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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 3527 City of Palo Alto (ID # 3527) City Council Staff Report Report Type: Informational Report Meeting Date: 5/6/2013 City of Palo Alto Page 1 Summary Title: ISO Report Title: Presentation of Insurance Services Office Report on Palo Alto Building Division Rating From: City Manager Lead Department: Planning and Community Environment Recommendation This is an informational item to council and therefore no action is required. Background ISO is an independent statistical, rating, and advisory organization that serves the property/casualty insurance industry. ISO collects information from communities in the United States on their adoption and enforcement of building codes. In May of 2011, ISO issued a report for the City of Palo Alto (CPA) through a comprehensive program called the Building Code Effectiveness Grading Schedule (BCEGS). The purpose of the ISO report is fourfold: 1. To summarize a community's scoring under the criterion contained in the BCEGS™ program. 2. To identify opportunities for communities desiring to improve their BCEGS™ classification number. 3. To assist a community in understanding how other jurisdictions with similar needs address building code adoption and enforcement. 4. To provide hazard mapping information important in planning and developing a sustainable community. The concept behind ISO’s BCEGS™ is simple - Municipalities with well-enforced, up-to-date codes demonstrate less property damage due to fire and natural disasters. This can be reflected in the citizens' insurance rates. The prospect of minimizing catastrophe-related damage and ultimately lowering insurance costs gives communities an incentive to enforce their building codes rigorously. While individual insurers may use different credits or different effective dates, City of Palo Alto Page 2 the ISO program will apply credits to new construction within CPA that has been issued a Certificate of Occupancy in the year 2011 and forward. This report is, also, designed to give the city management a broad prospective for dealing with the key issues surrounding effective building code enforcement. This was accomplished through comparison of the CPA code enforcement to that of other neighboring and state-wide municipalities. This report goes further to allow the CPA to compare its permit, plan review and inspection activities to other jurisdictions around the country. Through BCEGS program, ISO assigns each municipality a Building Code Effectiveness Classification from 1 (exemplary commitment to building-code enforcement) to 10 for both commercial and residential construction. The ISO evaluates many criteria, including staffing levels and qualifications of plan reviewers and field inspectors, code adoption and amendment, and the community’s commitment to building-code enforcement. Each criteria is assigned a certain number of points and total the points to arrive at the BCEGS class. The point ranges for Class 1, 2 and 3 are 93.00 to 100.00, 85.00 to 92.99 and 77.00 to 84.99, respectively. Only 18 percent of BCEGS evaluations result in a Class 1 through 3. The majority of communities (67 percent) that ISO surveys, earn a BCEGS Class 4 through 6. In California, 988 communities were surveyed by ISO. Out of those surveyed, only 10 have achieved Class 1 and 55 have achieved Class 2 ratings. However, ISO does not release ratings for individual cities. ISO reevaluate each community every five years. If the community notifies ISO of a change that could affect the classification before the five-year reevaluation, ISO will reevaluate the community sooner, as ISO’s schedule permits. Discussion The ISO review of CPA was performed in the second quarter of 2011. The final result was a significant improvement from the past. The CPA scored Class 2 ratings in both commercial and residential categories. The total points for commercial and residential were 86.84 and 85.87, respectively. In particular, the plan review section scored 99 percent and the field inspection scored 82 percent of the maximum possible points. The previous ISO survey that was performed in 2006, the City of Palo Alto had earned a Class-4 rating. A building-code enforcement department that earns a Class-2 rating enforces the latest model code without amendments that would weaken the code’s ability to reduce damage from natural hazards. Such a department has all the resources required to enforce its adopted code meticulously. The Development Services Department (DS) is seeking another review by after the new code adoptions scheduled for January 2013. This time the goal of DS is to achieve Class 1 rating. In order to reach this goal, the DS realizes that improvements in certain areas are crucial. Some of these areas are: City of Palo Alto Page 3  staff training: In order to receive the maximum available points in this area each employee needs to train a minimum of 96 hours per year in administrative aspects of code enforcement, legal aspects of code enforcement and technical aspects of code enforcement.  certifications: A plan reviewer or an inspector who holds technical certificate(s) demonstrates a confirmed commitment to protect the public health, safety, and welfare. The staff will be encouraged and accommodated to obtain and maintain more ICC certificates. Also renewal of Safety Assessment Program certificate through Governor’s Office of Emergency Services will be mandated for all plan check and inspection staff.  public awareness and outreach programs: The staff and management of the DS is committed to hold numerous seminars and workshops to educate the public on the importance of the building codes and the ordinances that lead to the adoption of the State Codes.  administrative policies and procedures: The DS management recognizes the need for improvement of the department website and updating and publishing more policies and procedures on-line and at the public counter. Resource Impact There are no resource impacts stemming from the review of the development agreement compliance program that affects the general fund. The review of guidelines will be performed to ensure City's liability program is not impacted. Policy Implications This report does not represent any changes to existing City policies.