Planners discuss wildfire impacts on rebuilding: grandfathering, building codes and a disaster assistance center

Following a week of new fires, commissioners and residents pressed county planning staff about how the draft development code and building codes will affect people rebuilding after wildfire. The central concerns were whether homeowners can rebuild to prior footprints, how new wildland‑urban interface rules could limit landscaping and building materials, and how insurance and hazardous‑waste cleanup costs would affect recovery.

Consultant Scott Chesky summarized recent state work on wildland‑urban interface mapping by DNR and said some changes to building materials and setbacks could be required in the future. He said that where homeowners rebuild "on the same footprint or generally... mostly on the same footprint foundation that they had, they're going to be allowed to do so essentially with the codes that existed at the time." He added that if people expand their structures significantly, new codes would apply.

Chesky and staff also described operational steps: the county, city and partners were opening a disaster assistance center at noon at Shadle High School with planning and building staff to answer residents' questions about rebuilding, permitting and resources. Commissioners and commenters urged rapid creative solutions and warned about capacity constraints — Chesky noted there are not enough builders or supplies to rebuild hundreds of homes quickly and that plan‑review staff are being augmented to handle surges.

No code changes were adopted at the meeting; staff said they will continue to coordinate recovery guidance and accept public inquiries at the disaster assistance center.