The State of California Department of Housing and Community Development has adopted the 2001 California Building Codes and all documents have been printed. Staff has reviewed the documents and the required notices of publication will be published on August 28, 2002 and September 4, 2002 in the Sun newspaper. The 2001 editions of the California Building Codes will bring the City of Sunnyvale up to the current code standard in the State of California. Staff is recommending that the City Council introduce the proposed ordinances and set a public hearing for September 24, 2002.

The State of California adopted and published these model codes in May 2002 as approved by the Building Standards Commission. All local jurisdictions must now adopt the most recent edition of the Codes with appropriate amendments by November 1, 2002 or be mandated to accept by default the version adopted by the State.

The City of Sunnyvale is presently using the 1998 California codes. In order to use the updated versions of the building codes an ordinance for each code must be adopted.

The State of California has adopted the 2002 California Codes which including the following with amendments:

• 1997 Uniform Building Code
• 2000 Uniform Mechanical Code
• 2000 Uniform Plumbing Code
• 1999 National Electrical Code
• 2001 Administrative Code
• 2001 Energy Code
• 2001 Historical Building Code
• 2001 Code for Building Conservation

Every city and county in California must adopt these codes, with local amendments as may be appropriate, and implement them by November 1, 2002. Pursuant to Government Code 50022.3, there shall be a public hearing scheduled after the first reading of the title of the adopting ordinance(s) and notice of the hearing shall be published once a week for two successive weeks. The adoption of the codes is scheduled for the September 24, 2002 City Council meeting.

The State has not adopted amended or adopted updated codes for the 1997 Uniform Housing Code or the 1997 Uniform Building Security Code. These codes were adopted during the last code cycle in 1999 and will remain in effect.

The past several code cycles, the City of Sunnyvale has limited the amendments to the State adopted building codes. However, since in this code cycle the State of California has not adopted updated structural requirements with the 2001 California Building Code, staff believes that structural amendments are crucial due to the high potential of seismic activity in this area. Staff has been working extensively with other local jurisdictions to collectively minimize and unify all local amendments. Staff is recommending eight amendments to the 2001 California Building Code which are all related to structural design. These eight amendments are the result of more than two years of collective work among jurisdictions throughout the Bay Area. Most jurisdictions within Silicon Valley will be adopting the same amendments.

Staff is also recommending minor modifications to the language of the existing ordinances for further clarification purposes.

The adoption of these codes and amendments should have a positive impact because it will allow the public to avail themselves of current health and safety provisions that have been revised under these codes.

The City of Sunnyvale has traditionally not adopted the chapter of the Uniform Building Code containing the Fire Protection System standards (Chapter 9). This is because the fire protection system standards are adopted when the Public Safety Department initiates the adoption of the Uniform Fire Code with amendments.

The Ordinance to adopt the 2001 California Building Code with these amendments is located in Exhibit C.

No fiscal impact is expected.

Copies of the draft ordinance will be sent to the Chamber of Commerce, Santa Clara Valley Manufacturing Group, and Joint Venture: Silicon Valley. Notice of the adoption scheduled for September 24, 2002 will also be published in the Sun newspaper, a newspaper of general circulation, on August 28, 2002 and September 11, 2002.

Staff recommends Alternative 1.

Prepared by:

Diana Perkins
Plan Checker I

Reviewed By:

Ali Fatapour
Chief Building Official

Robert Paternoster
Director, Community Development

Approved by:

Robert S. LaSala
City Manager

Exhibit A – Finding and Determining the Need for Modifications to the Uniform Building Codes

Exhibit B – 2001 California Administrative Code

Exhibit C – 2001 California Building Code (.pdf format)

Exhibit D – 2001 California Electrical Code

Exhibit E – 2001 California Mechanical Code

Exhibit F – 2001 California Plumbing Code

Exhibit G – 2001 California Energy Code

Exhibit H – 2001 California Historical Building Code

Exhibit I – 2001 California Code for Building Conservation