Kentucky’s Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction’s (DHBC) newly organized Advisory Committee heard and approved testimony last month for the Commonwealth to advance to the 2015 International Code Council’s (ICC) family of codes. Members did not, however, take action on an effective date for the change.

The International Codes are model codes published by ICC and developed by ICC members to provide minimum safeguards for homes, buildings, and other structures.

DHBC organized two task force committees to examine both the International Building Code and the International Residential Code. Both committees were represented by code officials, architects, engineers, contractors, home builders, and other stakeholders who have interests in the built environment.

Each committee reviewed the documents within their respective groups and came together then to review the proposed changes. The goal was to try to stay as close to the International Codes as possible to help alleviate any disparities in the code.

“The task force didn’t want to change one code section that could affect another one,” said Brian Sims CBO, PDS’ chief building official.

These proposed codes will be submitted now to the Legislative Research Commission for hearing and adoption. Upon approval, DHBC typically establishes a grace period for those projects currently in design to be submitted for permitting. This helps design professionals from having to redesign parts of their structures half way through a project. This grace period is between 90 to 180 days and then adhering to the new code will be mandatory.

 

Two PDS staff members were honored earlier this month with votes of professional affirmation from their peers. Jeff Bechtold, Senior Building Official, and James Fausz, AICP, Long-Range Planning Manager, were elected to positions of leadership within their professional spheres.

Bechtold was re-elected to a three-year term as director at large of the International Codes Council (ICC). The ICC Board of Directors is comprised of 18 public safety professionals, building and fire, who volunteer to serve. The ICC and its family of organizations promote building safety and are the referenced building and fire codes in all 50 states; ICC codes form the basis of the Kentucky Building Code. The ICC is a member-driven organization consisting of 66,000 members and over 360 International, regional, state and local chapters.

Fausz was elected president-elect of the Kentucky Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA-Kentucky). He will serve as president-elect for one year, president for two years, and past president for one year. The American Planning Association includes 35,000 members from over 100 countries. Its governing structure includes 47 chapters throughout the US and 21 divisions that embrace the wide range of planning. The Kentucky Chapter brings together practitioners, planning officials, students, and interested citizens into a single and stronger community forum.

“NKAPC/PDS has a long and very distinguished history of service to its various disciplines,” said Dennis Gordon, FAICP, PDS’ executive director—himself a past president of APA-Kentucky and -Indiana and a former member of the APA Board of Directors. “I know from personal experience that these positions take a lot of personal time. But, I can say truthfully that my employing agencies and I got more out of those commitments than anyone can ever comprehend fully.”

Bechtold and Fausz join another PDS staffer, Louis Hill, AICP, GISP, Geospatial Data Analyst, who was elected President of the Kentucky Association of Mapping Professionals (KAMP). Read about Hill’s election here.

For APA-Kentucky and KAMP, these recent elections bring their presidencies full circle to where the organizations began. Trisha Brush, GISP, Director of GIS Administration, helped found and served as KAMP’s first president. Former executive director Bill Bowdy, FAICP, helped to found and served as APA-Kentucky’s first president.

Other PDS staff members giving back to their professions currently are: Steve Lilly, PLS, GISP, Land Surveying Analyst at PDS, is a member of the Kentucky Association of Professional Land Surveyors Board of Directors and is the organization’s liaison with KAMP; Brian Sims, CBO, Chief Building Official at PDS, sits on the Board of Directors of the Code Administrators’ Association of Kentucky; John Lauber, Senior Building Official, and Gary Forsyth, Associate Building Official, sit on the board of directors of the Northern Kentucky Building Inspectors’ Association. 

Building Codes in Kentucky have been mandated and updated since the early 1980’s. Whether they will be updated in 2017 is in the hands of two taskforces established by the Kentucky Board of Housing. Both groups are reviewing the 2015 code published by the International Code Council (ICC), the organization from which all 50 states obtain their model codes.

The International Code Council is a member-focused association dedicated to developing model codes and standards used in the design, build and compliance process to construct safe, sustainable, and resilient structures.

The two task forces—one for the Kentucky Building Code and another for the Kentucky Residential Code—have been reviewing the 2015 International Code to see what, if any, changes need to be made to the ICC model for the codes that will be enforced throughout Kentucky.

The taskforces are made up of those with specific interests in the industry such as code/fire officials, design professionals, and builders. Each group was tasked to review the document with their respective peers and then to meet to and discuss the significant changes. Whatever proposed changes survive that process are then forwarded on for consideration.

PDS’ Chief Building Official, Brian Sims, CBO, sits on one of these taskforces as a representative for the Code Administrators Association of Kentucky. “The 2015 International Code is a positive move forward as it helps the building industry keep up with changes in technology. It also helps to clarify items in the current code that were once vague and subject to interpretation,” says Sims.

National model codes are updated every three years based on comments and suggestions from the states, counties, and cities that use them. Once updated, the national models are then distributed to and considered by these jurisdictions who make changes to fit their needs.

The model’s purpose is to establish minimum/maximum requirements to safeguard the public health, safety, 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 and other hazards attributed to the built environment.

The Kentucky working groups have been given a working timeframe and will need to have their findings formulated and presented to the Board of Housing prior to its November 2016 meeting. If approved, the updated Kentucky Building Code and Kentucky Residential Code would be made effective by mid-2017 to allow a grace period for those projects currently being designed.