be inspected regularly. However, HBC accepts complaints for investigation against both facilities and inspectors. 

According to an emailed statement to Spectrum News 1, regarding if there are regular inspections of high-rise buildings in Lexington, Dewey Crowe, director of building inspection for the City of Lexington stated: “There is no process or requirement for high-rise buildings to be inspected either by the city or the state. It is strictly up to the property owner. If code enforcement received a complaint, they could inspect and possibly require an engineer’s evaluation on a specific issue.”

Spectrum News 1 virtually interviewed city of Lexington’s Code Enforcement Director Alex Olszowy, who said there currently are no requirements for existing high-rise buildings to be inspected regularly.

“There’s obviously state building codes that require new buildings and remodeling to existing buildings to give building permits, but as far as a regular maintenance program on high-rises, there aren’t any,” Olszowy explained. “There are some state regulations related to sprinkler systems, alarm systems, elevators, [and] boilers that requires annual inspection, but as far as the buildings themselves, there are no requirements that I’m aware of, statewide or locally. I don’t even know any local jurisdiction that has any.”

Olszowy said he’d support the idea of regular or recurring inspections of high-rise buildings, but also said there are factors in that to consider.

“It’s going to put a burden on an owner or somebody or some entity to perform those, and then somebody’s going to have to pay for those. So I guess the question is what’s acceptable to the building owners and the community, as kind of a perfect mix to make it work, because they don’t want their buildings falling either. I mean nobody wants to see that kind of loss, loss of life, loss of building,” Olszowy said.

Spectrum News 1 asked Olszowy how often he would want to see high-rise building inspections. In response, he said, “Based on the buildings and the history, and this is anecdotal without getting into any data, I would say in the 20-year range, once every 20 years probably.”

According to an emailed statement regarding Louisville’s high-rise building inspection requirements, Louisville Forward’s Communications Manager Caitlin Bowling stated in part, “Before a new building is constructed or additions and alterations are made to an existing building, contractors must obtain a building permit. As part of that process, the plans are reviewed by code enforcement and public safety officials. Inspections to ensure a structure is safe and meets building code also are conducted before a Certificate of Occupancy is issued.”

The statement also said in part, “Depending on the location, the Louisville Fire Department or suburban fire districts conduct regular life safety inspections on existing high-rise buildings in Louisville…We are currently evaluating our property maintenance code to see if it can be strengthened.”

Spectrum News 1 read the entire statement from Louisville Forward to Smith. In response, she wondered if the city she lives in could do more.

“I’m glad they’re doing that much. Maybe there’s some other kind of like building structure inspections they could do ever so many years or whatever. I think that would be important. I’m glad the fire department, though, does their job and keeps up with it regularly. So I think they could probably do some more, definitely,” Smith said.

This is the full emailed statement from Caitlin Bowling, communications manager of Louisville Forward, which is Louisville Metro Government’s economic development organization.

“Before a new building is constructed or additions and alterations are made to an existing building, contractors must obtain a building permit. As part of that process, the plans are reviewed by code enforcement and public safety officials. Inspections to ensure a structure is safe and meets building code also are conducted before a Certificate of Occupancy is issued.

Depending on the location, the Louisville Fire Department or suburban fire districts conduct regular life safety inspections on existing high-rise buildings in Louisville, including inspection of the sprinkler systems and emergency egress routes, and our code enforcement inspectors respond to complaints about property maintenance. We are currently evaluating our property maintenance code to see if it can be strengthened.

In Miami-Dade County, because of its location on a coast, they face different ground stability and climate-related issues than we do here. Saltwater takes a tremendous toll on concrete and steel.”

Below is the full press release regarding how the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction inspects buildings in Kentucky.

Spectrum News 1 reached out to City Club Apartments, the corporate office of 800 Tower City Club Apartments where Smith lives, to ask if they do any inspections beyond what’s required by the city and state. City Club Apartments is working to get Spectrum News 1 that information so this story will be updated.