Opinion ID: 2156600
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Airspace Units

Text: The defendants argue that Commissioners' Comment 11 to § 34-36.1-2.01 provides for the creation of units without the need to have substantially completed structures in place before a unit can be declared. Commissioners' Comment 11 to § 34-36.1-2.01 provides as follows: The requirement of completion would be irrelevant in some types of condominiums, such as campsite condominiums or some subdivision condominiums where the units might consist of unimproved lots, and the airspace above them, within which each purchaser would be free to construct or not construct a residence. Any residence actually constructed would ordinarily become part of the `unit' by the doctrine of fixtures, but nothing in this Act would require any residence to be built before the lots could be treated as units. The defendants urge us to consider our decision in McConnell v. Wilson, 543 A.2d 249 (R.I.1988), in conjunction with Commissioners' Comment 11. In McConnell we were called upon to decide whether the town clerk of South Kingstown could be directed by writ of mandamus to record a condominium declaration for a parking lot condominium. Id. at 249. By implication we recognized in McConnell that the plaintiffs had created valid airspace units in the proposed parking lot. Id. at 250. The defendants now assert that, therefore, they should have been able to declare units in the undeveloped airspaces above the land referred to as the South and West Units. We decline to follow defendants' broad interpretation of McConnell and Commissioners' Comment 11 to allow for the declaration of undeveloped units. The units in question in McConnell involved parking spaces. The example given in Commissioners' Comment 11 concerns campsite condominiums. Whether a parking space or a campsite area, generally no structures will be erected in these units because their purpose is to provide temporary space for automobiles or tents and recreational vehicles, respectively. Such units essentially are complete as undeveloped, airspace units. Thus, the requirement that all structural components and mechanical systems be substantially completed indeed would be irrelevant. In addition, as P.L. 1982, ch. 329, § 3 makes clear, the statutory language prevails over the Commissioners' Comments. Therefore, we conclude that, except in limited circumstances and except as permitted after 1991 with respect to land-only units, units in a condominium can be created only if they meet the requirements for substantial completion. [5]