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| Thursday, September 2, 2010 |
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IBCs standardize building industry
Published December 17, 2004
Scottsboro’s City Council met in a work session Tuesday to see and hear a presentation about the International Building Code (IBC).
The City is a member of the International Code Council. Scottsboro adopted the IBC approximately a year ago but, at least one council member, is now questioning that decision.
Mel Cosgrove, Regional Manager of Fire Services Activities represented the International Code Council at the meeting. He said a building code “tells you how to build” and a fire code “tells you how to maintain a building.”
A group of local contractors, builders, members of the Scottsboro Planning Commission, the Jackson County Economic Development Authority, The Greater Jackson County Chamber of Commerce and the city’s Industrial Development Board attended the meeting along with Mayor Dan Deason and the entire council.
Council member Jim Helms introduced Cosgrove. He said the meeting was being held to clear up some misunderstandings.
“When we walk out of here today hopefully he (Cosgrove) will convince us we’re okay,” Helms said. “This International Building Codes may be the best thing for us.”
According to Cosgrove building codes set minimum acceptable standards to regulate the design, construction and maintenance of buildings. He said they are in place to “protect the health, safety and general welfare of building occupants.”
Scottsboro had operated under the Southern Edition of the Standard Building Codes (SBC) prior to adopting the new standards. Some in attendance, including Helms, voiced concern that the new code adds considerable cost to new commercial and industrial construction and even more to those wishing to expand. Helms said he felt this was making it more difficult to recruit industrial and commercial prospects to the city.
In a separate interview Helms said it might be time for the City to consider going back to the SBC. He noted that he agreed with the IBC in principle but believes the code is so new it’s hard to interpret and apply and adds unreasonable costs to construction projects.
Cosgrove noted that 21 cities in Alabama had adopted the IBC and said he hadn’t seen that it added substantial costs to most projects. He said the Alabama Building Commission used the new code and that he anticipated the State would adopt it in the not to distant future. He also said other southern states including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee had adopted the new standards.
According to Cosgrove all federal buildings and any building built with federal money must be constructed following the IBC. He said the same held true in Alabama for state buildings or ones built with state funds, including schools.
“The International Building Codes are by far the most predominant now,” said Cosgrove. He said the old SBC were no longer being updated or serviced.
Several people in attendance expressed concerns that both new construction and additions to existing buildings were more expensive under the IBC than under the SBC. Estimates ranged from as low as three percent to as high as 40 percent.
Bill Garner, representing Mary Robinson and a group building a strip shopping center on Veterans Drive and Mack Scott and Jimmy Traylor, who are building an expansion at Maples Industries, said IBC adds undue costs and regulations. They indicated it was making it hard to do business in Scottsboro.
Scott said the new codes add as much as 30-40 percent to an expansion project. Traylor said it added about eight percent to new construction.
“I’m concerned about our town. I’m concerned that we do whatever we have to do to protect Maples Industry and our other local industries,” Helms said. “The City of Scottsboro has put the burden on Maples and any other industry that wants to add on and that’s not right.”
Fort Payne building inspector Stan Blevins said he hadn’t seen that the new code causes much increase in building costs. He suggested that architects and contractors discuss the regulations with local officials before obtaining a building permit. He said concerns could be worked out prior to that process being completed.
Scottsboro City Planner Curtis Davis said the planning commission approved an approximately 48,000 square foot addition for Maples in January. He said they got in under the wire and were able to follow the old SBC codes.
“We were operating under a 1991 Southern Edition of the SBC,” Davis said prior to the council adopting the IBC.
He said he recommended the council adopt the IBC because the SBC was no longer in existence. According to Davis the last time the SBC was updated and published was in 1999 and that going back to it now could present some liability issues.
Davis said the City’s fire insurance rating would have been adversely affected had the IBC not been adopted. The ISO (Insurance Services Office) which provides information to many insurance companies for rating purposes considers a cities building code in their calculations.
The cost of “homeowners and business insurance policies would have gone up,” Davis said.
Local contractor Charles Berry of Virgil Berry Construction Company of Scottsboro said, “the cost of new construction is very minimum difference.”
“The increased cost is not that great,” George Brickley, a local electrical, plumbing and HVAC contractor said. “The code is basically minimum standards and is needed things for safety purposes.”
“The code is not written to cause people to spend more money,” Cosgrove said. “It’s written to save lives, to save property.”
David Tubbs, a vice-president with Consolidated Construction Company in Huntsville, told The Daily Sentinel Thursday that Huntsville and Madison had both adopted IBC. Consolidated built the new Scottsboro High School. He said that IBC is an attempt to get some uniformity between the codes.
“It (IBC) does add costs,” Tubbs said. “It depends on the type of construction,” as to how much it adds.
“IBC is trying to get everything on a level. The whole point was to standardize the building codes,” Tubbs said.
The council did not take any action. Council president Harold Brookshire called the meeting “very informative. We learn as we go forward.”
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