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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES Estes Park Board of Appeals 2015-03-12RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Estes Park Board of Appeals March 12, 2015 Board Room, Estes Park Town Hall Commission: Attending: Aiso Attending: Absent: Brad Klein, John Spooner, Joe Calvin, Don Darling, Tony Schiaffo Members Klein, Spooner, Calvin, Darling, and Schiaffo Chief Building Official Will Birchfield, Building Inspector Claude Traufield, Permit Technician Charlie Phillips, Recording Secretary Karen Thompson None The following minutes reflect the order of the agenda and not necessarily the chronological sequence. There were six people in the audience (including two staff). Chair Spooner opened the meeting. CBO Birchfield informed the Board all meetings will be recorded and televised. Each Board member introduced himself and gave their area of expertise as follows: Member Klein, HVAC and Mechanical Contractor for 16 years; Member Darling, General Contractor who has worked locally for 20 years; Member Schiaffo, Mechanical and Plumbing Contractor for 40 years; Member Calvin, Registered Architect for 25 years; Member Spooner, Registered Professional Engineer focusing on structural engineering and water resources for 45 years. CONSENT AGENDA Minutes from February 5, 2015 Board of Appeals meeting. It was moved and seconded (Schiaffo/Klein) to approve the minutes as presented. Darling abstained. Chair Spooner stated Town staff and the Board of Appeals welcome and encourage input concerning the proposed 2015 building codes and local amendments. The adoption process will take most of the year, with a different code discussed each month. If stakeholders or citizens wish to comment, he recommended they submit written comments to Town staff or one of the Board members, and the information will be shared and discussed at one of the meetings. The Town website has the various topics to be discussed. All meetings, with the exception of this one, will be the first Thursday of each month, from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Town Hall Board Room. The April meeting will include the International Residential Code. CBO Birchfield attended the Town Board Study Session on February 10th to provide the Town Board with the adoption process and timeline. They approved of his plan. Press releases will be sent, and a mass email distributed to all stakeholders that have (or had) an Estes Park Building Contractor License. Emails may also be sent to business owners, if an email address was provided on the business license application. The Town Board requested a fee survey, and CBO Birchfield will gather the information and present it at a future meeting. He stated the Town Board also requested a monthly update on the adoption process. 2012 SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO THE INTERNATIONAL BUILDING CODE (IBC) CBO Birchfield stated the 2012 Significant Changes were reviewed fairly quickly at the February meeting, and he encouraged those interested to view the document on the Town website (www.estes.org/icodes). He stated the publication of the 2012 Significant Changes to the IBC is available for check out through the Division of Building Safety. The Board had no specific questions.nor concerns concerning the 2012 Significant Changes to the IBC, and agreed to move on to reviewing the 2015 Significant Changes to the IBC. He reviewed the criteria for determining whether or not a significant change was significant to the Town of Estes Park. This information was presented at last month's meeting. For specifics, please refer to the February Board of Appeals meeting minutes. 2015 SIGNIFICANT CHANGES CBO Birchfield stated Certificates of Occupancy (CO) are required for every building prior to occupancy. If an existing building undergoes a change of use, a CO is required. There is not one set of rules for all buildings; rather, rules are based on the hazards associated with the use. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Estes Park Board of Appeals 2 March 12, 2015 Board Room, Estes Park Town Hall Member Calvin reviewed the code change related to "lodging houses", stating a definition has been added for this type of dwelling. A lodging house is a building occupied by the owner and up to five additional tenants. This is different from a boarding house, where the owner does not live in the building. These buildings are classified as R-3 occupancy. CBO Birchfield stated section 705.2 deals with roof overhangs, cornices, etc. The ICC continues to make minor changes to the language for clarification. This code change would be addressed by architects and designers. Member Darling stated the change for membrane penetrations, depending on the assembly, it would need to be whatever the fire stop would need to be in order to separate two units. Current Town practices already account for this change. Fire Marshall Marc Robinson reviewed changes to Chapter 9, which is regulated by the Fire Code. He stated the changes in Chapter 9 are changing how we do calculations, with the goal to make it easier to determine when sprinklers are required in A occupancy buildings. This comes into play when you have separate A occupancies in one building, all with one point of egress (example: a food court with several kitchens and limited egress) We have very few buildings of this type in Estes. CBO Birchfield added if a building currently has a restaurant and they want to add another restaurant(s) in the same building, once the total occupancy reaches 300 the building will need to be sprinkled if they all use the same egress path. Marshall Robinson stated other code changes deal with assisted living facilities and the types of sprinklers required. Some facilities provide living quarters for people who are capable of leaving the building on their own power; while others provide living quarters for people who may need assistance in leaving the building in case of fire. This code addresses the types of systems required in those different facilities. It is all about the volume of water coming from the sprinkler. In some cases, sprinklers in these facilities will be required in attics. Marshall Robinson states most changes are being brought into the Codes from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Taking a nationally recognized code and bringing the definitions into the International Building Codes. Marshall Robinson stated fire suppression systems in assisted living homes will be able to have residential range hoods with a fire suppression system similar to commercial kitchen hoods. Town Building Inspector Claude Traufield stated a change is being made concerning the location of smoke alarms in relation to locations of permanently installed cooking appliances and bathroom doors. The regulations are being added to the IBC. Some changes have been made with the intent to reduce false alarms, and to discourage people from disconnecting the alarms. The change will allow inspectors to quickly reference the material in the field. Carbon monoxide alarm regulations are being added to the IBC to make it easier Member Calvin reviewed the change concerning accessibility in assisted living and rehabilitation facilities. This is in alignment with the revised changes concerning fire sprinkler systems. The number of accessible units required is being changed, depending on the capability of the residents to exit the building safely. CBO Birchfield stated when a new addition of the code is adopted, the reference standards are also changed to align with the new codes. Contractors in the field will be expected to follow the new standards as adopted. Member Calvin stated there will be a change to accessibility standards in multi-unit residential buildings. The previous regulations allowed designers to use the entire site to calculate the number of accessible units required. The change will require analyzing each building with more than 50 units to determine the number of accessible units required within the building, not just on the site. There is additional provision dealing with folding seats in accessible showers. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Estes Park Board of Appeals 3 March 12, 2015 Board Room, Estes Park Town Hall Member Spooner stated the snow load data is being revised, and there will be a requirement to show on the construction documents the flat roof snow load, snow load factor, importance factor, thermal factor, etc. He does not view this as an issue, as the structural engineers are already calculating the numbers - they will now just have to insert the tables onto the construction plans. This requirement will be for buildings designed under the Building Code (IBC), not the residential code. Member Spooner reviewed the code changes concerning partition loads. This is where a commercial structure is built where the inside partitions can be moved. The change requires the floor system to be designed to support various loads, because the tenant finish may be unknown at the time of construction. CBO Birchfield stated the 2015 Codes have done away with a lot of requirements for special inspections (third-party) and put the emphasis back on the fabrication of components that would normally require a special inspection. Member Spooner stated the code change on open-webbed steel Joist and joist girders is rarely used on residential buildings. If the change would apply to a building in Estes Park, the property owner would need to hire a special inspector. CBO Birchfield stated the improper installation of these girders is a main reason for structural failure. Member Spooner stated the Board of Appeals, staff, and stakeholders will be spending a lot of time discussing wind resistance. There is a need for putting together the components in a manner that will satisfy the wind requirements. Wind construction has improved in the past five years. CBO Birchfield reminded the Board that this change is in the IBC, not the IRC, and the change includes a special inspection for wood-framed construction in high wind areas. Please keep that in mind when we get to the proposed local amendments. CBO Birchfield stated Chapter 23 deals with a definition of structural glued cross laminated timbers. Sometimes it takes the code a while to catch up with what's happening now in the field. CBO Birchfield stated Chapter 34 has been removed in its entirety and everything relating to existing buildings will now be addressed in the International Existing Building Code. Chair Spooner stated wind standards significantly increased when the 2009 codes were adopted. The change was due to a study that was completed by a group of structural engineers based in Fort Collins. The study included the area from Denver to the Wyoming border, and the Continental Divide to Interstate-25. It is no surprise that unique wind situations occur in this area. A number of communities adopted those design wind speeds from the study, which increased the design wind speed from 90 to 140 mile per hour/3 second gust in the Estes Park area. The Larimer County website shows the wind speed by individual parcel. When we adopt the 2015 code, we will also adopt a change in the way the winds are defined. We are going to end up using a wind speed close to 170 mph. This does not mean we are changing the pressures and the loads being put on the buildings. There has been a reassessment of how winds are specified, and it includes risk (e.g. use of structure). He explained in detail how the revision may affect construction. Basic concept is changing, and methods of calculation are changing, but when you complete the analysis, the design wind speed will not be changing that much. Chair Spooner would recommend coordinating the Town's design wind speed with Larimer County. 2012 SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO THE INTERNATIONAL BUILDING CODE CBO Birchfield briefly reviewed the 2012 Significant Changes to the IBC. For specifics, please refer to the document posted on the Town website. Marshall Robinson discussed sprinkler protection for basements, which are the most hazardous areas to fight fires. In basements, walls can hinder fighting a fire. The change would be when basements become compartmentalized, a higher risk for firefighters occurs, and depending on the change, it could trigger the provision to sprinkle the basement. It is a two-condition trigger: the basement has to be over 1500 square feet, and partitions are added. The code is not retroactive. This would involve new construction or property owners that want to compartmentalize existing space. The trigger could RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Estes Park Board of Appeals 4 March 12, 2015 Board Room, Estes Park Town Hall be tripped if they want to change the use. This is one reason it is important to pull building permits, so a history of the building can be compiled. This change for basement sprinklers would be enforced by the International Fire Code and the International Property Maintenance Code (if adopted). Other than wind, snow, fees, and wildfire, which will all be addressed separately, CBO Birchfield requested feedback from the Board concerning the significant changes and local amendments. Most are lining up with national standards. Comments from the Board included: staff did a good job in reviewing them, and there were no concerns about the proposed changes. If the public comes to the Board with a concern over a change, it will be discussed. 2015 IBC LOCAL AMENDMENTS CBO Birchfield stated all the proposed amendments are also current amendments, with the exception of wind, snow, fees, and wildfire. Most have to do with Chapter 1, Administrative Provisions. When the code is adopted, we are creating an enforcement agency and a person responsible to enforce the codes. Several codes are adopted by references. There will be public meetings on each of the codes. State law requires the municipality to adopt an energy code if it adopts the buildings codes. The proposed significant changes, local amendments, and public concerns can be viewed on the Town website at www.estes.org/icodes. He emphasized this code does not apply to one- and two-family residential homes. The State of Colorado oversees the electrical code, the First District will oversee the Fire Code, and the Larimer County Health Department will oversee private sewage disposal systems. CBO Birchfield stated annual permits are allowed, and can be pulled for small Jobs by the property owners. Inspections are still required. The annual permit allows property owners to begin work before all the office paperwork is complete. Additionally, annual permits can also be issued to contractors, as long as they are qualified to do the work for which they are applying. Once they submit an application, they do not have to wait for staff to issue the permit before they can go to work. The contractor would have an account for building permit fees. Permit applications that qualify for the annual permit are those that do not require review by staff or sign off by other agencies having Jurisdiction. CBO Birchfield stated the only contractors not required to have a Building Contractor License (BCL) are those regulated by the state (e.g. plumbing, electrical). Homeowners do not have to have BCLs, depending on the scope of the work; however, they must pull permits, have inspections, etc. The property owner must live in the home to qualify for no BCL. There are other exceptions to the requirement of the BCL. Check with the Division of Building Safety to ensure all documents required are on file. Volunteers are exempt from contractor licensing because they are not being compensated for their work. They are still required to pull permits and comply with the codes. CBO Birchfield stated there is nothing in the 2015 codes that discuss how permits expire. He would propose expiration dates that are determined by the type of permit. Fuel gas, roofs, etc. will have shorter expiration dates, while a permit for a new building will be 18 months. Extensions can be requested. Permit boxes are required for large Jobs. CBO Birchfield stated submittal documents depend on the scope of the work. It is up to the architect or engineer to make sure they are qualified to put their stamp on the plans. Public Comment None. Staff and Member Discussion There was general consensus of the Board to continue the 2015 Proposed Local Amendments to the IBC at an additional meeting, in order to keep the regular meetings on schedule. Chair Spooner announced the next meeting will be held Thursday, March 26, 2015 from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Estes Park Town Hall Board Room. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:05 p.m. RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Estes Park Board of Appeals March 12, 2015 Board Room, Estes Park Town Hall John^ooner, Chair Karen Thompson/ReGording Secretary