The City of Schertz Planning and Community Development Department – Inspections Division has determined a need to amend the City’s adopted building codes regarding sanitation, fire, building, plumbing, mechanical, fuel/gas and electrical requirements and would like to get feedback and direction from City Council from a policy standpoint before moving forward with recommendations to the Building and Standards Commission and eventually City Council.
The purpose of the building code is to establish the minimum requirements to provide a reasonable level of safety, public health and general welfare through structural strength, means of egress facilities, stability, sanitation, adequate light and ventilation, energy conservation, and safety to life and property from fire, explosion and other hazards, and to provide a reasonable level of safety to firefighters and emergency responders during emergency operations.
When adopting new or amended International Building Codes cities generally adopt some local amendments. Local amendments are adopted to mitigate regional climate (i.e weathering), environmental conditions (i.e. wind, flooding, wildfire, etc.), geological, topographic and natural hazards. Some of those amendments are part of the building appendix written by the International Code Council for municipalities to adopt new construction practices or trending construction and some are local and base on industry professional recommendations.
Municipalities adopt new building codes because of industry standard changes and to provide for implementation of new construction practices and improvements in safety standards for the safety and welfare of the community. The codes are also intended to ensure the proper construction of structures built and to follow compliance with the requirements of the Insurance Service Office Inc. (ISO) which regulates estimated insurance costs. The ISO program evaluates a community’s building code enforcement with the intent to encourage code compliant construction ultimately providing discounts on property insurance within municipalities with effective codes adopted and that are well-enforced.
City staff holds monthly contractors’ meetings (a short hiatus during COVID) to discuss construction practices and gain input from the development/construction community. Homebuilders, Electricians, Plumbers, Mechanical Contractors, Greater San Antonio Builder Association, and other Professional Individuals have provided input on codes that they feel need to be amended through these meetings. Staff is prepared to propose those requested changes.
The City of Schertz Code of Ordinances, Chapter 18 includes mandates that provide for future code adoptions which are consistent with the standards adopted by the State of Texas. The State of Texas does allow for municipalities to adopt local amendments to those mandated standards. The following codes are currently being regulated through those mandates:
- National Electrical Code 2020 – enforcement started November 1, 2020 as mandated by the State of Texas.
- International Energy Conservation Code 2015 as mandated by the State of Texas.
- International Swimming Pool and Spa Code 2018 (ISPSC) as mandated by the State of Texas.
The City currently regulates construction under the 2012 ICC Codes and will be requesting to adopt the 2018 ICC Codes with some local amendments as listed below:
- International Building Code (IBC) 2018
- International Residential Code for One and Two Family Dwellings (IRC) 2018
- International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC) 2018
- International Mechanical Code (IMC) 2018
- International Plumbing Code (IPC) 2018
- International Existing Buildings Code (IEBC) 2018
- Manual of Cross Connection Control, Tenth edition
Staff has been reviewing the adopted local amendments and is preparing modifications to provide less oversight in certain areas, to reduce overall cost to the contractor and property owner and to gain efficiency for department staff for example:
- Foundation documents: The City adopted additional foundation regulation several years ago which included 10 documents of which many require a register engineer to prepare. These regulations are local amendments and not required by the International Building Code. Staff would like to propose that Council consider only requiring 3 of those documents to release a residential Certificate of Occupancy instead of 10. This will benefit both the contractor, homeowner, and City by reducing the cost of project as each letter could cost the contractor as much as $400 for preparation cost, save time in the contractor’s project management and reduce staff time collecting reviewing and managing the documents which will allow staff to work with residents and contractors on other construction projects.
- Contractors registration: The City requires that contractors show proof by providing a copy of their general liability insurance in the amount of $300,000.00 for all contractors. All trades that are regulated by the State of Texas such as Electricians, Plumbers, Air Conditioning Contractors and other state regulated licensed contractors are required to submit insurance to the State of Texas. The State of Texas through the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality control the amount of insurance required per trade and this amount is subject to change. Contractors not maintaining minimum insurance requirements are not allowed to work in the State of Texas and are subject to fines and penalties. Staff would like to propose to continue to license and require insurance for General Contractors (builders, etc.) only, as they are not State regulated, but not any State Licensed contractor. The State of Texas provides guidelines and timeframes for contractors to provide insurance information to anyone wanting to file a claim against a licensed company. The benefits will include a time savings for both the contractor, insurance company and the City which will result in the contractor submitting less paperwork, insurance company has one less place to submit documents which holds up permitting at times when staff has to wait on the certificate to be submitted and staff managing and tracking the insurance certificates.
- Staff is prepared to remove some the local amendments because the code books have caught up to our adopted local amendments and others to follow the minimum code standards set forth in the ICC Code books for example removing three amendments related to a Bathroom Branch Circuits, Minimum Ampacity and size, and Dwelling Unit receptacle outlet requirements are just a few. Additionally, Staff is preparing to add a permit exemption for Pergolas, Arbors and Trellis structures less than 300 square foot in size.
The public input meetings moving forward will include:
- December 2020 – Workshops with City Council and Building and Standards Commission
- January 2021 - Stakeholder meetings (Contractors, Builders, GSABA); Building and Standards Commission for in-depth presentation.
- February 2021 - Stakeholder meetings (Contractors, Builders, GSABA); Building and Standards Commission for recommendation
- March 2021 – City Council presentations
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