The State of California Department of Housing and Community Development has adopted the 2001 California Building Codes and all documents have been printed. The City Council introduced these ordinances at the August 27, 2002 meeting and set the adoption date as September 24, 2002. Staff has reviewed the documents and the required notices of publication were 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 adopt the codes with amendments.

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

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. 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, a public hearing was held by the City Council on August 27, 2002 to introduce the ordinances and set a date for the adoption hearing.

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.

A resolution is required to determine the need for the existing and proposed amendments. The resolution states the reason for new structural amendments is due to the high potential for seismic activity in this area (Attachment A).

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

No fiscal impact is expected.

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

At the introduction meeting on August 27, a member of the public spoke and expressed concern in following three areas:

• Allowing class C shake roofs.
• Requiring wood studs for buildings over three stories
• Nominal versus actual size of wood framing members/Quality of Lumber

Staff has looked into each of the issues that were raised. The following is a summary of staff analysis:

The Uniform Building Code (without State amendments) allows non-rated roof material for certain types of buildings including all single family homes. In 1995 the State of California required a minimum of Class C fire rating for all roof material within the State. The rating of the roof material is a fire rating to prevent fire damage to the roof. The criteria for the ratings of roof material are dependent upon the use and the type of construction of the building. The codes also address other protections for reducing the potential for fire hazard including setbacks, rated construction, and the municipal code requirement for fire sprinklers. Staff believes that collectively, the fire protection requirements are sufficient and prohibiting class C roofing material alone will not significantly reduce the threat or damage of fire.

The current and proposed building codes allow wood studs in buildings up to four stories in height. In addition, other framing members and flooring are permitted to be of wood material. Many limitations and code provisions apply to the use of wood studs in all buildings. Some of these factors include fire sprinkler requirements, the use of the building, the type of construction of the building, and the size of the building. For example, large buildings are required to provide fire rated construction (i.e. one-hour rated ceilings, floors, and walls) or even two hour area separation walls to further protect the occupants of the building.

During construction while the fire rated walls/floor/ceilings are being built and wood is exposed there is always a risk of fire. The Fire Code has provisions for fire safety during construction such as requiring stand pipes, on-site fire hydrants, fire extinguishers, and fire truck access to the building. Given all of the factors, staff does not believe that limiting the use of wood studs to three story buildings would significantly reduce the possible damage of fire.

The building code references nominal sizes for wood members not actual sizes. For example, a 2X4 stud no longer measures 2 inches by 4 inches (the actual size is 1-1/2" by 3-1/2"). However, for many decades codes have adjusted to this fact and all structural tables reflect the actual sectional properties of wood members. The code has also included the equivalent metric measurements for international reference.

Changes due to the quality of wood were only recently addressed by the Building Code (the 1991 version). The proposed structural amendments further address this issue by making references to more updated standards (that specifically adjust to the quality of the wood) than those adopted by the State.

It is important to note that amendments to the State adopted building codes should go through a comprehensive review process. The process should include a cost/benefit analysis, public and industry participation, and regional agreement rather than just local. For the structural amendments that staff is recommending, this process took over two years and required cooperation between most Bay Area and Monterey Bay jurisdictions.

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 file
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