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Home My WebLink About2008/10/13 Board of Appeals & Advisors Minutes MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING BOARD OF APPEALS AND ADVISORS CITY OF CHULA VISTA, CALIFORNIA October 13, 2008 Conference Raom #137 inside Public Services Building 5:15 PM 276 Fourth Ave, Chula Vista, CA 91910 MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman West, Members: Buddingh, Flach, Lopez, Sides, Buencamino- Andrews 111 MEMBERS ABSENT: None CITY STAFF PRESENT: Brad Remp, Acting Director of Planning & Building/ Building Official; Lou EI- Khazen, Deputy Building Official; Rosemarie Rice, Secretary OTHERS PRESENT: None CALL MEETING TO ORDER: Chairman West called meeting to order at 5:15 PM ROLL CALL: Members present constituted a quorum. 1 DECLARATION OF EXCUSEDIUNEXCUSED ABSENTEEISM: MSC (West/Buddingh) (4-0-2-0) Approve the excused absences for' Members Sides and Flach for ' the meeting of June 16, 2008.. Motion carried. 2 APPROVAL OF MINUTES: MSC (West/Buencamino-Andrews) (6-0) motion to approve the minutes of April 14, 2008 Motion carried 3 NEW BUSINESS: A. ELECTION OF NEW CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR FOR FYE 08/09 Committee Member Flach nominated Jan Buddingh for Chair Three votes were cast for him. i Chair West made a motion to keep his position as Chairperson. Three votes were cast for him. Mr Brad Remp, Acting Director of Planning & Building, commented because of the vacancy on the committee there was not that odd vote to break a tie He recommended they could go forth and review the rest of the items on the agenda, and then revisit this later on in the evening; perhaps by then there might be a change of mind. MSC (Flach/Buddingh) (6-0) A motion was made to carry this item to the end of the meeting. 4 MEMBERS COMMENTS/CHAIRMAN'S COMMENTSIREPORTS: None 5 BUILDING OFFICIAL'S COMMENTS/REPORTS: B, Update on Green Building Standards- presented by Lou EI-Khazen Mr Lou EI-Khazen, Deputy Building Official, gave an update on the Green Building Standards and talked about the implementation plan for Measures 4, 5 and 7 of the Climate Change Working Group recommendations that the building department is currently working on, Board of Appeals & Advisor's Page 2 October 13, 2008 Meeting Minutes Member Comments: • Member Flach asked if there was a baseline allowance for carbon savings Mr EI-Khazen said that it would be 1 5 Ibs per square foot above the minimum Title 24 requirement. There was discussion between Member Flach and Mr EI-Khazen on how it would apply to a residence using electric versus gas heating Staff explained the energy calculation for either gas or' electric is based upon the energy savings If it fell short using electric, then it would have to be offset by another energy saving form to make up that carbon savings.. Member Flach asked if this applied to remodels as well? Staff confirmed that it did, Member Flach also asked about rebates and whether the city would pay it or' the state Mr. EI-Khazen said that these were part of the mitigation program that he had mentioned If a builder' could not meet the carbon saving requirement, then they could pay an "in lieu fee' and that money will be used for rebates, • Member BuenCamino-Andrews asked what the city considers an older home Mr EI-Khazen said homes that were built before 1979 and older. • Member Buddingh mentioned the bailout bill had some provisions in it for extending solar credit making them more favorable than they use to be Mr. Remp thought this was one of the more positive aspects of the program, and because of it, felt there would be a significant push for solar photovoltaic systems on residences, Requiring builders to pre-wire homes for these systems would save the homeowner money if they chose to install them at a later date Member' Buddingh brought up the Berkley Ordinance and asked if the city would be inclined to go this route, Mr Remp stated from a practical standpoint he didn't think many people would take advantage of this He explained that this was a citywide assessment where people would have to voluntarily buy into it This loan with the city would last over the life of the home, whether you live there or not, and there would be an assessment against that property to pay off the loan He noted the Berkley group was having problems securing funding. I • Member Sides commented regarding the internal VOC, staff didn't mention anything about slab moisture readings and asked if they had been omitted? Mr EI-Khazen stated the California Green Building measures allow using crushed rock visquine to protect the slab and keep moisture out and the city already follows that practice. However, on all new projects they ask for a soils report and a recommendation from a professional. Member Sides referred to the water shortages the city is facing and questioned why the city was postponing those measures, Mr. Remp explained I the city has the most restrictive water conservation standards in the county. The standards ar'e going towards the ultra flow products Low flow products are not readily available at the moment and the cost is expensive i e. an ultra flow toilet can run about $256. Furthermore, there was a state statue that was written specifically to protect the suppliers so they could gear up to the demand, and that was one of the reasons why they took that into consideration. Mr, Remp discussed the cost of implementing these standards and explained that they had tried to balance what the cost of these fees will be to the developers and what the city desired to achieve The California Energy Commission will be reviewing the information to help them make that determination There will also be some staff cost associated with it and they are in the process of updating the city's fee schedule, He further noted after checking with other jurisdictions, that are trying to do something similar to this, those cast could be from 15-20% in additional fees, C Update on recent staffing reductions- presented by Brad Remp • Mr, Remp addressed reductions in staffing due to the economy and slow building practices. The building department's revenues are down by 2/3 of what had been projected; as a result, they've had to eliminate 9 positions. There ar'e significantly fewer people working at the front counter and the counter wait time is up Building inspectors and plans examiners have been utilized in order to alleviate some of the wait time, Because of this, they are falling behind on their work. Staff stated at the time the reductions had been made, the building department came forward with a proposal for decreased counter hours Council was not very receptive to the idea and asked if there was anyway to avoid going in this direction. They are now experiencing considerable impacts as a result of this and will need to revisit reducing the overall hours. It has been determined through some studies done about the counter activity that the busiest times are from 11 am to 4 pm. Mr Remp indicated that those hours would probably be recommended as the new operating hours, He also explained as part of the city's cost cutting measures the Assistant Director of Planning position was eliminated and they have been recruiting for a Planning and Building Director, At the present time, he is the acting Planning & Building Director He also noted that Rosemarie Rice would now be the new secretary for the Board of Appeals and Advisor's committee Board of Appeals & Advisors Page 3 October 13, 2008 Meeting Minutes : Member Comments: Member Lopez stated that he would have to leave the meeting early (6:05 pm) because of prior work commitments • Member Sides asked if they've considered doing some of the plan checks by appointment. Mr' Remp stated that they had already done a lot of plan checks by appointment The problems they are having is the people submitting the plans are not professionals (architects or' engineers) and are not experienced with the process and don't understand building codes, hence, a lot of time is spent with staff going over their submissions. • Chair Flach asked if they should carry on with the election of officers even though Member Lopez was not present Mr. Remp recommended that it be postponed until the next meeting when hopefully all the committee members would be present. MSG(Flach/West) (5-0-0-1) Defer the election of Board of Appeal and Advisors officers until the next scheduled meeting. Motion carried with Member Lopez absent. 6 COMMUNICATIONS (PUBLIC REMARKS/ WRITTEN CORRESPONDENCE): None 7 ADJOURNMENT: MSC (West/Flach) (6-0) adjournment of meeting at 6:10 p m to the next regular meeting in P4anning and Building Conference Room #137 on November 10, 2008, Motion carried. BRAD REMP, C.B.O. ASST. DIR. OF PLANNING & BUILDING/ BUILDING OFFICIAL SECRETARY TO THE BOARD OF APPEALS & ADVISORS MINUTES TAKEN BY: ROSEMARIE RICE, SECRETARY PLANNING & BUILDING DEPARTMENT