The PRMD Newsletter Fall 2009

Comments From The Building Official

Green Building Ordinance

By DeWayne Starnes

On July 21, 2009, a public hearing was held for the Green Building Ordinance, Energy Efficiency Ordinance and the Energy Cost Effective Study. All of these can be viewed at the Permit and Resource Management website under the “What’s New” link for green building and then click on “Board Actions”. The public testimony was very positive and the Board of Supervisors approved the ordinances. The Board was content with the threshold of 50 points under the Build It Green, Green Point Rated System for residential construction, but asked staff to evaluate changing the 20 point LEED ® threshold for commercial construction to the new 40 point certifiable LEED ® threshold. The entire package was immediately sent to the California Energy Commission for approval which is needed anytime Title 24 energy code regulations are exceeded. In our case, residential green building will exceed Title 24 by 15 percent when complying with the 50 point threshold for residential. It is our intent to adopt the new LEED ® 2009, and Build It Green 2008-2011 green point rated systems for commercial and residential construction respectively. The Build It Green, 2008-2011 green point rated system is based on the new 2008 Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Title 24 Energy Code). These standards were due to become effective August 1, 2009, however, the California Energy Commission ran into software problems and on June 29, 2009 issued a notice delaying the effective date to January 1, 2010. Since our green building program is based on the new Energy Code, the effective date of our program will have to be after the January 1, 2010 effective date of the Energy Code.

Now You See Him. Now You Don't

By DeWayne Starnes

In case you don’t know. One of the casualties of a poor economy and an extremely tight budget was the loss of our Building Division Manager, John deCourcy. John’s departure is a huge loss to the Department and he will be sorely missed. John came to us five years ago from the County of Santa Cruz and was their Chief Building Official. He helped establish many of our policies and procedures and did a tremendous job running the Building Division. John and I collaborated on many difficult issues and I honestly can’t think of anytime that either one of us made a decision that chaffed the other. The synergy between us was unparalleled and I will miss his counsel as he was someone who was a good mentor to us all. Good luck John and good fishing.

Graywater Regulations

By DeWayne Starnes

I realized that I hadn’t covered anything about graywater in the last newsletter, so I’m going to have to give a little background in this issue. On July 22, 2008, the State Legislature passed Senate Bill 1258 regarding graywater. This bill effectively removed authority from the State Department of Water Resources for graywater and placed it with the State Housing and Community Development. The bill requires the State Housing and Community Development at the next triennial building standards rulemaking cycle, commencing on or after January 1, 2009, to adopt and submit to the Building Standards Commission for approval building standards for the construction, installation, and alteration of graywater, as defined, systems for indoor and outdoor uses. Graywater is regulated in Chapter 16 of the California Plumbing Code. State Housing and Community Development was charged with amending that chapter of the code. State Housing and Community Development held two stakeholder meetings where folks from across the state gathered to comment on how to improve existing regulations. I attended all stakeholder meetings and provided comments, both verbal and written regarding the new regulations. Several drafts were released and I was invited to a much smaller meeting with State Housing and Community Development, another Building Official representing California Building Officials, and two graywater advocates to finalize comments as a precursor to final draft standards (I guess I spoke up a little too much during the stakeholder meetings). State Housing and Community Development issued a final draft of the regulations and instead of going along with the next triennial building standards rulemaking cycle, they issued an emergency modification based on the Governor’s declaration of drought. This basically moved the effective date from January 1, 2011, to immediately after a hearing by the Building Standards Commission and signing by the Secretary of State. This hearing before the Building Standards Commission took place on July 30, 2009, and since I was involved with this process from the beginning, I attended to provide testimony before the commission. Before I tell you what happened, (in case you don’t already know) I should give you a brief synopsis of the regulations as they were substantially rewritten. Basically, there are four types of graywater systems allowed for in the code: A single fixture or clothes washer system, a simple system, a complex system, and indoor use of graywater. The single fixture system consists of a clothes washer, and or any other single fixture discharging to a mulch basin. This system does not require a permit, in fact, the code is written specifically to say “shall not require a permit”. A simple system is a system that does require a permit, has a discharge capacity of less than 250 gallons per day, and the design of which must meet generally accepted graywater system design criteria approved by the local authority. A complex system also requires a permit and has a discharge capacity of greater than 250 gallons per day, but must be designed by a person who can demonstrate competency to the satisfaction of the local authority. For a link to this regulation, go to: http:www.hcd.ca.gov/codes/shl/Preface_ET_Emergency_Graywater.pdf Otherwise, you’ll be hard pressed to find it. My testimony before the Building Standards Commission was mainly addressing the permitting issue around the single fixture clothes washing system. I suggested that the commission change the language to require a permit for the following reasons: 1) We need a public record of where these systems are located in the event we need to provide noticing, be it educational or health related; 2) We need to review a site plan to ensure these systems were set back appropriately from a septic system, property line, or sensitive receptors such as creeks and streams. The Building Standards Commission paused to consider this, along with my alternate suggestion to change the wording from “shall not require permit” to “may not require permit, in an attempt to let people know that they should check with their local jurisdiction, but in the end, they decided to approve the regulations without change. On August 4, 2009, the Secretary of State signed the regulations which became effective immediately. The Building Standards Commission still has to go through their rulemaking process which they have 180 days to complete with a 45 day comment period (which is slated to begin September 4, 2009. If there are amendments, based on comments that are non substantive, an additional 15 day comment period will be allowed. If the amendments are based on substantive comments, then an additional 45 day comment period will be allowed, but in any case, this all needs to be complete within the 180 days from August 4, 2009. Local jurisdictions may adopt more stringent standards, by ordinance and require permits, so even though the regulations do not require permits for these single fixture clothes washer systems, it is important that you check with your individual jurisdiction to find out what their requirements will be. I will be working with the other Building Officials within Sonoma County to try and establish consistent permitting requirements across jurisdictions. We are currently working on a pamphlet for graywater guidelines and then to follow up with including expanded information on our website for weblinks to typical system installations and do’s and don’t of graywater systems. I expect to complete this work around the end of September.

Assembly Bill 333

By Gary O’Connor

On July 15, 2009, Assembly Bill 333 went into effect, automatically extending valid tentative maps for two years. This is in addition to the one year extension granted in 2008. In light of the present economic situation, this is a little bit of relief for some subdividers who may be looking at an expiring map and dismal sales possibilities. So what do you have to do to take advantage of this extension? Nothing. Nada. Zip. As long as your map was still active on the above date, your project has been extended for two years. What should you do because of this extension? Since this extension only effects the tentative map and not county issued permits, check with your planner to make sure that there aren’t any permits associated with your subdivision which may expire before the map. If you have any questions, feel free to email goconnor@sonoma-county.org or call Gary O”Connor, County Surveyor (707)565-3711.

Swimming Pool Safety Requirements

By Scott Burkett

The California Building Code requires that all in-ground swimming pools be equipped with an atmospheric vacuum relief system. The function of the system (also called an entrapment avoidance system) is to prevent entrapment and hair entanglements by the force of the water suction from pool drains. The requirement is contained in Section 3109.5.2 and allows the following choices for compliance: 1. A safety vacuum release system, referred to as SVRS, or 2. An approved gravity drainage system Safety vacuum release systems are clearly the most common choice with the pool contractors. Each system has its own requirement for testing and installation based on the listing and the manufacturer’s specifications. Some manufacturers require the installers to be certified or authorized. Some manufacturers require on site testing. Permits And Resource Management has been accepting, as proof of proper operation, either an onsite test of the SVRS witnessed by the Building Inspector, or a formal signed and dated statement from the certified installer indicating proper function of the system. In cases where the manufacturer or the listing do not require certified installers, we require an on site or formal written statement from the licensed pool contractor indicating proper function of the system.

What's New?

By Dewayne Starnes

If you haven’t noticed, this newsletter has finally made it to cyberspace. It can be found at our website: http://www.sonoma-county.org/prmd/ Just look in the “What’s New” section in the middle of the web page. We will be ceasing the mail out of the hard copy of these newsletters to those of you on our distribution list. Special thanks to Jo Ann Barker for all her work on the newsletter in general and for preparing the document in accessible format and getting it on the website.