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NOvEMBEr, 2012
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BUILDING YOUR BUSINESS
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HBA HOME BUILDING NEWS
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11
REGIONAL ISSUES
BCD Electrical & Elevator
Board (update) –
On October 5
the State Building Codes Division
issued a temporary rule regarding
arc fault circuit interrupters (AFCI).
Currently Oregon code has only re-
quired these AFCI in the bedrooms.
As of January 1 the new rule will
require the AFCI throughout the
house. However there will be a
number of exemptions for certain
types of circuits in the home. Pri-
marily hallways will be exempted
as well as circuits dedicated to a
single system in a house (entertain-
ment centers etc.).
Rural Housing Designation
(update) –
Congresswoman Su-
zanne Bonamici has signed on to
extending rural housing financing
at USDA. This is an issue which was
discussed with the Congresswom-
an when HBAMP met with her in
August. The USDA issued a notice
in September to all rural Devel-
opment staff instructing them to
continue to use the current “rural”
definition until March 27, 2013 and
to postpose implementation of
new 2010 census data until that
time. This will allow time for NAHB
to continue to work on reaching a
more permanent solution.
Washington County Plat Ex-
tensions (Update) –
On Septem-
ber 19 the Washington County
Planning Commission approved
extending plat applications to 4
years with a one–time two year
extension available via a type I re-
view. The Board of Commissioners
voted on and approved this ordi-
nance on October 2. The hearings
will be held open for two more
meetings before it is enacted.
Milwaukie Design Standards
(update) –
The City of Milwaukie
is in the process of revising their
zoning code to include residential
Design Standards on new devel-
opment. The HBA was involved in
the early stages of the proposed
design standards. On September
18 the Milwaukie City Council ap-
proved the new design standards
with a package of amendments.
The amendments primarily deal
with ADU’s and some additional
flexibility in single family stan-
dards.
REGULATIONS /
STANDARDS
Clackamas County Water En-
vironmental Services (new) –
Clackamas County Water Environ-
ment Services is looking at surface
water management practices and
regulations. They are interested in
developing an early and often dia-
logue with the homebuilders and
others about what is working, what
is not and what alternatives, given
state and federal regulation, could
work better than current practice.
They have asked us to be a part
of a survey and eventually focus
groups on this issue. Once we have
dates and the survey information,
we will distribute it to interested
members.
Clean Water Services Design /
Construction Standards (new) –
Clean Water Services is beginning
the process of updating the Design
and Construction Standards. As an
initial phase of the update pro-
cess they will be having a series of
outreach meetings with different
stakeholder groups. While the date
has not been set yet, they would
like to host a meeting at their Ti-
gard facility sometime in Novem-
ber for interested HBA members.
When the date is set, we will inform
interested members.
FEE & TAX ISSUES
Hillsboro Water SDC (new) –
HBA has been asked to serve on
an advisory committee which is re-
viewing the City of Hillsboro’s wa-
ter SDC. The city has a number of
upgrades needed to their system,
including their share of repairs to
the Scoggins Dam. These costs ei-
ther will be passed on to the rate
payers, SDC rates or a combination
of both. The committee is review-
ing the costs and will advise which
mix is preferred. The first meeting
was in September with one to two
more planned before the end of
the year.
Canby SDC’s (new) –
The City
of Canby has sent notice to the
HBA that they are beginning the
process of updating their trans-
portation and Parks SDC fees. The
first public hearing will be on De-
cember 5. The proposed changes
will be available from the City after
October 5.
LeGISLATIve, reGULATorY AND oTHer ISSUeS AFFeCTING DeveLoPmeNT AND bUILDING
November, 2012
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