HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 13811ORDINANCE NUIVIBER ~ ~ I
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE FORT WORTH BUILDING CODE, BY
PROVIDING FOR AN ADJUSTMENT IN THE FEES CHARGED FOR THE PLAN
REVIEW AND THE INSPECTION OF BUILDINGS BY APPROVED THIRD PARTY
ORGANIZATIONS, PROVIDING A PLAN REVIEW FEE FOR NEW RESIDENTIAL
CONSTRUCTION, PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR THE VIOLATION THEREOF,
PROVIDING THAT THIS ORDINANCE SHALL BE CUMULATIVE, PROVIDING A
SEVERABILITY CLAUSE, PROVIDING A SAVINGS CLAUSE, PROVIDING FOR
PUBLICATION IN PAMPHLET FORM, PROVIDING FOR PUBLICATION IN THE
OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER, AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, the City of Fort Worth has heretofore enacted provisions allowing
for the plan review and inspections of construction projects by separate third party
organizations,
WHEREAS, the City of Fort Worth wishes to provide a fair and equitable plan
review and permit fee schedule for those individuals taking advantage of the third party
option m order to ensure that fees do not exceed the cost of providing such services,
~.
WHEREAS, the City of Fort Worth now wishes to amend the fees involved for
plan review and field inspections services,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS, AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1
Section 7-47 of the Code of the City of Fort Worth (1986) is amended by
inserting new amendments as follows.
SECTION 107
*Section 107.2. changed to read as follows.
107.2 Building Permit Fees. The fee for each permit shall be as set forth in
Table No 1-A. At the time of application, along with any other fees required, a non-
refundable permit application fee as specified m Table No 1-B shall be required.
EXCEPTIONS. 1 Buildings or structures owned and occupied
by a Federal, State, or County entity on property owned by the Federal,
State, or County entity shall be exempt from the permit fees. This
exception does not apply to public school districts or county community
colleges.
2 Work by non-City personnel on property under the control of
the City of Fort Worth shall be exempt from the permit fees only if the
work is for action under a contract that will be or has been approved by
City Council with notes m the contract packages stating the fee is waived.
3 Work by City personnel on property under the control of the
City of Fort Worth shall be exempt from the permit fees only if the
application is accompanied by a copy of the work order for the project.
4 When the project is to be inspected by an approved third party
organization as described in Section 111, the remainder of the permit fee
after giving credit for the required plan review fee, shall be reduced by
90%.
Exemption or reduction of the permit fees under this section shall not waive the
requirements to pay a full investigation fee for doing work without a permit as required
under Section 107.5.2.
The determination of value or valuation under any of the provisions of this code
shall be made by the Building Official. The value to be used in computing the building
permit fee shall be the total value of all construction work for which the permit is issued,
as well as all finish work, pamhng, roofing, electrical, plumbing, heating, air
conditioning, elevators, fire-extinguishing systems and any other permanent equipment.
EXCEPTION. When other than new construction, individual
permit fees shall be required per trade. The building permit fee will be
based upon the valuation as determined by the Building Official for that
work only The fee for other trade permits will be subject to the
appropriate codes.
Unless acceptable bid price documentation is provided, the determination of
valuation shall be the largest of the valuation stated by the applicant or as calculated by
the Building Official in accordance with the approved valuation table.
(Note to printer Sections 107.2.1, 107.2.2, 107.2.3, 107.2.4 and 107.2.5 as approved under Ordinance 13625 are unchanged.)
*Section 107.3. changed to read as, ollows.
107.3 Plan Review Fees. When a plan or other data are submitted for review, a
non-refundable plan review fee shall be paid at the time of application. Said plan review
fee shall be as specified in Table No 1-B
EXCEPTIONS: 1 The fee will not be required for those
applicants meeting exceptions 1, 2 or 3 of Section 107.2.
2. The fee will not be required for additions and remodels to
existing Group R-3 Occupancies, and for additions, remodels or new
construction of their accessory structures. It shall be required for new
construction of Group R-3 Occupancies.
3 When the project is to be plan reviewed by an approved third
party organization as described m Section 111, the plan review fee shall
not be required.
The ongmal plan review fee will be credited to the cost of the building permit fee
at the time the building permit is issued and the remaining fee is paid. When the plan
review fee is not required under the third party review option, the amount waived will be
credited to the cost of the building permit fee as though rt were paid.
Where plans are incomplete or changed so as to require additional plan review, an
additional plan review fee shall be charged at the rate shown in Table No 1-A. The fee,
including the minimum, shall be charged at each request for additional review
EXCEPTIONS: 1 The fee will not be required for those
applicants meeting exceptions 1, 2 or 3 of Section 107.2
2 The fee will not be required for additions and remodels to
existing Group R-3 Occupancies, and for additions, remodels or new
construction of their accessory structures. It shall be required for new
construction of Group R-3 Occupancies.
3 Those plans under a Fast Track review will not be charged if
the additional review is for additional phases, however, addendum's to
plans already reviewed will be charged the fee.
4 When the ongmal plan review was performed under the third
party option, only a $15 00 filing fee shall be charged for each separate
submittal. This filing fee shall only be applicable to the Building,
Electrical, Mechanical and Plumbing submittals. Changes in other plans,
e.g. site, landscaping, fire, civil, water service, etc will be charged the fee
as shown in Table No 1-A.
When trade permits are issued under an umbrella permit, the additional plan
review fee shall apply to all plans including those for other trades.
*Section 107.5.2. add a second para~ph to read as follows
Use of the third party plan review or inspection option, will not reduce or lower
the investigation fee required by this section.
*Section 107.6. changed to read as,follows.
107.6 Fee Refunds. The Building Official may authorize refunding of any fee
paid hereunder which was erroneously paid or collected.
The Building Official may authonze the refunding of not more than 95 percent of
any permit fee required by this code when no work has taken place provided the request
for refund is m writing from the applicant, accompanied with the original receipt and
request is made not later than 180 days after the date of application of permit issuance.
EXCEPTIONS: 1 The 180 day time frame maybe extended by
the Building Official to coincide with any extension authorized under
Sections 106 4 4 or 107 4
2 When the mveshgation fee of Section 107 5.2 has been
collected, rt shall not be refunded unless paid by another party nor shall rt
be considered when calculating the 95 percent or the minimum of
Exception 4
3 No refund will be given for the application fee or the plan
review fee, nor shall either be considered when calculating the 95 percent
or the minimum of Exception 4
4 The building Official shall retain, as a minimum, 50 dollars
($50 00) above the collection of the application fee and the plan review
fee.
SECTION 2.
This article shall be cumulative of all provisions of ordinances and of the Code of
the Crty of Fort Worth, Texas (1986), as amended, except where the provisions of this
article are m direct conflict with the provisions of such ordinances and such Code, m
which event conflicting provisions of such ordinances and such Code are hereby
repealed.
SECTION 3
It shall be unlawful for any person to erect, construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move,
improve, remove, convert, demolish, equip, use, occupy, or maintain any building or
structure in the City or cause the same to be done contrary to or in violation of any of the
provisions of this Code. Any person, firm, or corporation who violates, disobeys, omits,
neglects, or refuses to comply with or who resists enforcement of any of the provisions
of this Code with respect to fire safety shall be fined not more than Two Thousand
Dollars ($2,000 00) for each offense, and with respect to all other provisions of this
Code shall be fined not more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500 00) for each offense.
Each day that a violation is permitted to exist shall constitute a separate offense.
SECTION 4
It is hereby declared to be the intention of the City Council that the sections,
paragraphs, sentences, clauses, and phrases of this ordinance are severable, and, if any
phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph, or section of this ordinance shall be declared void,
ineffective, or unconstitutional by the valid judgment or final decree of any court of
competent jurisdiction, such voidness, ineffectiveness, or unconstitutionality shall not
affect any of the remaimng phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs, and sections of this
ordinance, since the same would have been enacted by the Crty Council without the
incorporation m this ordinance of any such void, ineffective, or unconstitutional phrase,
clause, sentence, paragraph, or section.
SECTION 5
This ordinance constitutes a digest and revision of the Building Code of the Crty
of Fort Worth, as provided in Section 2, Chapter XXV, and Section 9, Chapter XXVII,
of the Charter of the City of Fort Worth. The Development Department of the Crty of
Fort Worth, Texas, is hereby authorized to publish this ordinance m pamphlet form for
general distribution among the public, and the operative provisions of this ordinance, as
so published, shall be admissible m evidence m all courts without further proof than the
production thereof, as provided m Chapter XXV, Section 3, of the Charter of the Crty of
Fort Worth, Texas.
SECTION 6
The City Secretary of the Crty of Fort Worth, is hereby directed to publish the
caption, penalty clause, and effective date of this ordinance for two (2) days m the
official newspaper of the City of Fort Worth, Texas as authorized by Section 2, Chapter
XXV of the Charter of the City of Fort Worth, Texas and by Section 52 013 (a) of the
Texas Local Government Code.
SECTION 7
This ordinance shall be in full force and effect June 3, 1999, and it is so ordained.
Assistant City Attorney
Date• a~~ t 9 9 9
Adopted. a S, 14 4 g
Effective•J ~_ 3 ~ ~ g 9
5-14-99
City of Fort Worth, Texas
~1-~Ayar And ~C,aunc~l ammun~cAt~an
C
I DATE REFERENCE NUMBER LOG NAME PAGE
5/25/99 G-12568 06FEES 1 of 2
SUBJECT ~ FEES FOR THIRD-PARTY PLAN REVIEW AND INSPECTION SERVICES
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council adopt the attached ordinances which specify the plan review
and inspection fees, and authorize a reduction in the fee amounts for the usage of third-party plan
review or field inspection services.
DISCUSSION
The City Council recently approved revisions to the City Code to permit the use of approved third-party
organizations for the plan review and field inspection of construction projects. Along with that approval,
the City Council waived all permit fees associated with those projects for a period of 90-days. That time
frame will expire on June 2, 1999
In an effort to continue support of the construction industry, it is recommended that a continued
reduction in fees be authorized in accordance with the following:
1 Plan review fees will be calculated separately from the permit fees, and the plan review fees will
be totally waived when athird-party plan review is used
2. The remainder of the permit fee, minus the plan review fee, will be considered a separate fee,
and said fees will be reduced by 90% when third-party inspections are used
3 This proposal does not introduce a fee increase, rather it divides the fees into a plan review and
field inspection quantity for determining what amounts will be reduced depending upon the third-
party services used
Under the current program, staff is attempting to review all third-party work to ensure correct code
interpretation and enforcement. Once the third-party organizations are released from "probation", staff
will be able to reduce its oversight to a quality control level of about 10% to 20% review and follow-up
The fees that should be charged would need to be enough to cover this quality control level and the
administrative paperwork.
Since this project is still new, and since all of the third-party work is being checked during this initial
period, there is no data upon which to determine an appropriate fee. The proposals here merely
represent a starting point.
After enough data is collected, a more precise fee allocation and percentage would then be presented
to the City Council. Staff believes that enough data may be collected by the October 1999 budget.
In accordance with the 1998-1999 budget, the expected revenues projected for the Development
Department were $5,982,100 While revenues are usually heavier during the summer, if this amount
were divided equally, by this mid-year point we should have collected $2,991,050 Actual revenues at
the mid-year were $3,309,154, a surplus of $318,104
City of Fort Worth, Texas
M'Ayar and Council Commun~cArian
DATE REFERENCE NUMBER LOG NAME PAGE
5/25/99 G-12568 06FEES 2 of 2
SUBJECT FEES FOR THIRD-PARTY PLAN REVIEW AND INSPECTION SERVICES
Based on revenue projections of departmental revenue collections exceeding budgeted amounts,
implementation of the proposed third-party inspection fee structure should have a minimal net effect on
departmental revenues.
FISCAL INFORMATION/CERTIFICATION
The Finance Director certifies that, as a result of increased revenue projections, the proposed fee
waivers should have a minimal impact on revenue projections.
MG:j
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Snbmltted for City Manager's FUND ACCOUNT CENTER AMOUNT CITY SECRETARY
Oillce by: (to)
APPROVED
Mike Groomer 6140 CITY COUNCIL
Originating Department Head: .
MAY 25 1999
Ann Kovich 8901 (from)
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Ann Kovich 8901 ,
A~cpted Ordrnance No. ~,~13 Adopted Ordinance No, j3~ l ~
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