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San Miguel County building official outlines timeline to adopt 2024 international codes, must adopt state wildfire resiliency rules by April 1
Summary
County building official presented a timeline to adopt the 2024 International Code Council cycle and the state-mandated wildfire resiliency code. The county aims to enforce codes by July 1, 2026; the wildfire resiliency code carries a statutory adoption and enforcement deadline that requires earlier action.
Telluride — San Miguel County’s building official, Matt Gonzalez, briefed the Board of County Commissioners on Oct. 1 about a planned update to the county’s building code to the 2024 International Code Council cycle and state-mandated wildfire-resiliency and electric/solar-ready requirements.
Gonzalez said the county intends to adopt the 2024 international building, residential and energy codes and to bundle state-mandated wildfire resiliency and electric/solar-ready provisions so the county can be consistent with regional jurisdictions. He emphasized the wildfire resiliency requirement is time-sensitive: the state-mandated package must be adopted by April 1, and counties have a three-month grace period to begin enforcement, effectively a July 1 enforcement date.
Why it matters: Updating local building codes can affect construction, permitting timelines, and costs for homeowners, contractors and builders. County officials argued adoption of the modern energy code would also bring higher efficiency standards and align San Miguel County with nearby towns that use newer code cycles.
Key timeline and next steps: Gonzalez proposed the following schedule: - Remaining 2024: Prepare draft amendments to the county’s existing local modifications for the 2024 I-code cycle and present them to the county’s board of review (Nov. 5 review) and to the planning commission and commissioners in December for a work session and formal review. - April 1 (state deadline): Adopt the state wildfire resiliency code. - July 1, 2026: Implement enforcement of the 2024 ICC codes and the wildfire resiliency code (three-month enforcement grace period after adoption).
Gonzalez said the county’s amendments are expected to resemble the county’s current 2018 local amendments for items such as deck attachments, smoke alarm rules and other locally tailored provisions, and that the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) would yield a 16–18% improvement in building energy efficiency over the 2018 code.
On statewide low-energy/carbon code (LECC): Gonzalez recommended the county not adopt Colorado’s new low-energy-and-carbon code immediately. He said the LECC would take the state’s energy-code rules further and would be more complicated to implement at county level without regional coordination; Telluride and Mountain Village both intend to wait and further coordinate before making any adoption decisions.
What county staff will do: Prepare draft local amendments and begin public outreach so builders, designers and residents have time to adapt to new requirements. Gonzalez said the county will provide outreach in the coming weeks so permit applicants currently designing projects are aware of the July 1, 2026 enforcement target.
Quotation: “By 07/01/2026, we are planning to be enforcing the 2024 international code cycle,” Matt Gonzalez said. "We will also be enforcing the wildfire resiliency code mandated by the state, and we'll also be enforcing the electric ready and solar ready code mandated by the state."
