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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/30/2001 - Regular Minutes - Construction Board of Adjustments (2) "SUBJECT TO APPROVAL" MINUTES CONSTRUCTION BOARD OF ADJUSTMENTS AND APPEALS 30 April 2001 6:00 P.M. City Hall Council Chambers MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Dan Sears, Vice Chairman George McLean, Board Members: Robert Mooney, Frank Cox, Kevin Kuddes, Glenn Thomas, Larry Patton MEMBERS ABSENT: Member:Alternate Mark Clayton, Alternate Shannon Schunicht STAFF PRESENT: Building Official Lance Simms, Senior Assistant City Attorney Roxanne Nemcik, Plans Examiner Carl Warren, Staff Assistant Marla E. Brewer AGENDA ITEM NO. 1: Call meeting to order Chairman, Dan Sears, called the meeting to order. AGENDA ITEM NO.2: Consider request for absence No regular members were absent. AGENDA ITEM NO.3: Hear visitors for items not on agenda. No visitors chose to speak. AGENDA ITEM NO.4: Approve minutes from Construction Board of Adjustments and Appeals meeting on Monday, March 26, 2001. Glenn Thomas motioned to approve the minutes. Frank Cox seconded the motion; and the Board concurred, (7-0). AGENDA ITEM NO.5: Public hearing for the consideration and possible action of Variance 01-788 to request modification to Section 503.4 of the 1994 Standard Building Code. The applicant is Paul Kullman. Dan Sears asked staff to brief the Board on the request. Lance Simms, Building Official, took the floor. Lance said this case involved the new HEB store proposed to be constructed at the intersection of Holleman Dr. &Texas Ave. He said the City's existing water tower would be relocated to the rear of the proposed HEB location as part of this project. Lance said that during discussion of the site plan with the applicant it was discovered that, in order to take advantage of an exception that allows an unlimited building area, the applicant needed to provide a clear open space of 60 feet around the entire perimeter of the building. Lance said that the current site plan provided for 60 feet of clear open space on all sides of the `SUBJECT TO APPROVAL" "CONSTRUCTION BOARD OF ADJUSTMENTS AND APPEALS April 30, 2001 -Minutes building except for the portion of the exterior wall adjacent to the new water tower location. He said at that location, the clear open space measured from the exterior building wall to the property line varies from 31 to 58 feet. Lance said after further discussion with the applicant, he decided to seek a variance to the open space requirement. Lance referenced the site plan in the Board's packet. He reviewed the layout of the site plan with the Board, pointing out the area that did not comply with the 60 feet open space requirement. Lance then told the Board that the he understood the reason for the 60 feet open space requirement on all sides of the building is for fire department access and to help keep a fire from spreading from structure to structure. He said the site plan does provide for fire department access on all sides of the building and Jon Mies, Fire Marshal, is comfortable with this proposal. Lance continued by saying he recommended approval because the exterior walls of the proposed HEB will be six-inch thick, tilt-up concrete construction, which should provide a minimum of a two- hour fire resistance rating and the actual distance to the nearest structure (proposed water tower) will be 90 feet. Robert Mooney asked if there would be a problem with the HEB store when painting the water tower? He asked if paint got on the store would they hold the city liable? Lance and the Board discussed this question and concluded that there are processes that could be used that would be able to prevent any paint damage to the HEB building. Kevin Kuddes asked if there were any safety requirements for the water towers with regard to distance requirements from other structures. Lance said he did not know of any code requirements that regulated distances between a water tower and other structures. Lance asked Kevin if his concern was if there was a collapse of the tower? Kevin said yes, he didn't know if they had special codes for it or not. He added that he had never heard of one collapsing but wanted to ask. Dan Sears opened the public hearing and asked if anyone would like to speak in favor of the request. Paul Kul!man, architect and partner with WKMC Architects took the floor and stated that he would like to see approval of this item. He asked if anyone had any questions for him. No one did. Dan Sears then asked if anyone would like to speak in opposition to the request. No one present chose to speak. Dan Sears closed the public hearing. Robert Mooney motioned to grant the variance. Larry Patton seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously, (7-0). AGENDA ITEM NO.6: Public hearing and consideration of a recommendation to City Council concerning the adoption of the 2000 International Fuel Gas Code, with modifications to Appendix 3, Chapter 3, College Station Code of Ordinances, following a presentation from Lance Simms, Building Official. Dan Sears asked staff to brief the board on the request. 2 "SUBJECT TO APPROVAL" "CONSTRUCTION BOARD OF ADJUSTMENTS AND APPEALS April 30, 2001 - Minutes Lance Simms took the floor. He said this review of the 2000 international Fuel Gas Code(IFGC) was a continuation of a process to review all the 2000 International Codes. He said he hoped to have the rest of the codes before the Board within the next couple of months. George McLean asked if we were talking about gasoline and natural gas in this review? Lance answered that it would cover natural gas and LP, but not gasoline. He said that gasoline is addressed in the Fire code. Kevin Kuddes asked if home fuel oil is covered in this code? Lance answered that he believed that it was covered in the International Mechanical Code. Lance reminded the board that his review did not represent every change between the 1994 Standard Code and the 2000 international Fuel Gas Code. He said what he tries to do in his review of the codes is list the major changes. Lance said this code does not match chapter to chapter so he had to review some of the items by topics. Lance began review of Chapter 1 -Administration. Lance said the IFGC list specific systems that are covered by the code and specific systems that are not covered by the code. He said the 1994 Standard Gas Code(our current code) really didn't do a good job of that. Lance said the IFGC provides a procedure for permit fee refunds and the current code does not. He continued by stating that the IFGC authorizes the Building Official to order disconnection of energy sources where necessary to eliminate an immediate hazard to life or property; the current code does not do this. Lance moved to Chapter 2- Definitions. He said the IFGC contains some new definitions and omits others that are in the current code but overall there were no significant changes. Lance said Chapter 3 covers General Regulations. He continued by saying the IFGC contains a section regulating the cutting, boring and notching of structural and non-structural steel framing members. He said the current code addressed the cutting, boring and notching of wood members but not steel framing members. Lance said the requirement to elevate equipment or appliances having a source of ignition 18 inches above the garage floor are more explicit in the IFGC. He said in the language in the current code is a little vague. He said the current code talks about gas appliance in private garages, but the IFGC doesn't limit the installation to gas appliances. He added the new code states any ignition source needs to be elevated to meet the 18-inch requirement. Lance stated that the reason for this requirement is to raise any ignition source above the floor in garages where automobiles are typically stored. He said most clothes dryers have an ignition source so they would also need to be elevated. He added that this would hopefully encourage the people to move those appliances out of the garage. The Board discussed this requirement momentarily. Lance then moved on to the IFGC requirement for combustion air. He said it allows for a combined use of inside and outdoor air for combustion. Lance moved to Gas Piping Installations. He said the IFGC contains many more tables for sizing gas piping that provide for different materials and higher gas pressures. He said gas pressure testing in the current code requires at least a 3 psi test for 10 minutes for low-pressure systems and a 10 psi test for 10 minutes for higher-pressure systems. He said the IFGC requires at least 3 psi or 11/2 times the working pressure for a time based on the volume of the gas piping. He added that we currently have a local amendment that requires a pressure test of at least 5 psi or twice the proposed working pressure of the system. He continued by stating that the IFGC contains a provision addressing fuel-dispensing stations for liquefied petroleum (LP)gas motor vehicles. Lance added that the new code also allows un-vented room heaters or decorative appliances in bedrooms with certain restrictions. He briefly reviewed those restrictions. Lance and the Board further discussed this issue. 3 "SUBJECT TO APPROVAL" "CONSTRUCTION BOARD OF ADJUSTMENTS AND APPEALS April 30, 2001 -Minutes Lance said there were no significant differences in Chimneys and Vents, which is Chapter 6 in the current code and Chapter 5 the IFGC. Lance move to Specific Appliances, which is Chapter 5 in the current code, and Chapter 6 in the IFGC. He said the IFGC contains provisions for small ceramic kilns and forced air furnaces where the current code had no provisions for them. Lance continued by stating that the IFGC prohibits the use of unvented room heaters(space heaters)as the sole source of heating in a dwelling unit. Lance said that Referenced Standards is Chapter 11 in the current code and Chapter 7 in the IFGC. He said the IFGC refers to the International Electrical Code (IEC), 2000 Edition for electrical work. He said our current gas code refers to the National Electrical Code(NEC) and he would like to propose an amendment that states any reference made to the 2000 iEC in the IFGC be changed to the 1999 NEC since that is the electrical code that we recently adopted. Lance moved to the proposed local amendments to 2000 IFGC. He said he would like to amend section 403.4.3, "Copper and brass", by deleting the section in its entirety. He said this is consistent with our current amendment. He said it would essentially prohibit copper or brass piping from being used for gas systems. Lance briefly explained the possible reaction between copper piping and natural gas why he felt this was important and the Board discussed it for a few moments. Lance then said he would like to amend section 403.5.2, "Copper tubing", by deleting the section in its entirety which is consistent with our current local amendment. Lance said he would also like to amend section 309.2, "Electrical Connections", and Chapter 7 "Referenced Standards"to refer to the 1999 National Electrical Code in lieu of the 2000 ICC Electrical Code. He added that this was what was discussed earlier. George McLean asked if they could simply refer to the current Electrical Code rather than put the actual edition so that they wouldn't have to change it every time the code edition changes. Lance asked Roxanne Nemcik, Assistant City Attorney, if that was possible. Roxanne said yes. Lance added that he thought that was a good idea. Lance then said that the rest of the amendments deal with pressure tests for gas systems. He said he would like to amend this section to keep the requirements that we currently have for pressure tests. He continued by stating that he wanted to amend section 406.4, "Test pressure measurement", to allow a diaphragm type pressure gauge that met certain specifications for gas pressure tests. He read section 406.4 of the IFGC for the Board and referenced a policy letter in the Board's packet that listed the requirements he wanted to insert into the amendment. He added that the Environmental Protection Agency at the federal level is putting pressure on the states to crack down on the use of mercury and therefore mercury gauges. He said that it was his understanding that mercury gauges were no longer available from supply houses. Lance said this would probably cause more contractors to shift to other types of pressure gauge systems for gas tests. He questioned if a regular air gauge, at lower pressures, is sensitive enough to record any pressure loss. Lance said this new diaphragm gauge is supposed to be sensitive enough to accurately record any pressure loss. Lance stressed the importance of specifying the type of gauge that is acceptable for use in the City of College Station and continued by saying that since the test duration is limited to 10 minutes that the gauge needs to be accurate. George McLean questioned testing for 10 minutes versus 24 hrs. Lance responded by saying that for natural gas systems, the City has historically used a higher pressure test for a minimum of 10 minutes. He added that the fire department has some items that require a 24 hours test, but not natural gas systems. Lance then passed a representative diaphragm gauge around for the Board members to see. Robert Mooney commented that when a gauge is tossed in a truck or a toolbox, it could get out of calibration and you wouldn't know it unless it is tested. Lance agreed and said one thing that he liked about this particular gauge is that it reads zero and it doesn't have a pin that stops the 4 "SUBJECT TO APPROVAL" "CONSTRUCTION BOARD OF ADJUSTMENTS AND APPEALS April 30, 2001 - Minutes indicator at a zero so you can tell if it is out of calibration. Lance continued by briefly pointing out some of the other features of the diaphragm gauge. Lance then moved to the next proposed amendment. He said that he would like to amend section 406.4.1 "Test Pressure" in the IFGC to require a minimum test pressure of at least 2 times the proposed working pressure, but no less than five(5) psi, irrespective of design pressure. He said that this would be consistent with our current code requirement. He read from the IFGC and pointed out that this amendment would essentially require a little higher pressure test than the IFGC requires. The Board briefly discussed this issue. Lance the moved to the next proposed amendment. He said that he would like to amend section 406.4.2 "Test Duration" in the IFGC to require a minimum test pressure of 5 psi or twice the working pressure for a period of ten (10) minutes. He added that this is consistent with what we currently do. Lance said that 10 minutes has proven to be a reliable test period for pressure tests especially when you are dealing with a system that typically operates at a few ounces. The Board further discussed this issue. Glenn Thomas asked how much the new diaphragm gauge that was passed around earlier would cost. Lance answered that the list price is$72.00 but the plumber's cost would be$50.00. The Board further discussed the proposed pressure test until everyone understood the test pressure and duration. Lance concluded his presentation and asked the Board if they had any questions. They had none. Dan Sears opened the public hearing and asked if anyone would like to speak in favor of the request. No guests were present. Dan Sears asked if anyone would like to speak in favor or opposition of the item. No guests were present. Dan Sears closed the public hearing. Dan Sears asked if anyone was ready to make a motion. George McLean made a motion to recommend the approval of the 2000 IFGC and the amendments as presented by staff. Kevin Kuddes seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously, (7 -0). AGENDA ITEM NO. 7: Adjourn Larry Patton motioned to adjourn. Glenn Thomas seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously, (7-0). The meeting was adjourned. 5 "SUBJECT TO APPROVAL' "CONSTRUCTION BOARD OF ADJUSTMENTS AND APPEALS April 30, 2001 -Minutes APPROVED: Chairman: Dan Sears ATTEST: Staff Assistant: Marla E. Brewer •