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San Francisco committee forwards city amendments to 2016 building, plumbing and green codes
Summary
The Land Use and Transportation Committee heard a presentation from the Department of Building Inspection on re-adopting San Francisco’s local amendments to the 2016 California building, electrical, plumbing, mechanical and green codes and forwarded items 1–7 as a committee report to ensure the city’s amendments remain in effect when state codes take effect.
The Land Use and Transportation Committee on Monday heard a Department of Building Inspection briefing and voted to forward a set of administrative ordinances to carry the city’s local amendments into the 2016 California building codes.
Kirk Means, technical services at DBI, told the committee the action is largely administrative and part of a regular three-year cycle tied to the state’s Title 24 publishing schedule. Means said California publishes its code on July 1 and local amendments must be in place so “when California's code goes into effect, our code goes into effect,” avoiding a lapse in San Francisco-specific provisions.
The presentation summarized the department’s review process. Means said building, electrical, mechanical and plumbing provisions include mostly clarifications rather than substantive change; the existing San Francisco green-building and some local safety measures have been carried forward or incorporated into state sections. He described the practical need to map prior amendments—dating back to San Francisco’s specialized rules after the 1906 earthquake—into the reorganized 2016 documents so longstanding local protections remain operative.
Supervisor Malia Cohen moved to consider items 1 through 7 together; after the presentation, the committee made a motion to forward the items as a committee report with recommendation and the motion carried without a recorded roll call.
The ordinances as agendized will ensure the city’s local amendments (for example, fire-safety and seismic findings) are operative when the state code’s effective date arrives. If the committee had not acted before the state’s implementation, Means warned there would be a temporary period in which only the statewide code would apply until San Francisco’s amendments were re-adopted.
The committee did not record a roll-call tally for the forward motion; the clerk indicated items acted on today will appear on the Board of Supervisors agenda for subsequent readings.
What’s next: The items will proceed to the full Board of Supervisors for further consideration and formal adoption so the city’s local amendments remain in force.
