Public meetings are scheduled for June to get comments on new building construction codes in Jefferson City.
The City Council created the Ad Hoc Steering Committee to Review Building Construction Codes in 2015 for the purpose of reviewing and recommending updates to the 2015 version of the International Building Code (IBC), a collection of building codes used across the country. It's a temporary panel, which will function until the building code review is completed and the new building code ordinances are passed.
More than 40 public officials, contractors, architects, insurance executives and business leaders have served on this committee and five subcommittees which engaged in a year-long analysis of the city's five codes affecting requirements for and regulation of commercial and residential structures.
City Building Official Larry Burkhardt said the steering committee met 15 times, and the technical subcommittees met 80 times.
Burkhardt noted concerns were expressed to the committee about fire sprinkler requirements in new construction, primarily for apartments. He said the current recommendations from the committee would require sprinklers in triplexes or larger. He added the Apartment Association has concerns about the costs, which he said had been estimated could mean an additional $25 a month in rent.
Fire officials said it's a safety issue they feel needs to be examined.
According to Missouri statutes, a builder of one-or two-family dwellings or townhouses must offer buyers the option of installing or equipping fire sprinklers in the dwelling or townhouse.
"What we found was there weren't many places in Mid-Missouri that do residential sprinkler systems," Fire Chief Matt Schofield said at an earlier meeting. "It's very common in commercial buildings such as hotels and churches where a high occupancy rate is expected."
The Fire Department worked with River City Habitat for Humanity to incorporate such a system in the group's 100th home built on East High Street.
Missouri American Water and the Missouri Sprinkler Coalition installed the sprinklers in the home, and the hope is to do this in future homes.
"The purpose for all of this is to give the residents enough time to exit a home if there is a fire," Schofield added.
The public meetings for comment on the codes will be held June 1 from 4-5 p.m. and June 15 from 6-7 p.m. Both meetings will be held in the Police Department's Training Room on Monroe Street.
Copies of the International Plumbing Code (IPC) and National Electrical Code (NEC) adoption bills will be mailed to all licensed electrical and plumbing contractors.
The steering committee will meet to discuss any revisions based on any comments received at the public meetings June 22.
If all goes well, the code adoption bills should be introduced July 17 to the City Council and could be approved Aug. 7. If all this happens, then the new codes would go into effect 60 days after the council gives their final approval, which would be around the first of October.
To find bill drafts and email contacts for comments on the proposals, go to the city's website under "Building Regulations": jeffersoncitymo.gov/government_regulations2015.