rant......"when the ICC stops being a publishing company lobbying the government to require everyone to purchase their product every three years." done....no need to read further, just an architect's anecdote from the transition.
story....." PA has the UCC that went through phases of changes and ever expanding codes but they wised up and streamlined their life safety code down to a very useable 5"x8" 80+/- page code book that cost anyone 8 dollars from the government. this code was around since the twenties with mods plus the ADA was all we needed across the state except Philly and Pittsburgh(chose their own codes since they needed more specific stuff) up until the state decided it didn't want the responsibility. so, back in the 90's they adopted the international code. the reviewers at the time were having trouble learning and many were just under the retirement age.(some were my friends who were stalling) it wasn't until 2004 i think, the state actually said enough is enough we're going ahead and implementing the newest code(03). townships were to opt in or out of reviewing their own projects to this code. with this, the third party review system began, along with it, the confusion. and here we are today, still trying to learn the new code. with every new version of the code, we make the previous code obsolete and a legal nightmare for these review agencies not to mention us designers who need to own the codes. PA law states that the code must me accessible to everyone, but as of today, the 2009 code in unavailable in any public library. the 06 codes are spread out all over the county and with all the cross referencing, it's truly a nightmare to feel comfortable that one IS actually following the code. this has placed even more stress on the review agencies.
the ability of the BO to use his judgement that is totally legal in the code went out the window when the state started springing pop reviews of the reviewers. the fear of liability and doing anything that isn't exactly stated in the code rarely happen and understandably. all the reviewers i know are scared to lose their job if the use their judgement on a case by case basis. their fear of job security put pressure on the DPs to over draw where things were not necessary prior. this led to outrageous fees and many times the work load to both justify a fee and CYA information. the AIA lobby is partly to blame too(idiots). anyhow, the trend in building reviews with the new code seems to have gone from "life safety" , where it should be, to the "Protection from Offending Civil Liberties" and "i can't authorize that because i could lose my job" and at times, "it's about protecting the future owner/occupant so we require it now since it doesn't matter what you want, it's what the code says."
a few weeks back i was asked to attend a town meeting with a state senator three local councilmen and give a presentation with the local BO about the impact of the code upon small river towns. every building has at least an 8 inch step inside with 2 -3 stories wood stud tin ceilings with amazing amounts of charm. some with no rear entrances capable of the strictness of accessibility.......no water in the street capable of supporting sprinklers and if there was it was in the middle of the street through prized brick sidewalks($$$$).... or no fire separation between floors and some buildings sharing structural party walls. the local businesspeople put on this event to express their frustration to the government officials pointing out how the new code actually prevents them from upgrading their buildings since they are so far out of whack with the current code and that the Existing Buildings Code isn't much help. many businesses that would like to be in the town center go out to the burbs since they can't afford to do what is required of them. the building owners complaint is that the building's been there since 1850, where's it going?...they can't sell, they can't get renters, they can't afford to front the change of occupancy, their possible renters don't want to be required to pay for the change of occupancy or to have to try and start a new business on limited funds plus buy a building-upgrade their bathrooms-close off two upper rentable floor since they can't afford sprinklers ...and on and on what's happening? the worst thing that can happen to a building......they go vacant! and all they hear from the government is that, "well, that's just the cost of doing business." well that was a t first, now the local government is seeing the light. but what i found interesting is that the state senator told me this was the first "complain about the imposition of the code" session hesever been to, but he constantly is attending seesions for those who want more restrictive codes. that was an eye opener for me.
does any of this sound familiar? the people get mad at me for what i have to tell them, they get mad at the BOs because of what they tell them but mostly they know we're only doing the job that the code tells us to do. so i like to tell them that the code is an entity that was designed with good intentions but was unleashed upon us by ignorant politicians who didn't understand the self-promoting aspect of the the code and it's life's blood is the sale of their product. it's here to stay and the only way to fix it is to get rid of it, i won't hold my breath.........story over, sorry it's just i'm sick-tired-and have nothing better to do.
