Oro Valley Adopts International Energy Codes

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Last week, by a 6- 1 vote, the Oro Valley Town Council approved the family of international building codes as Oro Valley's code.  It includes the international energy codes (IECC).   Most council members did so without even reading all of the 700 plus pages that comprise the changes to Oro Valley's code.

One council member was unsure that the town staff had read all of the international and IECC code.

"I clearly do not have the time to go through these codes.  [Town staff] obviously are still trudging through them yourselves," noted Council Member Bill Garner.

Council Member Mike Zinkin noted that there were many things in the 700 pages of code that were not health and safety related.  He was referring to new energy restriction requirements.

Council Member Joe Hornat noted: “The energy thing causes me some grief.”

Council Member Garner spoke: "I’m still having heartburn and trouble over the … sustainability issue."

The "heartburn" some council members were having is this: For some, the code should focus solely on health and safety; and not mandating energy-related compliance.  For others, mandating energy-related compliance is something they feel the have the right to do based on the "general welfare" clause of the US Constitution.

In the end, only Council Member Zinkin voted against adopting the 700 pages of changes.   Two council members, Garner and Hornat, voted to approve the codes, after getting "assurances" from town staff that the code changes did not apply to existing structures.

Addressing town staff Garner noted: "Is there any way for there to be assurances for the public at least so that if something is found within the code that [town staff] weren't even aware of, that there could be some provisions written in there that there could be an appeal process that you can formally document as part of this motion..."

The response from town staff was that the code has a list of things that do not require permits and that pretty much covers anything that you are just replacing.

There was no appeal process added as part of the motion that carried.

So, you ask, why does all this matter?  Why are we so concerned?   Why should you be concerned?  After all, these regulations supposedly only impact new construction.  Let the new homeowner or those who chose to add a room suffer the burden of undue regulation.

It matters to us for two reasons. One, we will all be residents of Oro Valley, whether we own an existing home or a new home.  It is simply morally wrong to require owners of newly-built structures to suffer what some consider over-regulation and an intrusion on their property rights, while we sit idly by because the regulations do not impact us.

Second, the Council did not approve an energy element amendment to the general plan on December 11, 2012.  Yet, in one evening, without any voter approval, the IECC energy elements were added to Oro Valley code.  Town staff, supporters of the IECC codes, introduced the "energy amendment" as a code update.  And your council, trusting of town staff, and without actually doing their diligence, went along with it.

Rather than getting it right, the Oro Valley Town Council simply got it done.

Lazy. Embarrassing.  Far less that we deserve from our elected officials.
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