Coconino County Community Development Bulletin

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January 2019 Bulletin

Letter from the Director

After two and a half years of professional, dedicated and transformational leadership, it is with great regret I inform you that Chief Building Official Chris Young is leaving Coconino County.

During that time, Chris has been instrumental in promoting process improvement, collaboration, consistency and continuous improvement among his team. In addition, Chris' professionalism and networking capabilities have established Coconino County as a leader in local and state-wide building related organizations.

Chris' proactive and creative code interpretation approach is also among his most valuable attributes. When looking at an atypical design or material, for example, Chris would use the analogy of "the round peg and the square hole". Simply meaning that the design or material was the round peg, while the code books were the square hole; it wasn't going to fit so it becomes necessary to get creative.

Chris will be missed and we wish him the best with his endeavors.

Sincerely,
Jay Christelman
Director, Community Development
Coconino County
928.679.8867

Building and Safety

Codes Corner: IRC 302.13 Fire Protection of Floors
Floor assemblies that are not required elsewhere in this code to be fire-resistance rated, shall be provided with a 1/2-inch (12.7 mm) gypsum wallboard membrane, 5/8-inch (16 mm) wood structural panel membrane, or equivalent on the underside of

the floor framing member. Penetrations or openings for ducts, vents, electrical outlets, lighting, devices, luminaires, wires, speakers, drainage, piping and similar openings or penetrations shall be permitted.

2. Floor assemblies located directly over a crawl space not intended for storage or for the installation of fuel-fired or electric-powered heating appliances.
Exception 2 above does not require the application of drywall or wood structural panel to the underside of the crawl space floor unless a fuel-fired or electric-powered heating appliance is installed, or the space is used for storage.

4. Wood floor assemblies using dimension lumber or structural composite lumber equal to or greater than 2-inch by 10-inch (50.8 mm by 254 mm) nominal dimension, or other approved floor assemblies demonstrating equivalent fire performance.
Exception 4 above also excepts the requirement for drywall or wood structural panel to be applied to the underside of the crawl space floor. This exception also mentions “other approved floor assemblies demonstrating equivalent fire performance.”

The Truss Joist Institute (TJI), requested an I-Joist Equivalency evaluation as a, other approved floor assembly and the testing showed that, if 3 ½ inch mineral wool insulation was installed between the I-Joist bottom cords it would constitute equivalency to a 2-inch by 10-inch piece of lumber.

The tests were conducted considering a three-sided exposure of the wood floor joists and what this code change failed to consider was the application of floor insulation, required by Chapter 11. In Coconino County, the energy code requires an R-30 insulation be installed in the crawl space floor between each joist member. Coconino County has proposed an amendment to this section as part of the 2018 Code Adoption and will not be requiring drywall or wood structural panels to be installed if the crawl space floor is insulated and the crawl space does not exceed 48-inches from top of finished floor at any point.

Training Opportunities:
2018 Significant Changes to IRC

Coconino County Building and Safety will be conducting a class on the 2018 Significant Changes to the IRC. The training is scheduled for Wednesday January 30, 2019 from 8:30 to 4:00 at the City of Flagstaff Council Chambers. Please register with Jesse Newton at jnewton@coconino.az.gov if interested.

Permit Data: Month of December

(Click image for larger version)

Environmental Quality

Update from Environmental Engineering Supervisor

The focus for this last month, besides the holidays and vacations, was to continue catching up on the backlog of projects for review. At this time the next new submittal to be reviewed was submitted on 12/31/19 under two weeks ago. Layne Tucker has no backlog on re-submittals. Brian Buzzell’s resubmittal backlog is less than a week. My resubmittal backlog is the worst, at over two weeks with one older project that has various difficulties in the review.

We appreciate the patience and understanding of the designers and contractors with the delays and glitches that have occurred with changing staff and more recently with the holidays.

We are accepting digital submittals and resubmittals at plansubmittals@coconion.az.gov. Paper submittals are still being accepted at the front counter or by mail. Currently only one copy of each document is required. (The applications still indicate that multiple copies are required however we have implemented scanning all documents so we only need one copy.) That also means that approvals including stamped plans are sent out digitally if an email is provided. If not or if an applicant or designer requests a paper copy it will be provided.

If you have specific concerns about the program please feel free to call, write or visit.

David M. Monihan Jr., PE, RLS
(928) 679-8772
dmonihan@coconino.az.gov

Sustainable Building Program

January is National Radon Action Month!

High radon levels can be a risk anywhere in any state. Consider picking up a radon testing kit from a local hardware store and testing your home today!

(click poster for larger image)

For more information on radon, see the Sustainable Building Program's January 2017 newsletter, or EPA's radon website.

Recruitment:

The Urban Wildlife Planner position, a County and Arizona Game & Fish joint position, has been accepted by Robert Magill. He will begin work on January 28th.

We are in the recruitment process for a Permit Technician position.

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Coconino County Community Development · 2500 North Fort Valley Road, Flagstaff, AZ · Building 1 · Flagstaff, AZ 86001 · USA