A massive overhaul of city codes was on the agenda at Tuesday night’s regular meeting of the Midlothian City Council.
Councilmembers narrowly approved amendments to the city fire code, and also amended seven areas in the city’s building regulations. The fire code change adopts the 2021 edition of the International Fire Code, and the seven changes to the building ordinance involve changes relating to other international codes.
Fire Chief Dale McCaskill and Fire Marshal Kevin Lucia told the council that the fire code amendments reflect changes in technology. Battery storage systems, for example, is an evolving technology that is addressed in the 2021 international code and will be specified further in subsequent codes, Lucia said.
The city of Midlothian requires most structures in excess of 6,000 square feet to have a sprinkler system. Councilmember Ross Weaver, who is a liaison to Mid-Way Regional Airport, said he supported continuing an exception for aircraft hangars allowing no sprinkler systems for hangars that are less than 12,000 square feet, which is Waxahachie’s minimum code.
The cities of Midlothian and Waxahachie jointly operate Mid-Way. Lucia, who said he supported the 6,000-square-foot requirement, noted that Midlothian is in an unusual position of enforcing Waxahachie’s fire code at the airport.
The change to the fire code passed 3-2, with councilmembers Weaver, Allen Moorman and Wayne Shuffield approving it and Mayor Justin Coffman and councilmember Mike Rodgers voting against. The five councilmembers voted the same way in approving the other seven amendments. Mayor Pro Tem Clark Wickliffe and councilmember Anna Hammonds were not present.
Coffman said he favored tabling the agenda items for further review. Rodgers fretted about the added cost of these codes in a market where houses are already rapidly becoming unaffordable.
The building code changes involve building standards, housing, energy conservation, energy storage, mechanical and plumbing. Single-family buildings, duplexes and some townhomes are not covered by the changes, but multifamily buildings (i.e. apartments) are, city chief building official Heath Daniel said.
The 2021 International Building Code contains changes to the use of mass timber, energy storage systems, accessibility, fire barriers, gas detection, flood resistance and other areas, Daniel told councilmembers. Other highly-detailed updates are included among the other agenda items.
For some projects, renewables would be required, but Daniel said he wasn’t aware of anything in the city that would fall under this.
Stormwater drainage capacity moving forward will change from a 15-year capacity to a 100-year capacity for commercial developments only, Daniel said. Private residence drainage will continue to be covered by the plumbing code.
