ICC Hearings Begin
The International Code Council (ICC) will be holding the Group A Committee Action Hearings in Memphis, Tennessee, starting April 18. This year, ICC will be revising the International Building Code, the International Existing Building Code, the International Mechanical Code and the International Plumbing Code. More than 1,350 proposed changes were submitted this cycle using the new cdpACCESS web portal and are posted on the ICC website.
ICC will be revising the International Building Code, the International Existing Building Code, the International Mechanical Code and the International Plumbing Code
As expected, there are several code changes that have been submitted to address growing concerns related to the significant damages that have resulted in parts of the United States from so-called "superstorms" like Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy. While some proposed changes would require minor modifications in how structures would need to be designed to improve the buildings resiliency, other proposed changes would dramatically affect how and where buildings would be built.
While BOMA International's codes advocacy team is busy reviewing the proposed code changes, BOMA's Building Codes and Voluntary Standards Committee Chairman Don Erb is encouraging all members to start engaging their local code officials who will be participating in this code development cycle. Only those jurisdictions who contacted ICC by March 20 will be authorized to participate and vote on this year's code changes. New remote voting through cdpACCESS was implemented to increase code development participation, so it is more important than ever for BOMA members to start building relationships with their local code officials, many of whom will be participating in code development for the first time.
If you are not sure whether your local jurisdiction is participating this year or what the key issues are, please feel free to contact BOMA International's codes advocacy staff members Steve Orlowski at sorlowski@boma.org or Kevin Fry at kfry@boma.org.