City Council Study Session Agenda and Packet 2009 04 28

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LRCAB GOALS & PROJECTS FOR 2009 Members of LRCAB plan to work on the following projects during the coming year: FIRST: The most important topic for LRCAB members at this particular time is still our recommendation that the City of Louisville adopt a "Green-Build" Residential and Commercial Construction Program. We support the work done by Planning-Department Director Paul Wood and Chief Building Official Mike Jones during the past year to begin implementation of such a Green-Build Program. At our meetings the past few months we've had some local residents report on their conversations with Paul Wood and Mike Jones, which indicated their interest in proceeding with both residential and commercial applications of green-build criteria. Also at our April 2009 meeting we were informed by Mike Jones, that our Building Department plans to adopt the International Codes Council's 2009 Energy-Conservation Code. We urge City Council approval of that code's adoption when it is formally presented to you. As we've stated previously, any building code establishes the minimum nation-wide standards required at that particular time. And because they are minimum standards, there are plenty of options for improvements in those standards, through improved construction-site practices, new technological improvements, and use of better building materials. Building codes do not necessarily change to keep up with advances in building materials and processes. And routinely, if improved practices and materials are not required by "code", they are not used by builders. Nor can it be assumed that a city will always adopt the most recent code versions established by the ICC. There may not seem to be sufficient changes, either in numbers or in improvements, to warrant the costs to adopt new codes as they become published. In such circumstances having our own local Green-Build Program will allow us to straddle such gaps in national standards and implement such improvements as we ourselves choose, for our local and regional conditions and needs. Our own locally developed and administered program will give our city building officials much greater flexibility to meet local needs than any hoped-for future national program, that by necessity may have to be set to a lower common standard to meet diverse national conditions and try to be a "one size fits all" solution. Right now, new residential and commercial construction projects are down from levels projected late last year, and so establishing and implementing a Green-Build Program will have minimal impact on new-permit applicants and give them time to become familiar with what standards we may establish. And the trend to demolish old houses and replace them with new larger houses will continue here. More residents who have difficulties selling their homes in a weakened market will be remodeling their homes, to improve them either for their own continued use or to increase their sell-ability in the market. So it is definitely worthwhile now to establish green-build criteria applicable to such remodel projects, to optimize their quality and habitability, and reduce their adverse environ-mental impacts. And we reiterate our recommendation from last year that City Council appropriate such funds as may be necessary to implement a Green-Build Program, based on reporting prepared by City Staff to establish the need for such funds, and as compared to similar costs incurred by our neigh-boring Cities and County to administer their own programs. 5