Every several years, the Virginia Board of Housing and Community Development (BHCD) reviews countless amendments to the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code, the Statewide Fire Prevention Codes, and several other codes and regulations. The BHCD consists of 14 citizen members, including 11 members appointed by the Governor from each of Virginia’s Congressional Districts, a representative from the Virginia Fire Services Board, the Executive Director of the Virginia Housing Development Authority, and the Director of Regulatory Compliance of the Virginia Building Officials Association. This board is comprised of experts that are well-versed in building science, fire services, energy efficiency, construction and development, affordable housing, and community and economic development. During each code change cycle, the Board receives numerous proposals from a broad array of stakeholders, including the Home Builders Association of Virginia (HBAV). Over the last several years, the BHCD has been working on the 2015 Code Development Cycle and we are pleased to report that the Board recently concluded its work, which we have recapped below.
Uniform Statewide Building Code:
In July, the BHCD adopted the final version of the Uniform Statewide Building Code, Industrialized Building Safety Regulations, and Amusement Device Regulations. The final codes and regulations adopted by the Board represents consensus and compromise among a broad array of stakeholders – and the Home Builders Association of Virginia was successful in working with other organizations to defeat several proposals that would have significantly increased the cost of construction for single-family and multi-family dwelling units, including mandatory residential sprinkler systems.
These new codes took effect on September 4
th
, 2018. As in past update cycles, a one-year period is in effect that provides permit applicants a choice of complying with the existing 2012 codes or the 2015 codes.
The state publications are posted on the DHCD website here:
2015 Regulations
. The custom versions of the national model codes that incorporate Virginia amendments are in the process of being published by the International Code Council (ICC) and are on schedule to be available late fall. The Mandatory Code Change Training (CCT) schedule can be found here:
Code Change Training Schedule
. This schedule is tentative and may change, as necessary, so please check the Department of Housing and Community Development’s website for updates. The CCT modules will be available online through the VBCA Learning Center later this fall.
Statewide Fire Prevention Code:
As a result of the consolidation of three model codes into the International Code Council (ICC) in the early 2000’s, the Virginia Statewide Fire Prevention Code (SFPC) contains various unenforceable and conflicting provisions which have resulted in a lot of confusion over the applicability of the SFPC and in some instances had resulted in the misapplication of retrofit provisions, requiring property owners to incur additional costs to retrofit non-required systems. These provisions are also contrary to the legislative authority granted to the SFPC.
In 2015, the BHCD and the DHCD convened a workgroup to identify and remove these provisions of the SFPC to ensure consistency with legislative authority and predictability for the public and private sectors. The intent of the workgroup was not to eliminate or limit any legal enforcement authority or capacity of the fire services professionals in the Commonwealth.
The workgroup held numerous meetings to identify and remove these provisions – ultimately, the BHCD adopted a version of the SFPC in the fall of 2017 that removed these provisions, which HBAV supported. However, there were several stakeholders that opposed the removal of these provisions, which resulted in the suspension of the adoption of the SFPC. The BHCD met last Friday to consider the objections that had been raised and HBAV joined several stakeholders in urging the Board to continue adoption of the SFPC, as it was adopted in 2017.
We are pleased to report that the BHCD voted to adopt the version of the SFPC which removed the various conflicting and enforceable provisions. The effective date of the new SFPC is October 16
th
, 2018 – there is no “grace period” for the SFPC as it is a maintenance code. The final version of the SFPC can be found
here
.
Virginia’s Code Development Process:
The complexity and importance of these codes warrants extensive review – as such, the BHCD conducts numerous extensive public hearings on each proposal over a period of two years.
It is because of this transparent, deliberate, and extensive process that Virginia has been nationally recognized for both the caliber of the review process and the strength of our codes. Just recently, the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety released a report assessing elements of code enforcement and administration and contractor licensing in the 18 states along the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf of Mexico. Virginia was ranked number 2, one point behind Florida, stating “Virginia has an exemplary code adoption and enforcement program”. The IBHS report can be found
here
.
This most recent code development cycle certainly lived up to Virginia’s long-standing commitment to transparent, inclusive, and deliberative regulatory review processes – HBAV and many other stakeholders are extremely grateful for the hard work and dedication of the staff at the Department of Housing and Community Development and the Board of Housing and Community Development throughout this code update cycle. They are the reason that our Commonwealth continues to be viewed as one of the top code development states!
Please feel free to let us know if you have any questions about the code development process or the new fire and building codes.
Andrew
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Andrew C. Clark
Vice President, Government Affairs
Home Builders Association of Virginia
