ARC Report Endorses Massive Overhaul of Construction Permitting and Inspection

On Tuesday, March 5th Governor Snyder released the long-awaited report from the Office of Regulatory Reform’s Inspections & Permitting Advisory Rules Committee. Lee Schwartz, HBAM’s Executive Vice President for Government Relations was one of the 19 members of the ARC.

To hit some of the highlights, the report recommends:

• Creation of a statewide fire code.
• Eliminating local construction boards of appeal and hearing all code appeals at the state level.
• Enhancing standards for approving new building departments.
• Creating an expedited code interpretation review panel through the State Construction Code Commission.
• Eliminating redundant permitting at multiple levels
• Requiring sufficient code knowledge before provisional registration of building inspectors.
• Removing the requirement for government employment before registering as an inspector.
• Creating a development-friendly culture of “Educate first, enforce second.”
• Allow for self-certification in certain circumstances.
• Creating single permits for HVAC and water heater replacement.
• Creating an applicant checklist to help ensure a complete submission of applications for permits and plan review.
• Provide for pre-project meetings.
• Create and use baseline criteria for reviewing building officials’ performance.

Conducting random audits of jurisdictions with delegated authority to assure proper performance of the plan review, permitting and inspections process.
Overall the report endorses a massive overhaul in how construction permitting and inspections are done in Michigan. A majority of these changes will require legislative action to amend either the Stille-DeRossett-Hale Single State Construction Code Act or the Building Officials and Inspectors Registration Act. Many of these changes (such as eliminating local CBAs) will face strong opposition. As you would expect, the HBAM will be in the thick of the effort to reform our system.

To view the complete recommendations, visit:
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/lara/Inspections_and_Permitting_Recommendations_-_March_4_413233_7.pdf