151. PLANNING AND ZONING (Building Safety Department 151.015 - 151.023)
Building Safety Department
151.015 Establishment
151.016 Organization
151.017 Building Safety Supervisor
151.018 Building codes
151.019 Reinspections
151.020 Sidewalks
151.021 Grading requirements
151.022 Permit to use public right-of-way
151.023 Permit fees
BUILDING SAFETY DEPARTMENT
§ 151.015 ESTABLISHMENT.
There is hereby created the Department of Building Safety. The Department shall administer and enforce the city's Building Code, Housing Code, and all codes or ordinances which may be assigned to it by the City Council.
(Prior Code, § 601.01)
§ 151.016 ORGANIZATION.
The Department shall be composed of those divisions, such as building inspectors, plan reviewers, and other supporting personnel that may be required for effective enforcement of the various codes and ordinances which are assigned to the Department by the City Council.
(Prior Code, § 601.02)
§ 151.017 BUILDING SAFETY SUPERVISOR.
(A) The City Council shall appoint the Building Safety Supervisor to serve at its pleasure and to manage the Department of Building Safety.
(Prior Code, § 601.03)
(B) The Building Safety Supervisor shall serve as an administrative official for the city, supervise the employees of the Department, and be responsible for the performance of all the duties and the responsibilities assigned to the Department by the City Council.
(Prior Code, § 601.04)
§ 151.018 BUILDING CODES.
(A) (1) The State Building Code is applicable within the city. Future changes to the State Building Code shall be adopted by the City Council by resolution. All changes to the State Building Code approved by the City Council shall be incorporated into this subchapter by reference.
(2) The following optional appendices, annexes, and supplemental material are adopted and incorporated herein by reference to the same extent as if set out in full herein: State Building Code, 2007 edition with grading, Appendix Ch. K, 2006 Supplements to the International Building Code.
(B) The State Building Code, the provisions of this subchapter, and the aforesaid appendices, annexes, and supplemental material shall be known and may be cited as the Building Code.
(C) For purposes of this Chapter, BUILDING OFFICIAL means the Municipal Building Code Official (Supervisor) certified under M.S. § 326B.133, as it may be amended from time to time, or a duly authorized representative.
(Prior Code, § 601.05)
§ 151.019 REINSPECTIONS.
(A) A reinspection fee may be assessed for each inspection or reinspection when the portion of work for which inspection is required is not complete or when required corrections are not made. The decision to impose a reinspection fee will be based upon the criteria found in division (B) below.
(B) The following criteria will be considered in determining whether to impose a reinspection fee:
(1) Whether an inspection has been scheduled, is not canceled, and the work to be inspected is clearly not ready for inspection;
(2) Whether, for new house framing inspections, certified truss specifications are not present on the job for the inspection;
(3) Whether owner/builders require several partial inspections when a professional contractor would normally require a single inspection; and
(4) Whether the circumstances indicate the inspection was scheduled not because the work would be ready for inspection, but because of a desire to avoid a time delay in obtaining the required inspection.
(Prior Code, § 601.06)
§ 151.020 SIDEWALKS.
(A) No permit shall be issued for the construction of a new building on any parcel of property not already served by a sidewalk unless the plans for the building provide for the construction of sidewalks within and along the public street right‑of‑way adjacent to the building site. The sidewalks shall be installed at the time of construction or within the reasonable period of time thereafter not exceeding eight months, as the City Building Supervisor may specify on the permit. Upon application of the owner and recommendation of the Building Supervisor, the Building Supervisor, when issuing a permit, may waive the requirements that sidewalks be installed at the time of construction of a new building whenever it is determined either that sidewalks would be impractical to install because of topographic conditions or that because of the present and anticipated development of the area the installation of sidewalks at the time herein required would serve no useful purpose. The recommendation of the Building Supervisor and the granting of a waiver by the Building Supervisor shall not in any way affect the authority of the City Council to thereafter undertake a local improvement involving the installation of sidewalks.
(B) The requirements of this section that sidewalks be installed when constructing a new building shall not apply to the construction of accessory buildings or the making of additions, alterations, or repairs to existing buildings.
(Prior Code, § 601.07) Penalty, see § 10.99
§ 151.021 GRADING REQUIREMENTS.
(A) Street rough grading. No permit shall be issued for construction of a new building until the rough grading or public streets providing access thereto has been completed, sewer and water construction in connection therewith has been completed or is under construction, and the rough grading of planned private streets and roadways within the project area has been completed. From after the commencement of building framing, the public streets and private streets and roadways shall be maintained without obstruction and the rough grading shall consist of at least an all‑weather base construction sufficient to provide adequate support at all times for emergency and fire protection vehicles. The City Engineer or Building Supervisor may issue a stop order if the streets and roadways are not maintained as required herein. Additionally, the Building Supervisor may revoke building permits, and may deny the issuance of additional building permits for the subdivision(s) served by the streets and roadways, if the streets and roadways are not maintained as required herein.
(B) Site grading.
(1) No permit shall be issued for construction of a new building until the City Building Supervisor/City Engineer has inspected and approved the site grading.
(2) The Building Supervisor/Engineer shall approve the site grading when the rough grading of the site is substantially complete and the stormwater facilities serving the site are complete and stable, in accordance with the following requirements.
(a) Rough grading of the site shall be such that the ground elevations at property corners are in conformance with the property corner elevations indicated on the approved plans.
(b) Temporary seeding or permanent cover in accordance with the approved plans shall be complete in all site areas that have not been or will not be worked for 45 days or that period indicated in any stormwater permit applicable to the site, whichever is less.
(c) All drainage easements on the site shall be graded in accordance with the approved plans, and shall have permanent and temporary erosion and sediment measures in place as indicated on the approved plans.
(d) All stormwater conveyance facilities located within easements and right‑of‑way, through which stormwater from the site flows, shall be complete in accordance with the approved plans, and shall have permanent and temporary erosion and sediment control measures in place as indicated on the approved plans.
(e) All ponds and other stormwater facilities to which stormwater from the site flows shall be complete in accordance with the approved plans, and shall have permanent and temporary erosion and sediment control measures in place as indicated on the approved plans.
(3) The Building Supervisor/Engineer may waive one or more of the requirements listed in this section when:
(a) An overall grading plan has been approved for the site;
(b) An interim/staged grading plan, which depicts the proposed grading and building, has been approved. The interim/staged grading plan shall show that the proposed building is compatible with the overall grading plan of the site and shall include interim erosion and sediment control measures acceptable to the Building Supervisor/Engineer such that no lands outside of the control of the developer are adversely impacted by drainage, erosion, or sediment from the proposed grading and building; and
(c) Sediment control measures indicated on the approved interim/staged plan are in place. All erosion and sediment control measures indicated on the interim/staged grading plan shall remain functional until site grading and stormwater facility requirements listed in this division (B) have been completed.
(C) Building permits. Building permits issued following the City Building Supervisor/City Engineer approval shall have attached to them a notation indicating that permittee’s work on the property is subject to the provisions of the grading plan covering that property, including the appropriate temporary erosion control measures.
(D) Grading violations. No person, firm, partnership, or corporation shall perform any grading work without first receiving a grading permit as the same may be required by the Building Code or any other provision of local ordinance. No person, firm, partnership, or corporation, whether the permittee, under a grading permit or otherwise, shall perform grading work in any manner that is inconsistent with the conditions of a grading permit applicable to that site. Additionally, no person, firm, partnership, or corporation shall, after initiation of a grading project, discontinue the project except with the permission of the City Building Supervisor/City Engineer and subject to those reasonable conditions that may be imposed by the City Building Supervisor/City Engineer to prevent unsafe conditions, drainage, erosion, and sediment problems on adjacent public and private property. For the purpose of this chapter, a grading project shall be considered discontinued if no grading work has been accomplished for 60 days, excluding the period from November 15 to April 15 (inclusive), and the project is not complete in accordance with the approved plans.
(E) Stop orders. The City Building Supervisor may issue stop orders to stop persons performing grading work in violation of this section and correction orders to gain compliance with the provision of this section. Correction orders shall identify the work to be performed and shall provide a reasonable time in which to perform the work. Any violation of this section, any failure to stop work as required by the provision of a stop order issued by the City Building Supervisor, and any failure to take corrective action as required by a correction order is a misdemeanor. Violations of this section shall also be considered a public nuisance and the City Attorney is authorized to initiate any legal or equitable action in the district court to abate the public nuisance.
(Prior Code, § 601.07) Penalty, see § 10.99
§ 151.022 PERMIT TO USE PUBLIC RIGHT‑OF‑WAY.
(A) A revocable permit may be issued authorizing an existing building being remodeled to project into an adjoining public street right‑of‑way, subject to the following conditions: the encroachment may not project more than four inches beyond wither the existing building face or the building face on adjoining lots, whichever is less, provided that successive projections of a building into the public right‑of‑way shall not be permitted.
(B) The permit shall be conditioned upon the recording in the office of the County Recorder of a covenant running with the land in a form approved by the Building Supervisor which shall provide, among other things, that the permit is subject to revocation by the city whenever it is deemed necessary to do so in the public interest and upon the revocation the projections shall be removed at the expense of the property owner.
(Prior Code, § 601.07)
§ 151.023 PERMIT FEES.
(A) Building permit fees for residential project.
(1) There are typically four fees collected for a residential building permit in the city. The fees are building permit, plan review, zoning permit, and state surcharge.
(2) Per Minn. Rules part 1300.0160, subpart 3, permit valuation shall include total value of all construction work, including materials and labor for which the permit is being issued, such as electrical, gas, mechanical, plumbing equipment, and permanent systems. Building permit valuation shall be set by the Building Official.
(B) Building permit fees for commercial project.
(1) There are typically four fees collected for a commercial building permit in the city. The fees are building permit, plan review, zoning permit, and state surcharge.
(2) Per Minn. Rules part 1300.0160, subpart 3, permit valuation shall include total value of all construction work, including materials and labor, for which the permit is being issued, such as electrical, gas, mechanical, plumbing equipment, and permanent systems. Building permit valuation shall be set by the Building Official.
(C) Grading permit fees. There are three fees collected for a grading permit in the city. The fees are plan review, permit, and zoning permit. Fees are based on total number of cubic yards of excavation or fill, whichever is greater.
(D) Sign permit fees.
(1) There is a minimum of two fees collected for a sign permit in the city. The fees are sign permit and zoning permit.
(2) Note: A plan review fee is collected for ground sign permits.
(3) Per Minn. Rules part 1300.0160, subpart 3, permit valuation shall include total value of all construction work, including materials and labor, for which the permit is being issued.
(E) Mechanical and plumbing permit fees. There are three fees collected for a trade permit in the city. The fees are application, permit, and state surcharge. Permit valuation shall include total value of all work, including materials and labor for which the permit is being issued.
(F) Demolition permit fees.
(1) There are two fees collected for a demolition permit in the city. The fees are for the building permit and the zoning permit.
(2) Per Minn. Rules part 1300.0160, subpart 3, permit valuation shall include total value of all construction work, including materials and labor for which the permit is being issued.
(G) Building plan review fees. For structures permitted under the International Residential Code (IRC) the plan review fee shall be 35% of the building permit fee. For all other structures, the plan review fee shall be 65% of the building permit fee.
(H) Similar plans. The origination fee to establish a master plan for repetitive use is the full normal plan review fee. The origination fee does not include the issuance of a permit. The plan review fee for similar plans based on an approved master plan is 15% of the building permit fee for IRC structures and 25% of the building permit fee for all other structures.
(I) Fee refunds.
(1) The Building Safety Supervisor shall authorize refunding of any fee that was erroneously paid or collected or if none of the work authorized by the permit has been performed.
(2) The Building Safety Supervisor shall not authorize refunding of any permit fee paid except upon written application filed by the original permittee not later than 180 days after the date of permit issuance. Plan review fees, IRC footing permit fees, and application fees shall not be refunded.
(Prior Code, § 601.08)