Um tonight is the study session.

Um it's about that formal to get going on a study session.

So Joel, I'll turn it over to you.

Mr.

Mayor, Mayor Proton, Town Council for the opportunity to share just this discussion this evening.

I'm the deputy building official here at the town.

Um joined here by Autlinsky, who is the um chief building official.

Uh, is uh with Shumscoda, and he'll be assisting us with any technical questions you may have.

Uh, the purpose of our study session uh is to have a discussion on code updates to the national lectures code, the international fire code, but more specifically the energy code updates.

We're also like to highlight that any uh code up adoptions that happen after June 30th of this year, um, we'll reduce our options and made it mandate us to a minimum adoption of the state's model low energy carbon code.

Um we want to make sure we get changed or July 1 if we want to make great so we lose control basically if we do nothing.

We have less control, yes.

Okay, absolutely.

Uh our goal is to provide council with clear options and gather feedback.

Uh, to be clear, staff's recommendation is one of several paths forward as it pertains to the energy code.

So, quick overview.

Uh, the building division is proposing the adoption of the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code.

Uh, other options include the state's model low energy carbon code and the metro cohorts model code as well.

We believe adopting the 2024 IECC provides the town with a practical, timely path forward, minimizing retraining of staff, does not require plan revisions from our customers, uh, no re-reviewing of plans by our staff, and at the same time, providing increased efficiency and reduced costs.

Your feedback tonight will inform our upcoming ordinance.

Um, the scope of and the intent of this update.

We're we're opting for a focused update rather than a full code overhaul.

The energy code update alliance with the town's adopted sustainability and comprehensive plans that we stay on the most recent energy codes updating on a three-year cycle.

Our goal is to reduce disruption to our staff and our building partners while still making measurable efficiency gains into the built environment.

We want to address this now in order to get ahead of the state's mandated updates, given giving the town maximum flexibility.

Our goal is to make this update prior to June 30th, 2026 deadline.

Any updates to any codes after that date triggers requirements to adopt the state's model low energy carbon code or something even more stringent, but not less stringent.

Acting now gives the town an opportunity to pursue a more flex, more flexible and locally controlled path forward.

So, our proposed update, we're recommending adopting the 2024 IECC with uh electric and solar ready provisions as mandated by the state, and our currently adopted codes include strengthening amendments to simplify enforcement and provide some electric preferred provisions.

These two would be similar to what we currently have in our code.

We also want to adopt the 2026 National Electric Code to align with state requirements, and the 2024 International Fire Code as recently adopted by Mountain View Fire Protection District.

The benefits the 2024 IECC versus the 2021 IECC improves energy efficient while at the same time reducing long-term operating costs and uh reducing building costs.

This represents a balanced step forward, meaning the town sustainability goals without introducing significant upfront cost impacts.

The alternatives.

It is an all-electric preferred leaning stretch code aimed at strength significantly higher efficiency and electrification.

Option two, the Metro Cohort Code that's been developed by the Metro Regional Energy Code Cohort, a collaboration of local jurisdictions in the Denver metro area.

The group's primary mission is to standardize building energy codes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve zero emissions for new construction by 2030.

This code goes further and is more restrictive than the state's code.

Both these codes come with added complexity, limited compliance tools, and additional staff training needs.

If I can provide a few examples of what I mean here, example number one, although both codes are built upon the 2024 IECC, they include significant amendments that substantially modify the requirements.

As building officials, we have significant access to resources put together by the International Code Council to help us with code interpretations.

Things like interpretation manuals, code commentaries, illustrated handbooks, technical support, evaluation reports, and our state chapter.

The same resources would not necessarily be available to our staff should we adopt these other codes.

Issue number three, some of the compliance tools designers use to determine compliance with the energy codes, such as rescheck and com check.

Designers have free access to these Department of Energy compliance softwares.

They determine code compliance based on the codes that are being used.

As of today, this software would not necessarily be compatible with the model oil energy carbon code or the cohorts code.

These other codes can create greater uncertainty around construction costs and implement implementation in the near term.

With newer codes being more complex by including tiered requirements for based on the size of a home, the fuel types, and on-site power production, it becomes more challenging to enforce.

Specialized staff are needed, and at this point, I don't believe that our town is ready for that for that challenge.

The graphs up here uh show you estimates for construction costs based on the 2021 versus the 2024 IECC.

These are estimates.

So and they're provided to us by the um National Home Builders Association.

So I don't have any other resource, but we're going to go with these tonight.

Uh what's highlighted here is climate zone five, which is the climate zone that town of Erie is in.

Uh, if you're building an uh all electric house using the 24s versus the 21 code, you can see a $6600 reduct reduction in cost.

And if you're doing a mixed fuel home, same thing, you'd be see you'd be able to see a $3700 reduction in building cost using the 21s for or the 24s over the 21s.

And here, same same graph, but comparing the 21 IECC versus the model low electric carbon code, climate zone five again.

If you're building all electric home, you can see an increase in cost of 12 and a mixed mixed fuel home seeing a decrease in building costs of about 1,100.

So the feedback we're requesting from council is to do we proceed with the 2024 IECC with amendments, or evaluate alternative codes such as the state model code or the metro code, or simply retain the status quo and stay on a current version of the energy code until we're ready for a complete code update to the 202027 code cycle, possibly sometime in 2028 or 2029.