Dolores residents can expect a 30% to 40% reduction in flood insurance rates after a revision of the town’s building codes, building inspector David Doudy said Monday at a Town Board meeting.
In 2007, the town of Dolores adopted the 2006 International Code Council building guidelines.
Since then, the codes have been updated five times — while Dolores has fallen behind, said David Doudy, building inspector for the town, at the meeting.
The International Code Council develops the codes, alongside organizations like the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and revises them every three years.
“Typically communities adopt these codes on a more regular basis,” he told The Journal.
This will be the town’s first building code update since 2007, and this is largely because the town hasn’t had an official building inspector, as the position was fulfilled on an “as-needed basic for a long, long time,” he said.
This changed when Doudy assumed the role, although still part-time, in 2018.
Doudy delivered a presentation discussing the switch at Monday’s board meeting, during which he said he aims to have new building benchmarks ready by January.
The code will not go through a public comment process, but will cycle through a public ordinance process with a public hearing.
There have been 764 changes to the International Building Code since 2006. Many of them dealt with new building components, materials and methodologies that are a product of innovation through the years, Doudy said.
“This is not a code that is going to affect a lot of people,” Doudy said. “Nothing major has changed.”
Residents can expect, however; a 30% to 40% reduction in flood insurance rates, he said.
In a 2018 review, the Insurance Service Office gave the town the lowest score possible for building codes.
With the adoption of new codes, that score will raise, and in turn will lower flood insurance rates, Doudy said.
“It’s a beneficial code for everybody,” Doudy said.
Residents may also experience a slight cut in housing insurance.
This is because a higher town building code rating will slightly improve the town’s ISO fire code rating, as it is one component of that rating, which helps determine housing insurance rates, Doudy said.
Otherwise, the new codes will mainly come into play for new building projects, Doudy said.
