Agenda 6-c - Resolution Approving a Policy of Additional Inspections for Residential Projects

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Exhibit 2 of Resolution 8 PLANNING & INSPECTIONS DEPARTMENT Michael D. Rettie, Chief Building Official Building Inspections 131 W. Margaret Lane (919) 245 -2600 Suite 101 (919) 644 -3347 (FAX) ORANGE COUNTY P. O. Box 8181 www.orangecountync.gov NORTH CAROLINA Hillsborough, NC 27278 Resolution Petition Explanation Pursuant to S.L. 2013 -118 Orange County Inspections Division requests to have additional Inspections approved: Staff has been instructed by the North Carolina Building Code Council to solicit approval from the Orange County Board of County Commissioners for the additional Code enforcement inspections Staff is requesting to be approved for Orange County. Orange County Inspections Division has vested almost 20 years into fostering a working partnership with our Building Community. Over this time Staff has developed an efficient list of inspections. These inspections are crafted to give flexibility of scheduling for Builders when, in the construction schedule and process, the issue is most efficiently verified and repairs can be effectively made with minimal cost or delay. In 2013 when S.L. 2013 -118 was enacted, Orange County sought input from our construction Partners who, over - whelming, requested that Staff continue working with the established inspections protocol as Staff had in the past. Staff adjusted the inspections to include sub - inspections of the NC Administration and Policies Code section 107 list of 8 (7 for residential projects) inspections allowed. Staff's choice was predicated upon the understanding that residential projects need the flexibility of sequencing when Code issues could most efficiently be verified. Staff believed that this was not asking for "additional inspections" but rather that Staff were making the list more efficient and effective for the construction process, by expanding each of the seven inspections into their natural sub - sections. To date, Orange County has received no documented complaints regarding how Staff schedule or inspect construction projects in Orange County. According to Staff's regulatory agency NCDOI, Building Inspectors, statewide, performed over 2.7 million inspections last year and there were only two documented complaints regarding the type of inspection requested as having exceeded what was authorized by this Bill (since the Law was enacted). On February 1, 2018 the NC Code Official Qualification Board's chairman Bill Thunberg expressed that the Qualification Board's position is for Code Enforcement Officials to be held responsible for conducting residential inspections not specifically listed in section 107 of the Administrative Code and Policies. Upon receiving this position and reviewing the formal Interpretation regarding these inspections, put forth by NCDOI in April 2016, Orange County has restructured the required inspections to ONLY those 8 specifically listed in this Code section. The response from Orange County's