Christian County considers building codes

In addition to making sure the project meets the needs and desires of the owner, dealing with fluctuations in material costs and the unpredictability of Ozarks weather, firms also have to deal with the range of planning and zoning regulations and building codes from county to county and city to city.

Randy Ganz, senior vice president with DeWitt & Associates, said that while Springfield’s codes tend to be the most up-to-date in southwest Missouri, other municipalities – notably Christian County – have made great strides in recent years to update their ordinances.

“Six or eight years ago, (Christian County) only had a couple of inspectors, but now they’ve stepped it up quite a bit,” Ganz said. “They have most of the same basic requirements that we’re seeing in Greene County and other places as well.”

Christian County does not currently have building codes in place for its unincorporated areas, though the county does have a planning and zoning commission to regulate zoning issues.

Christian County officials are preparing to put the building code issue to a vote this year; state law requires that counties looking to implement building codes put the issue to a public vote in unincorporated areas. Prior to 2001, only first-class counties were permitted to even have building codes. Christian County has second-class status.

A four-person volunteer committee has spent several months holding public meetings to inform voters about the proposed codes.

Jim Bresee, consultant to the committee and former building development employee in Greene County, said codes are important for the future expansion of Christian County.

“In the urban services area, where homes will be annexed, we’d like everybody to be on a level playing field so everybody will be building with inspections of their work,” Bresee said.

Informing the general population about the codes, he added, is crucial – Taney County voters defeated a similar ballot issue two years ago, and voters in Webster County, where Bresee was a presiding commissioner in the early 1980s, twice defeated ballot measures to establish planning and zoning ordinances.

“When you start talking about more government, especially in southwest Missouri, we get a little anxious. We want to know what we’re voting on,” Bresee said. “When you have an uninformed populace, you plan for defeat.”

Alleviating the problem

Different code regulations in different jurisdictions aren’t much of a problem, area architects and builders say.

Michael Sapp, founder and principal of Sapp Design Associates Architects PC, said that if an area where a new project is to be built doesn’t have building codes in place, his firm will use Springfield’s codes to guide its design. DeWitt’s Ganz said that, despite the range of zoning requirements – or lack thereof – across the area, his firm also works under codes.

“That covers us pretty much every time,” Ganz said. “It would probably take longer to sort out what you don’t have to do than to just go in and get the thing built.”

Sapp added that most codes are similar to each other, as jurisdictions usually adopt building codes drawn up by national organizations. Springfield, for example, operates under the International Building Code 2006. Nick Heatherly, director of Building Development Services for the city of Springfield, did not return calls seeking comment.

“Most architects live and breathe the codes,” Sapp said. “We understand what they are, and it’s easy to cross over into another version or another code model.”

And despite the fact that meeting building codes may incrementally increase a project’s cost, Sapp said it’s not hard to convince clients of how that cost can be recovered over the life of the building.

“Those are fairly easy subjects to talk about when you mention how it affects insurance rates, because most insurance companies will, in establishing the rates they’re going to charge, look at how the building meets certain codes,” Sapp said, noting that appraisers and lenders also look at codes to determine how much a building is worth.

“Even though it might be a little more expensive, the benefits quickly override that and they agree that it’s the right approach.”[[In-content Ad]]