Screened porches face permit problems for nearly 300 homeowners

The screened porches of nearly 300 Palm Beach County residents may have to be retrofitted or removed because of faulty building permits, county officials revealed Wednesday.

The county is revoking building permits issued for screen and aluminum structures built from 2007 to 2014 by contractor Rene Mario Cantin, of Florida Screen Builders Inc. in Palm City.

The county's Building Division accuses Cantin's company of submitting designs that were purported to meet state standards, but instead had been slightly "altered." That could have resulted in building structures more vulnerable to wind damage than the state allows, according to the county.

Now the builder faces a hearing and the screened porches will have to be inspected again to see if they can remain intact.

"We are going to have to go back and see what we have to do to get them corrected," said Rebecca Caldwell, the county's executive director of planning, zoning and building. "We won't know until we look at them one by one."

Cantin Wednesday said that the county's concerns are "nothing major" and that the screened-in structures he built actually surpass wind-speed requirements.

Most of the affected properties are west of Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach, though the permit discrepancies involved properties across the county.

County officials have spent nearly a year identifying the properties affected by the permit problems. Residents could start receiving letters this week notifying them that their screened porches are affected.

Cantin said that someone working for his company prepared drawings for his permit applications and "made some artful adjustments" to the designs, but that they will ultimately be proven to be "stronger than it needs to be."

"It's not like this is something that doesn't work," Cantin said. "Nothing out there has to be rebuilt. ... There is no safety issue."

Read the original here:
Screened porches face permit problems for nearly 300 homeowners