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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 13721 ORDINANCE NUMBER l ~ obi AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE FORT WORTH BUILDING CODE, BY PROVIDING FOR THE PLAN REVIEW AND THE INSPECTION OF BUILDINGS BY APPROVED THIRD PARTY ORGANIZATIONS, 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. SECTION 1 Section 7-47 of the Code of the Crty of Fort Worth (1986) is amended by inserting new amendments as follows SECTION 106 *Section 106.4.1 add an exception to the arst paragraph to read as follows EXCEPTION: When plan review is performed by a Third Party Organization as specified m Section 111, the Building Official, at his discretion, may only review what he deems necessary to insure a quality control of the review already performed. SECTION 108 *Section 108.1 add an exception to the first paragraph to read ase ollows EXCEPTION When approved by the Building Official, the inspection process as required by this code may be performed by an approved Third Party Organization as specified m Section 111 SECTION 111 *Section 111. added to read ase ollows. Third Party Plan Review and Inspection ,arFF,•.~Ce. 111.1 When approved by the Building Official, Third Party Orgamzahons may be permitted to perform the plan review and/or field inspection provisions of this code. When authorized to perform services, the Third Party Organization shall comply with the provisions of this section. 111.2 Plan Review. 111.2.1 Performance of plan review by a Third Party Organization shall not exempt or otherwise relieve the owner and/or other parties from the submittal for a permit with the appropriate plans as prescribed in this code. 111.2.2 Along with the submittal of plans, documents as required by the Building Official shall also be submitted with the following information. 1 Name of the Third Party Organization and all individuals involved m the plan review 2 Listing of the plan review results including but not limited to the construction type, occupancy group, occupant load, area calculations, story calculations, height measurements, and exiting calculations. 3 Other information as required by the Building Official. 111.3 Field Inspections. 111.3.1 Whenever the owner/builder wishes to use a Third Party Organization for field inspection, he shall submit the appropriate forms to the Building Official for approval before inspections commence. The Building Official shall review the application to confirm that the chosen Third Party Organization is approved and has all required insurance. 111.3.2 The Building Official shall have a right to make periodic site visits, at his discretion, to review and inspect the work under construction. Whenever possible, the Building Official will attempt to coordinate such visits with the Third Party Organization. 111.3.3 The Building Official shall maintain full interpretation authority of all affected codes as well as the authority to require corrections, including, but not limited to, notices, stop work orders and/or citations. 111.3.4 The project may proceed with construction only upon approval of the Third Party Organization after performing the inspections as required by this code or as otherwise required by the Building Official. If, upon review, the Building Official 2 believes that compliance with all applicable codes has not been achieved, the Building Official shall retain the right to require corrections. If corrections are required, the owner/6uilder and Third Party Organization may propose methods of correction that do not require uncovering of completed work. However, the Building Official may require uncovering of completed work after consideration of the extent of the work involved versus fhe~ level of compliance needed and then only as a last resort when the Building Official detemm~es that the proposed methods of correction will not result in adequate compliance. 111.3.5 The Third Party Organization shall issue to the owner/builder and the Building Official a formal inspection report for each inspection completed, verifying either that the work inspected is m compliance with this code or specifically detailing corrections necessary to bang such work into conformance with said codes and regulations. 111.3.6 The Third Party Organization shall notify the Building Official if, at any time, the owner/builder fails to correct construction deficiencies as noted or if the owner/builder covers work prior to inspection or otherwise hinders the ability of the Third Party Organization to perform required inspections. 111.4 Insurance. The Third Party Organization shall obtain and maintain insurance coverage as prescribed by the Building Official. 111.5 Indemnification. The Third Party Organization, the builder and the owner shall execute an indemnification agreement m a form approved by the Crty Attorney 111.6 Conflict of Interest. The licensed architect, registered engineer, or other authorized person, entity or corporation who prepared or supervised preparation of the project plans and/or specifications, along with, the owner, builder, subcontractor, their agents, officers and employees shall not be associated in any way with the Third Party Organization. 111.7 Qualifications. The Third Party Organization shall submit documents, as required by the Building Official, to show adequate training, knowledge and/or certification m the fields upon which service is to be rendered. The Building Official shall review the documents along with proof of required insurance. If in compliance, the Building Official. shall approve the Third Party Organization. If not approved, or if approval is revoked for dust cause by the Building Official, the Third Party Organization may appeal to the Construction and Fire Prevention Board of Appeals. Just cause may include but not be limited to violation of any provision of this ordinance, loss or expiration of required insurance, violation of the conflict of interest provision or any action that may result in the questioning of qualifications. 111.8 Certificate of Occupancy A Certification of Occupancy shall be issued, when necessary, by the Building Official upon completion of all requirements specified above and, upon completion of all requirements of any other affected department of the City Such completion shall be determined upon the submittal of all inspection reports by the Third Party Organization noting that all required construction inspections have been approved and after the Building Official and Third Party Inspector~ointly perform and approve a final inspection. SECTION 2. This article shall be cumulative of all provisions of ordinances and of the Code of the City of Fort Worth, Texas (1986), as amended, except where the provisions of this article are in direct conflict with the provisions of such ordinances and such Code, in 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 m the City or cause the same to be. done contrary to or m 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 ~unsdiction, such voidness, ineffectiveness, or unconstitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs, and sections of this ordinance, since the same would have been enacted by the City Council without the ~ incorporation m this ordinance of any such void, ineffective, or unconstitutional phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph, or section. 4 SECTION 5 This ordinance constitutes a digest and revision of the Building Code of the City of Fort Worth, as provided m Section 2, Chapter XXV, and Section 9, Chapter XXVII, of the Charter of the City of Fort Worth. The Development Department of the City of Fort Worth, Texas, is hereby authorized to publish this ordinance m pamphlet form for ~., general" istributzon among the public, and the operative provisions of this or finance, as so published, shall be admissible in evidence m all courts without further proof than the production thereof, as provided m Chapter XXV, Section 3, of the Charter of the City of Fort Worth, Texas. SECTION 6 The City Secretary of the City 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 thirty (30) days after its passage and publication, and rt is so ordained. ~~~ Assistant City Atto Date. 3 a ~ g g Adopted. ~~ -~ - ~l'`~ Effective: ' ~ `'~" 2-18-99 5 City of Fort ~T'orth, Texas ~~~r end ~c~ur~c~l ~„~mu~n~c~t~~n DATE REFERENCE NUMBER LOG NAME PAGE 3/2/99 G-12492 06AMEN 1 of 3 SUBJECT ORDINANCE AMENDMENTS TO THE BUILDING CODE,. ELECTRICAL CODE, PLUMBING CODE AND MECHANICAL CODE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A PROGRAM FOR THIRD PARTY PLAN REVIEW AND INSPECTION SERVICES AND TEMPORARY, 90-DAY PERMIT FEE WAIVER FOR PROJECTS THAT UTILIZE SUCH SERVICES RECOMMENDATION It is recommended that the City Council Adopt the attached ordinance amendments and direct. staff to implement a program allowing third party plan review and inspection services for the Building, Electrical, Plumbing and Mechanical Codes, and. 2. Approve a waiver of permitting fees for a period of 90 days for projects that utilize third party services. DISCUSSION Program Proposal In order to enhance the level of customer service, the Development Department proposes to implement a program offering third party plan review and inspection services as an option for construction projects. This program is necessary for several reasons. First, heavy workloads make it difficult to keep up with the demand for plan review and field inspections and to provide those services in an acceptable timeframe. Second, the current job market makes it difficult to recruit and retain qualified individuals. Finally, many projects may require special expertise or expedited scheduling that is difficult for City staff to meet. Program Development Fort Worth staff and the North Texas Council of Governments (COG) hosted an informational meeting on third party programs on January 27, 1999 The meeting was attended by 17 area cities, members of the development community, and firms from around the country who currently provide third party services. There was significant interest from other cities as well as the development community As a result, COG has agreed to facilitate development of a regional program for the North Texas area. While this regional program is being developed, staff recommends that the City Council direct the implementation of an interim program here in Fort Worth to meet the needs of the local development community in expediting planned construction projects In the meantime, the City will continue to participate in the development of a regional program through the COG process. Cagy of wort Worth, T'exa~ DATE REFERENCE NUMBER LOG NAME PAGE 3/2/99 G-12492 06AMEN 2 of 3 suB~ECT ORDINANCE AMENDMENTS. TO THE BUILDING CODE, ELECTRICAL CODE, PLUMBING CODE AND MECHANICAL CODE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A PROGRAM 'FOR THIRD PARTY PLAN REVIEW AND INSPECTION SERVICES AND - - ----~ TEMPORARYs-90-DAY PERMIT .FEE WAIVER FOR PROJECTS THAT UTILIZE SUCH SERVICES Program Description This program would allow qualified third party firms to provide plan reviews and inspections for Building, Plumbing, Electrical, and Mechanical Code compliance. Project owners and developers would be able to hire any third party firm that has been pre-qualified by the City as competent to provide the plan review and/or inspection services. Tlie project owner/developer and the third party firm would negotiate contract fees and schedules. The City would maintain final authority to make code interpretations, to check any and all work performed by a third party firm and to maintain the absolute right to require corrections to any work on the project. ~- ~- The attached ordinance amendments give the City the authority to require adequate insurance coverage far all participating third party firms and to review the qualifications of the firms' personnel performing the plan reviews and inspections. An active quality control program will be maintained by the City as well the as administrative responsibility to maintain plan review and inspection records. Program Benefits There are several benefits to the proposed third-party program. First, the project owner/developer cari contracf for expedited services such as on-call inspections 24 hours a day and/or seven days a week. Reinspections can occur immediately since the third-party inspector can wait while corrections are made at the project site: Second, the workload of projects utilizing third-party services allows City' staff to spend more time on projects that continue to use City services. This is beneficial to small projects that do not hire design professionals to process plans and oversee inspections. Third, the number of City staff positions can be stabilized without the need to increase staff during busy times and then .face ,staff reductions when the economy slows. For the next three months (until June 3, 1999), permits issued for projects utilizing third party services will not be assessed permit fees. This waiver applies to projects utilizing either third party plan review or inspection services and to projects utilizing both types of services. During this three month period, staff will determirie the°appropriate fees (if'any).to charge projects utilizing third party services. 'The fee structure will cover the City's cost to administer the program, maintain a quality control program,and complete reviews provided by other City departments. Staff will return to the City Council prior to June 3, 1999, to recommend the adoption of a permanent fee schedule for projects utilizing third party services. ~.~ , City of Fort Worth, Texas M~Ayar And ~,ouncil ~ommun~co~tian DATE REFERENCE NUMBER LOG NAME PAGE 3/2/99 G-12492 06AMEN 3 of 3 SUBJECT ORDINANCE AMENDMENTS TO THE BUILDING CODE, ELECTRICAL CODE, PLUMBING CODE AND MECHANICAL CODE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A PROGRAM FOR THIRD PARTY PLAN REVIEW AND INSPECTION SERVICES AND TEMPORARY, 90-DAY PERMIT FEE WAIVER FOR PROJECTS THAT UTILIZE SUCH SERVICES FISCAL INFORMATION/CERTIFICATION The impact on the General Fund revenue in subsequent fiscal years can be more accurately estimated after the program has been in effect for a few months and the demand can be gauged The Finance Director certifies that this action will not have a material effect on the current budget. MG j Submitted for City Manager's FUND ACCOUNT CENTER AMOUNT CITY SECRETARY Office by: (to) ~~~0~~~ Mike Groomer 6140 CITY CaUN ~~ Originating Department Head: _ ..., h9AR ~ Ann Kovich 8901 (from) y , Additional Information Contact: , Z:1C ' C * Qj ~i $ t Itr} • 4 j GGT® :;it7 of Fcx4 !~~'or¢h, `t'c3:cn~ Ann Kovich 8901 _ ~ ~ y I ~ j. .;~ .r ;:.