Task force formed to help builders through code transition

To help local builders adapt to new state building rules and to tackle issues that confront the industry, Ruidoso Mayor Tom Battin formed a Building Advisory Task Force and appointed members last month.

Village Manager Debi Lee, Deputy Manager Ron Sena, Community Development Director Bradford Dyjak and the mayor met with task force members and presented a mission statement and a draft of principles.

The mission statement reads: “The village of Ruidoso is committed to work together through collaboration and mutual respect modified by discretion and common sense in compliance with building and related trade codes, and when needed to make reasonable accommodations to ensure safe, compliant and quality construction.”

Battin said the statement and a sheet on the objectives and goals of the task force were received well by the task force.

“I’m told by some that the builders they have visited with are optimistic about this new program,” he said.

Councilor John Cornelius, a builder, said the aim of the new task force is to make the permitting process a little easier, particularly in response to changes in the state’s building code.

“The state didn’t adopt the 2012 codes, so we were still operating on the 2009 building codes, but on July 1, the 2015 code went into effect,” he said. “So, there are a lot of changes since we skipped that one code cycle. (Village Building Official) Bill Powers (conducted) six or seven classes he offered to the builders trying to get us all up to speed on the new codes, because there are some major changes. He’s requiring a lot of this on the plans. It’s going to be hard making that transition, so we’ve been trying to streamline it a bit, making some checklists that hopefully, can speed up the process.”

Powers was the only municipal building official in the state to offer such classes, Cornelius said.

The village also is trying to hire another building official to allow Powers and the second inspector to spend time in the field, Cornelius said.

“They’re so busy right now, they don’t have a whole lot of time to sit down with us and go over the plans. They try to, but when you have a whole bunch of inspections you have to do that day, it’s hard,” he said.

Councilors budgeted for another inspector this year, he said. They’re hoping that new person can do plan review and stay in the office and go over items with applicants, and allow the other two inspectors to spend more time in the field and give advice and help.

They’re so pressed for time now, they may just point out needed corrections or actions, without discussion, Cornelius said.

The task force is a cross section of builders, architects and the tradesmen, he said.

“We’re going to try to come up with some kind of a checklist so instead of having to write so much on the plans, we can use the list to go through and it also will be a reminder to the builders, ‘Oh Yeah, I have to have that in there,’” he said. “They also are going to try to have certain hours in the morning where they work the counter for these smaller permits where someone just needs a little deck or roofing permit. Then he can look at the plans right there and tell you if everything is all right, and kind of sign off on it and turn the permit out quicker. We’re not quite there yet. The building inspectors have been giving input from their view, because they know what hasn’t been working.”

Construction remains strong in Ruidoso

Although the number of building permits issued by the Ruidoso Planning and Zoning Department in June exceeded the total for May, the dollar value of the construction those permits represent dipped by $745.244 from the previous month.

The building division signed off on 93 permits in June, with a value of $1,585,342, generating fees of $18,698.54. That compares to 83 permits with a value of $2,330,586, generating $21,791 in fees in May. The big difference lies in the number of single family housing starts, which dropped to one in June from four the previous month carrying a value of more than $1.5 million.

The house issued a permit in June is being built by Sierra Blanca Enterprises and the value was placed at $277,755. Other significant categories included $387,246.66 for seven residential additions; $121,686.50 for 19 residential re-roofings; $80,101.04 for 12 residential decks; and $449,814 for two commercial additions, the most significant a structure valued at $379,815 on Alto Pines Trail.

June this year posted higher figures than June of 2016, which issued 87 permits and generated fees of $16,437. For the first half of the 2017 year, five of those months saw more permits issued than in 2016. Only April lagged slightly behind.

Breaking down between permits issued at the six-month mark in the village versus the unincorporated area of the county covered by the village for inspections, county permits generated $35,811.67 in fees compared to the village at $72,393.47.