BERKELEY, Calif. – The Berkeley City Council is considering a slate of amendments to the city’s building codes after a balcony collapse killed six and injured seven in June. The council has approved a new “urgency ordinance” that would apply strict standards to outside stairways and balconies — including compulsory three-year inspections. The ordinance takes immediate effect, however the state must approve local building amendments.
One city councilman has introduced a proposal to require building owners to notify tenants if their balconies are not steel-reinforced. The same councilman is also pushing for an appeal to the California Building Standards Commission to call for corrosion-resistant steel in all new balcony construction.
The collapse has been attributed to rot, and the construction companies that installed and water-proofed the balconies at the community had been sued by previous clients for bad balcony work. Though one of the companies had paid $26.5 million in previous construction settlements, the Contractors State Licensing Board had no knowledge of it.
As a result, Democratic State Senators Loni Hancock of Berkeley and Jerry Hill of San Mateo are pushing a bill that would help regulators more easily identify problem construction companies. The bill would require contractors to disclose any past felonies or lawsuits alleging construction defects, negligence and fraud.
Balcony maintenance and upkeep is covered under the International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC), which has not been adopted at the state level in California. Only four local jurisdictions have adopted the IPMC, according to the International Code Council, the body that develops and publishes building codes with input from code officials and stakeholders nationwide. The next update to the IPMC will be published in 2018; the code was reviewed and hearings were held this past April.
Source: ICCsafe.org/The International Code Council, SFGate, ABC News