Department of Community Development
Reference: 2021 Building Safety Code Amendment
To: Mayor Gregory Mills and Members of City Council
Through: Michael P. Martinez, City Manager
Prepared By: Andrew Ulmer, C.B.O., Chief Building Official
With Input From: Brighton Fire Rescue District
Date Prepared: January 16, 2025
PURPOSE
To streamline and amend the current 2021 Building Safety Codes and apprise the City Council of future, potential building code adoption items.
BACKGROUND
The national building codes are published every three years after an extensive process. Industry members, homebuilders, design professionals, manufacturers, fire services, and advocacy groups all have extensive input into code development. The building codes provide requirements for building design, construction methods, safety, and performance.
Staff is proposing to amend the current building code (see Chapter 15, Buildings and Construction of the Municipal Code) to do the following: 1) Correct minor omissions in the currently adopted International Code Council model codes (the “I-Codes”) that are intended to be filled in by the jurisdiction. 2) Revise the design criteria for those geographic-specific engineering parameters that impact building design. 3) Remove duplicative language. 4) Restore the administrative sections of the codes as written and intended by the ICC to avoid conflict and confusion with our primarily, national customers. With the proposed amendments, there will be slight modifications to remove aspects related to the Utilities and Public Works departments and place them elsewhere within the Municipal Code.
Generally, the proposed amendments are minor in nature and any future submittals can be accepted with a 90-day grace period if desired by the builder, but Staff believes this will be a moot point as the proposed design criteria will be less stringent and as such, no conflict should be created. Existing approved master plans (plans for a particular model home to be built repeatedly) and other proposed plans can continue under their current design criteria until the next code cycle.
Staff will come back to the City Council at future study sessions to discuss additional topics for consideration. These topics will include the potential adoption of: 1) Single-family unit sprinklers, 2) State-mandated Energy Conservation Code, 3) Potential Wildland-Urban Interface Code options, 4) Potential radon mitigation, and 5) Potential enhanced energy and water conservation measures from the state and other sources.
Staff’s intention is to bring the I-Codes and the National Energy Code (NEC) to City Council approximately every three years and to adopt the 2024 I-Codes and 2026 NEC codes simultaneously to reduce the number of plan revisions placed on our customers and to reduce the amount of staff reviews as well. This would likely result in adoption of the new codes in the latter half of 2026.
Lastly, Staff will be preparing for City Council’s review and consideration at a future regular City Council meeting an appointment to establish the Board of Appeals hearing officer as set forth in section 15-2-110 of the Municipal Code.
SUMMARY OF STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS
The currently adopted Building Safety Codes should be revised and clarified with respect to the following:
1) Specific model code “blanks” should be filled in as planned by the authors of code.
2) The design criteria should be adjusted.
3) The administrative sections should match standard code without risk of conflict.
4) The language impacting other departments should be moved to other sections of the Municipal Code.
Additionally, staff would recommend appointing an appeals officer at an upcoming regular City Council meeting.
ATTACHMENT
• Staff’s Draft Presentation