News Updates - May 11, 2011

Application of the Agricultural Exemption to Winery Buildings

The Building Codes Division is issuing a Statewide Statutory Interpretation clarifying several issues regarding the application to wineries of ORS 455.315, the agricultural buildings exemption. The interpretation clarifies the types of activities carried on in a winery building that may qualify or disqualify the building for the structural code exemption under ORS 455.315. For example: deliveries and shipping - yes; tasting rooms and sales - no. The interpretation provides the additional detail.

The division will be filing a clarifying rule shortly on a related issue of whether ORS 455.068, requiring that construction standards be applied equally to all wineries, conflicts with ORS 455.315. The division's rule will clarify that the two statutes are not in conflict and that a winery structure may be exempt from the requirements of the structural code so long as the criteria in the agricultural exemption statute are met. This merely clarifies the division's current approach to the issue, and does not constitute a shift in policy.

2011 Oregon Residential Specialty Code (ORSC)

The new 2011 ORSC will be effective on July 1, 2011. The code is expected to be available for purchase on June 14, 2011. You can sign up to pre-order code books on the International Code Council (ICC) website. Customers can also submit their email address to receive a notice once the code is available.

There is a draft version of the 2011 ORSC on the committee pages of the BCD's website. This will help those who need to take a look at the new edition of the code before the complete and official version is available. Keep an eye out for the ICC official electronic version of the 2011 ORSC located on BCD's website; we hope to have it posted before the next newsletter comes out.

For questions or more information please contact Dana Fischer, building code para-technical specialist, at 503-373-0226 or dana.c.fischer@state.or.us.

HB 3462 Scheduling Survey and Applications

The Building Codes Division is nearly ready to begin accepting applications for the first HB 3462 Specialized Inspector Certification training programs. The Specialized Plumbing and Solar PV certifications will be the first two programs offered this summer. Both training programs will begin with Chemeketa Community College's summer term on June 20, 2011.

Last week the Division emailed an electronic survey to all Building Officials seeking specific information on the number of applicants each building department intends to register for each certification and the best dates and locations for the plumbing programs live training segment. This survey is not the formal program application, but will be used to establish initial class lists, schedules, and locations. The Division will do its best to incorporate the information from this survey to make both training programs as accessible and beneficial as possible. If you have not already, please complete this survey by Wednesday, May 11, 2011.

Once the Division has reviewed the survey results the Division will email the application and registration materials for both certifications to all Building Officials. Tentatively, the Division anticipates emailing the applications to all Building Officials on Monday, May 16 and requiring all completed applications to be submitted to the Division by Wednesday, June 1.

For questions about the HB 3462 program or if you are a building official who has not received the electronic survey, please contact Policy Analyst, Trevor Johnson at trevor.w.johnson@state.or.us or 503-373-1354.

Oregon Structural Specialty Code (OSSC)
Mid-Cycle Amendments

The Division will begin the process to consider and adopt mid-cycle amendments to the 2010 Oregon Mechanical Specialty Code (OMSC), Oregon Structural Specialty Code (OSSC), and Oregon Energy Efficiency Specialty Code (OEESC). For each code, the process begins with a 30-day period during which anyone may submit a code change proposal. To be considered for a possible mid-cycle change, a proposal must correct a direct conflict in the code, address a life safety issue, or update an adopted standard. Any proposals accepted for consideration will be reviewed and acted on by the appropriate board and if approved, forwarded to public hearing after BCD also approves the changes. If no issues arise at hearing, the proposed changes will become amendments that are effective January 1, 2012. For the OMSC, the 30-day period opens June 1, 2011; the Mechanical Board considers and acts on proposals at its board meeting scheduled for September 7, 2011. If proposals are approved by the board, they will go to public hearing on November 15, 2011. For the OEESC and the OSSC (except Chapter 11), the 30-day period opens July 1, 2011; the Building Codes Structures Board considers and acts on proposals at its meeting scheduled for November 2, 2011. If proposals are approved by the board, they will go to public hearing on December 20, 2011.

The Division is also beginning the process to consider code change proposals to update the ADA Standards in OSSC Chapter 11. On May 13, 2011, the Division will issue a notice opening the 30-day period during which anyone may submit code change proposals. The 2010 Structural Code Committee is being convened to consider the proposals. The committee is scheduled to meet June 14, June 28, July 12, and July 26 (if needed). The committee will make recommendations for the Building Codes Structures Board to act on at the board meeting scheduled for August 3, 2011. Those proposals approved by the board will go to public hearing on November 15, 2011. Unless issues arise at the hearing, the proposals will become amendments that are effective January 1, 2012.

2010 Oregon Energy Efficiency Specialty
Code (OEESC) compliance forms

BCD now has hardcopy compliance forms available for applicants to demonstrate compliance with the commercial energy efficiency provisions of the 2010 OEESC in limited applications. These forms have been provided as an acceptable alternative to COMcheck for projects that have a small scope of work such as an alteration to a portion of an existing building or a small addition where running the project through COMcheck would be unfairly burdensome to the customer. COMcheck remains the current standard for documenting compliance in all but these limited instances. Under no circumstances can applicants use the forms if they are choosing to use the Simplified Trade-off Method for the envelope provisions of the 2010 OEESC.

In addition, unlike COMcheck, the forms do not generate a PASS or FAIL assessment - this will need to be determined through review by the plans examiner.

If you have any questions, contact Mark Campion at 503-378-4530 or mark.campion@state.or.us.

2011 Oregon Electrical Specialty Code (OESC)

The new 2011 OESC was effective on April 1, 2011. The intergrated code which is the 2011 National Electrical Code (NEC) including Oregon Amendments is anticipated to be available in early June 2011. Look for the electronic version of the code that will be available for viewing on the BCD website. You can see the Oregon Amendments, in a downloadable table format, titled Table 1-E.

2011 Oregon Plumbing Specialty Code (OPSC)

The new 2011 OPSC became effective on April 1, 2011. The integrated code is available for purchase at IAPMO and other online bookstores. The 2011 OPSC is also available for viewing on the BCD website.