Not everything important is exciting.
Consider last week’s Columbus City Council meeting. Among flashier items – the return of Waggoner Engineering and the looming shadow of Public Information Officer Joe Dillon’s billing dispute – it was easy to miss Building Official Kenny Wiegel’s request to update the city’s building codes.
What, exactly, are building codes?
According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, they are laws that set minimum requirements for how a wide variety of systems should be designed and constructed.
Lawmakers start with a so-called model code. The model code starts with specific standards, which are produced following guidelines defined by the American National Standards Institute by a variety of professional organizations with expertise in a relevant field. For example, standards governing fire safety originate with the National Fire Protection Association.
State and local governments can then take those model codes and tweak them to make them a better fit for their needs. Codes are updated periodically – usually every three to six years – and those updates are later adopted at the state and local level.
It was time to update Columbus’ codes, Wiegel told The Dispatch. The council, with no discussion, approved adopting the 2020 National Electrical Code, along with the 2021 International Codes for building, existing building, fire, fuel and gas, mechanical, plumbing, property maintenance and residential.
What exactly changed?
The city needs to adopt new building codes to keep up with the pace of technological growth, Wiegel explained.
“There are new products, and new methods of construction, coming out all the time,” Wiegel said. “Those are things that older versions of the code might not recognize, so it’s good for us to keep (city codes) updated.”
While some of the codes are straightforward – the electrical code deals with, you guessed it, electrical work – there is some variation hidden in there.
“The residential code stands on its own,” Wiegel said. “That one book is for three things, and three things only: electrical, plumbing and mechanical for single- and double-family residences and townhouses.”
All other residences fall back on the basic building codes, Wiegel said.
Those residential codes also have seen what Wiegel described as the “biggest” amendment made by the city.
“If you adopted the residential code as-is, you would have to put sprinkler systems in single- and double-family residences and townhouses,” Wiegel said. “We amended it so you don’t have to put in a sprinkler if you have built-in fire separation. You either separate, or you sprinkle.”
Wiegel described the other amendments as “minute.”
The new codes only affect construction going forward, Wiegel said. Unless someone is building a new structure or a new addition to an existing one, there’s no need to worry.
What about Starkville?
Over in Starkville, the building codes are handled somewhat differently, City Planner Daniel Havelin said.
“We passed an ordinance that is our unified development code,” Havelin said. “It includes zoning, development standards, use standards, historic preservation. All of that is kind of rolled up in there.”
The unified code contains a chapter that governs building and housing codes, Havelin said.
“We use the most up-to-date codes for everything,” Havelin said. “That’s the 2021 edition for just about everything but electrical, which is 2020.”
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 30 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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