Building Code Board of Appeals Minutes 06/18/2013 ADOPTED

- ADOPTED -
BUILDING CODE BOARD OF APPEALS
MINUTES – ANNUAL MEETING
JUNE 18, 2013

I.      ROLL CALL

Emil Dahlquist, Chairman, called the annual meeting of the Building Code Board of Appeals to order at approximately 6:05 p.m. in Room 103 of the Simsbury Town Offices. In attendance were members Emil Dahlquist, Charles Warren, Harvey Goodfriend, Sandy Ziplow, and Paul Holland.  Also in attendance were Henry Miga, Town of Simsbury Building Official, and Colleen Fenn, Commission Clerk.

II.     REVIEW AND APPROVE MINUTES of June 19, 2012

No amendments were made to the minutes. 

Mr. Goodfriend made a motion to approve the June 19, 2012 minutes.  Mr. Ziplow seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved.

III.    ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN

Mr. Warren made a motion to nominate Emil Dahlquist as Chairman of the Building Code Board of Appeals. The motion was seconded by Mr. Goodfriend.

Mr. Dahlquist noted that his term expires in January 2014. He suggested he could stay on as Chairman until that time when either the Deputy Chairman could be appointed or someone else could be voted in as Chairman. Mr. Warren emphasized that the Chairman should be a Simsbury resident. Mr. Dahlquist then agreed to stay on until the June 2014 meeting and appoint a new Chair at that time.

Mr. Goodfriend motioned to close nominations. Mr. Ziplow seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved.

IV.     APPOINTMENT OF DEPUTY CHAIRMAN

Mr. Dahlquist handed out a current version of the rules of procedures for the Commission, indicating that the procedure has been for the Chair to appoint the Deputy Chair.

Mr. Dahlquist nominated Mr. Warren as the Deputy Chairman of the Building Code Board of Appeals. The nomination was seconded by Mr. Goodfriend.  The nomination was approved, with Mr. Warren abstaining.

V. OLD BUSINESS

Chairman Dahlquist stated that there is no business carried over from the last meeting.

VI. NEW BUSINESS

A. Discussions of current Connecticut Building Codes and proposed changes with Henry Miga, Town Building Official

Mr. Miga noted that the 2009 International Residential Code, which is meant to be an all-inclusive document for
1 and 2 family dwellings, has been forwarded on to the legislature with a review timeframe of July or August 2013. It is hopeful that it will take effect as of October 1st, along with the 2011 energy code.  The Codes & Standards Committee has been reviewing the 2012 family of codes, starting with the International Building Code, and will then move on to each of the subsequent international mechanical codes. It is anticipated they will be adopted, along with the 2012 IRC, by the end of 2014 or the beginning of 2015.  Later in the meeting, Mr. Warren noted the positive aspect of the State getting caught up and having the most current code in effect. Mr. Miga indicated that the expedition of the process is being aided by the fact that the notification process to gather comments is being done on a rolling basis rather than all at once. He further stated that the intent is to remain with the base code unless there is a compelling reason to change which aids in streamlining the CT amendments relative to the International Code.

In response to Mr. Goodfriend’s inquiry on residential sprinklers, Mr. Miga indicated that specific code has not yet been adopted as part of the 2009 IRC code, but probably will be for the 2012 code. He confirmed for Mr. Warren that there has been much discussion on the issue, but that ultimately home builders are not necessarily against the code but rather desire a reasonable transition time in order to adjust for the increase in cost. He confirmed for Mr. Goodfriend that as part of the law currently builders are required to give homeowners a choice to include sprinklers or not, to which there has been mixed responses. In response to Mr. Ziplow, Mr. Miga indicated that generally there is no affect on homeowner insurance costs if sprinklers are installed since statistics have been showing that fire damage tends to be more of an issue than water damage. He also indicated that due to better dryers, cooking and electrical systems generally there has been a decrease in structure fires. He strongly agreed with Mr. Goodfriend that a decrease in smoking has also had a major impact.

Mr. Miga noted that other changes include an International Swimming Pool Code that is scheduled to be adopted. Electronic copies are available of the entire code, however cost often prohibits their use.  He also confirmed for Mr. Goodfriend that new charts referencing wind speed variables and wind-borne debris areas by geographic zone have been developed and will be included as an addendum to the code.  He indicated that membrane roofs need to meet design code (i.e., for wind speed, etc.) but what a warranty specifically guarantees falls under a contractual agreement and is not necessarily correlated to the code requirements.  In response to Mr. Dahlquist, Mr. Miga confirmed that no changes to the code have been made with regard to the composition of the Building Code Board of Appeals.

In response to Mr. Holland, Mr. Miga said he has not seen much in the way of variable refrigerant flow (VRF) projects in Simsbury, however he has seen the use of chilled beam in some commercial projects in other towns. Mr. Holland cautioned against the use of VRF especially in schools, noting possible problems with ASHRAE 15. He would, however, like to see some type of cooling brought into Central School.

In response to Mr. Ziplow, Mr. Miga indicated there have been some new natural gas lines installed in Simsbury, specifically on Oakwood Road and the new development on Croft Lane. In his opinion, where gas is available most people are choosing to convert from oil to gas. There has been a similar upward trend with the use of split systems for portions of residential homes.

Mr. Warren commended Mr. Miga’s efforts to keep unnecessary appeals from coming to their Board.

There was a brief discussion regarding Florida’s code version in response to a query by Mr. Ziplow. Mr. Miga presumed they were using the most recent ICC codes, which include references to the NFPA standards related to building. He indicated that Building Officials do rely on the engineer plans to address highly technical issues such as wind speed and snow load.

Mr. Dahlquist referenced the Rules of Procedure handed out earlier in the meeting and requested comments from the Board within 2 weeks.

VII. DATE FOR 2014 ANNUAL MEETING:  TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 2014

Mr. Warren made a motion to accept the date of the next meeting as June 17, 2014.  Mr. Ziplow seconded the motion, which was unanimously approved.

VIII. ADJOURNMENT

Mr. Goodfriend made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:50 p.m.  Mr. Warren seconded the motion, which was unanimously approved.

Recorded by:   Colleen Fenn