HomeMy WebLinkAboutSR - Ord No. 1145 - Building & Safety Code MEETING DATE C� "� .�5 -C� I
CITY OF PALM DES T[] CONTINUEO TO
DEPARTMENT of BUILDING AN �FF��D TO 2ND READIN6 �l- �� �-' �
STAFF REPORT
Request: ORDINANCE NO. 1145 - AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY
COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA,
ADOPTING A NEW TITLE 15 OF THE PALM DESERT
MUNICIPAL CODE, AND REPEALING EXISTING TITLES
15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 27 and TITLE 16 Section 1602; AND
MODIFYING SECTIONS 8.70.010 AND 8.70.040 OF THE
PALM DESERT MUNICIPAL CODE.
SUBMITTED BY: Dan Kaiser, Acting Director of Building and Safety
DATE: October 25, 2007
CONTENTS: I. Staff Report
II. Ordinance No. 1145
Recommendation:
Waive further reading and pass Ordinance No. 1145 to second reading.
Discussion:
The state's Health and Safety Code requires local governments to adopt the
most recent editions of the model codes related to construction. The
construction codes include: the California Building, Plumbing, Mechanical, and
Electrical Codes, and other related codes. If the City Council approves
Ordinance No. 1145, the most recent editions of the construction codes with the
applicable amendments will be in effect within the City of Palm Desert as
required by State law.
The state's Health and Safety Code (Section 17958) mandates that the California
Building Standards Commission adopt and publish the California Building
Standards Code (Title 24 California Code of Regulations [CCR]) every three (3)
years. The 2007 Edition of the California Code of Regulations Title 24, which
incorporates the below-listed model codes, becomes effective statewide on
January 1, 2008. If approved, Ordinance No. 1145 would amend Titles 15, 16,
17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 27 of the Palm Desert Municipal Code et seq. by
repealing references to the prior editions of the Construction Codes.
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Staff Report
Page 2
October 25, 2007
The list below identifies the model codes upon which the 2007 Title 24, CCR is
based:
California Building Standards Code Reference Model Code
2007 California Building Code 2006 International Building Code (ICC)
2007 California Plumbing Code 2006 Uniform Plumbing Code (IAPMO)
2007 California Mechanical Code 2006 Uniform Mechanical Code (IAPMO)
2007 California Electrical Code 2005 National Electrical Code (NFPA)
2007 California Fire Code 2006 International Fire Code (ICC)
2007California Existing Building Code 2006 International Existing Building Code (ICC)
The construction codes proposed for adoption by reference with amendments include
the following:
2007 California Building Code
2007 California Plumbing Code
2007 California Mechanical Code
2007 California Electrical Code
2007 California Fire Code
2007 California Existing Building Code
These related codes are based upon and are consistent with the provisions found in the
California Building Standards Code. The benefit of adopting these additional codes is to
provide building and fire inspectors/officials and plan examiners with further clarification
of the intent and the applicability of the California Building Standards Code when
presented with a variety of construction issues.
The Department of Building and Safety recommends that changes and modifications be
made to the Codes and are advising that certain changes and modifications to the 2007
Editions of the California Building, Plumbing, Mechanical, Electrical, Fire and Existing
Building Codes are reasonably necessary due to local conditions in the City of Palm
Desert. Extreme temperatures, high winds, and the city's physical proximity to know
active earthquake faults are some of the local conditions necessitating these
modifications to the codes. Other modifications are of an administrative or procedural
nature and concern themselves with subjects that are not covered by the Codes or are
reasonably necessary to safeguard life and property within the City of Palm Desert.
Ordinance No. 1145 sets forth a number of findings, summarized below, which are
necessary to enable the City to amend the new building and related codes to meet our
local conditions. Ordinance No. 1145 updates Titles 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 27 of
the Palm Desert Municipal Code by amending the 2007 Editions of the California
Building, Plumbing, Mechanical, Electrical and Fire Codes.
There are a total of two findings in Ordinance No. 1145, which address one amendment
to the Building, none to the Plumbing Code, none to the Mechanical Code, none to the
Electrical Code, and ten amendments to the Fire Code as follows:
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Staff Report
Page 3
October 25, 2007
The following is a brief overview of the proposed amendments to the California
codes.
SECTION 1
Palm Desert's municipal code currently has the various construction codes
previously noted spread throughout 8 different Titles. It is being proposed that
Titles 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 27 be repealed in their entirety, and Title 16 Section
1602 be deleted, and replaced with the following new Title 15 Building and
Construction.
SECTION 2
1. New Chapter 15 has been formatted to mirror the formatting of CCR Title 24, as
follows:
15.01 Administration
15.02 Building Code
15.03 Electrical Code
15.04 Mechanical Code
15.05 Plumbing Code
15.06 Vacant— Future Energy Code use
15.07 Vacant—
15.08 Vacant— Future Historica/preservation use
15.09 Fire Code
15.10 Existing Building Code
15.11 Vacant— Future Green Building use
15.15 Address Numbering
15.20 Construction Site Security
15.25 Moved Buildings and Temporary Structures
15.40 Safety Assessment Placards
2. New Chapter 15.01 —Administration. Adopting CBC Appendix Chapter 1 as
the administrative provisions for the application of the Palm Desert construction
codes. CCR, Title 24 construction codes contain limited administrative
provisions that are needed in order to permit the City to ensure the public's safety
in the built environment. Some of these items include, but are not limited to
requiring plans, permits and inspections for construction projects; Providing for
an appeals process; and establishing a Certificate of Occupancy process.
A. Section 105.2 was amended to reflect the needs of the City Planning
Department to regulate fences exceeding two feet in height.
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October 25, 2007
B. Section 105.2 was amended to include minor electrical as being exempt
from permits
C. Section 105.2 was further amended to indicate that there are minor earth
moving activities that do not require permits.
D. Section 112 establishes a board of appeals which will enable our
customers the opportunity to challenge the Building Official's
interpretations of the codes applications.
E. Section 113.4 establishes penalties for violations of the Palm Desert
construction codes.
3. New Chapter 15.02— Building Code
A. Building Code Section 1613.7-The 2007 CBC based on the 2006 IBC
and ASCE 7-05 does not provide requirements for separation distances
between adjacent buildings to allow for independent building
displacement due to earthquake ground motions.
Requirements for seismic separation distances between adjacent
buildings and structures have been included in previous editions of the
CBC and IBC. However, these requirements were omitted in the 2006
IBC and in ASCE 7-05, including in Section 12.12.3 of ASCE 7-05
Supplement No. 1. In addition, ASCE 7-05 defines (Ox) in Section 12.8.6
to refer to the deflection of Level x at the center of mass. The actual
displacement that should be used for building separation is the
displacement at critical locations considering both the translational and
torsional displacements. These values can be significantly different.
This code change fills the gap of this inadvertent oversight by specifying
the minimum separation distance between adjoining buildings, which are
not structurally connected.
B. Building Code Section 1614-The minimum base shear required by the
2007 CBC is specified in ASCE 7-05 as referenced in the 2006 IBC. The
minimum seismic base shear specified in ASCE 7-05 is significantly less
than the required by previous editions of the CBC and ASCE 7. For tall
buildings, recent research suggests that this may result in decreasing
seismic safety with increasing building height. The minimum seismic
response coefficient required by ASCE 7-05 is 0.01, which represents 1%
of the weight of the structure and is several times lower than current
requirements. Both the Divisions of the State Architect and the Office of
Statewide Health Planning and Development amended the minimum
seismic base shear to a higher level in the 2007 CBC.
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October 25, 2007
This code change will afford the same level of protection in structural
design for new high-rise buildings in Palm Desert as the State buildings.
C. Building Code Section 1614A.1.8- The Importance Factor, I, appears to
have been inadvertently dropped from equation 12.8-16 by while
transcribing it from NEHRP Recommended Provisions (2003) equation 5.2-
16. For buildings with importance factor, I, higher than 1.0, stability
coefficient should include the importance factor. OSHPD and DSA adopted
this provision for the 2007 CBC.
D. Building Code Section 1614A.1.12- The California Building Code has
insufficient information in the ASTM standards referenced in ASCE 7
regarding prescriptive design requirements for ceiling suspension systems
for seismic loads.
E. Building Code Sections 1908.17, 1908.17.1 and 1908.17.2-The 2007
CBC provisions for concrete design are specified in ACI 318-05 as
referenced by the 2006 IBC. The ACI 318-05 provisions for alternate
slender wall design commonly used for tilt-up concrete walls significantly
under-estimates service load deflection for some cases. The proposed
code amendment is included in ACI 318-08 and is consistent with current
practice in California based on previous UBC provisions that better estimate
service load deflections.
The structural amendments in the proposed ordinance have the support of
the Structural Engineers Association of Southern California (SEAOSC) and
are consistent with Los Angeles Regional Uniform Code Program
(LARUCP) and the Orange County Code Uniformity Group.
F/G. Chapter 34 changes —Currently, Title 24 does not provide for damaged
structures to be repaired or reconstructed to a structurally safe level,
accounting for upgrades in wind and seismic standards. The inability to
repair structures based upon the most recent industry knowledge, thus
preventing or mitigating future unnecessary damage or injury, is not in
the best interest of the citizens we are tasked with assisting.
The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act,
as amended, ("Stafford Act") authorizes the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) to fund the repair and restoration of
eligible facilities damaged in a Presidential declared disaster. Section
406(e) of the Stafford Act requires that the repair and restoration be "on
the basis of the design of such facility as it existed immediately prior to
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October 25, 2007
the major disaster and in conformity with current applicable codes,
specifications and standards."
In 1998, FEMA interpreted the Stafford Act, Federal Regulations in 44
CFR 206.226(d) as follows:
"To the extent a code or standard requires changes to the pre-disaster
construction of a facility when it is being repaired or restored, those
changes will only be eligible for FEMA funding if the code meets the
following five specific criteria:
(1) Apply to the rype of repair or restoration required (standards may
be different for new construction and repair work);
(2) Be appropriate to the pre-disaster use of the facility;
(3) Be found reasonable, in writing and formally adopted and
implemented by the state or local government on or before the
disaster declaration date or be a legal federal requirement applicable
to the type of restoration;
(4) Apply uniformly to all similar types of facilities within the jurisdiction
of to the owner of the facility; and
(5) For any standard in effect: at the time of a disaster, it must have
been enforced during the time it was in effect."
H. Appendix Chapter G has been adopted to provide guidelines for flood-
resistant construction within the city. The new section G 101.5 was added
to clarify that the administration of this chapter is within the purview of the
Director of Public Works.
I. Appendix Chapter J has been adopted, and amended, to provide
guidelines for design and enforcement of grading within the city.
(1) The new section J101.3 is being added to clarify that the
administration of the grading chapter is within the purview of the Director
of Public Works.
(2) Section J104.3 is being added to exempt minor grading projects from
required permits.
(3) Section J109.5 is being added to provide guidance for the installation
of drainage devices.
4. New Chapters 15.03, 15.04, 15.05— Electrical, Mechanical and Plumbing
Code
There are no recommended local amendments being proposed.
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October 25, 2007
5. New Chapter 15.09 - Fire Code
A. Appendix Chapter 1, Section 103 is being added, to establish a fire
prevention division within the city.
B. Appendix Chapter 1, Sections 105 8 106 establish provisions for
required permits and inspections of the Fire Code provisions.
C-L Section 903.x reduces the area thresholds in various occupancies, when
automatic sprinklers are to be required. These recommend area
thresholds are consistent with current Palm Desert municipal code
requirements.
6. New Chapter 15.10 — Existing Building Code
There are no recommended local amendments being proposed.
7. New Chapter 15.15 - Address Numbering
The existing series of city ordinances contained both scoping requirements and
some technical requirements. The proposed ordinance language is limited to
scoping requirements for addressing within the city, and removes the partial
technical requirements. The ordinance further directs the Director of Building
and Safety to develop written policy guidelines outlining the technical
requirements.
8. New Chapter 15.20 —Construction Site Security
This ordinance is being renumbered only (Currently PDMC 15.04.050). There
are no recommended changes to the current ordinance
9. New Chapter 15.25 — Moved Buildings and Temporary Structures is being
renumbered only. (Current PDMC 15.04.170)
10. Chapter 15.40 Safety Assessment Placards remains unchanged.
SECTION 3
PDMC Title 8, Section 8.70 Property Maintenance is being reworded to reflect
the new code adoptions, only. The balance remains unchanged.
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October 25, 2007
FISCAL IMPACT
City Council Resolution No. 06-164 established the Department of Building and Safety
Fee Schedule.
The additional cost associated with construction related to the new provisions described
is negligible and this is offset in savings due to mitigating property damage and loss.
REVIEWS
The proposed ordinance has been reviewed by the City Attorney.
Copies of the proposed ordinance have been provided to the Building Industry
Association (BIA) and the Desert Contractor's Association (DCA). Neither organization
has responded with any negative feedback, or constructive criticism.
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October 25, 2007
THEREFORE, attached for your consideration and recommended passage to second
reading is an ordinance to address the aforementioned code adoptions.
Submitted By: Reviewed and oncur:
�
l/�"
D.F. ai e Homer Croy
Acting Di ector of Building and Safety Assistant Ci ager for
Development Services
Approval:
Paul Gibson, Director of Finance
Approval:
David J. Erwin, City Attorney
Approval:
Carlos Ortega
City Manager
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