Bannock County - Planning and Development Services

Bannock County, Idaho

county

5500 S. 5th Avenue, Pocatello, ID 83204

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A REROOF IN BANNOCK COUNTY DOES NOT TRIGGER THE SMOKE ALARM AND CARBON MONOXIDE ALARM RETROFIT, AND THAT IS A LOCAL CHOICE WORTH KNOWING BEFORE QUOTING. Ordinance No. 2020-07 replaces the exceptions under Section R314.2.2, Alterations, repairs and additions, with: "Exceptions: 1. Work involving the exterior surfaces of dwellings, such as, but not limited to, replacement of roofing or siding, or the addition or replacement of windows or doors, or the addition of a porch or deck or electrical permits, are exempt from the requirements of this section." It replaces the exceptions under Section R315.2.2, the carbon monoxide alarm equivalent, with wording in the same terms. In many jurisdictions a permitted reroof pulls the whole house up to current alarm requirements; in unincorporated Bannock County it does not. HOW A PERMIT IS OBTAINED. A complete building permit application goes to Planning & Development Services with supporting documents, is reviewed against both the Planning Ordinance and the Building Ordinance, and is emailed to the applicant once the reviews clear. The County states that from receipt of a complete application the process can take two to four weeks depending on workload, and that summer and autumn are heavier. Applications are filed through the County's online permitting portal. FEES. Ordinance No. 2020-07 Section 204 sets fees by the Building Permit Fee Schedule at its Appendix A, which is Table No. 1-A extracted from the 1997 Uniform Building Code: $23.00 on a total valuation of $1.00 to $500; $23.50 for the first $500.00 plus $3.05 for each additional $100.00 up to $2,000.00; $69.25 for the first $2,000.00 plus $14.00 for each additional $1,000.00 up to $25,000.00; and $391.25 for the first $25,000.00 plus $10.10 for each additional $1,000.00 above that. Valuation comes off the ICC Building Valuation Data Table published each February with a regional cost modifier of 0.95 for R-3 applied to single family dwellings, and Section 204 states in terms that the valuation "includes the total value of all construction work (including overhead and profit), as well as all finish work, painting, roofing, fire extinguishing systems and any other permanent equipment" -- so a roofing job's own value drives its fee. INSPECTIONS. Requests go to 208-236-7090. A permit must be issued and active before an inspection can be requested, 24 hours' notice is required, and inspections run Monday to Thursday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Friday 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The County states that it does not accept requests for specific inspection times. OTHER AGENCIES. Plumbing, electrical and HVAC permits are the State of Idaho's, not the County's; septic goes to Southeastern Idaho Public Health; wells and water rights to the Idaho Department of Water Resources; and the County publishes contacts for the Arimo, Downey, Jackson Creek, Lava Rural, McCammon, North Bannock and Pocatello Valley fire districts. ENFORCEMENT. Ordinance No. 2020-07 Section 206 makes a violation of the ordinance or of the codes adopted by it a misdemeanor punishable as provided in Idaho Code section 39-4126, treats each structure and each day of an ongoing offence as a separate violation, and allows a fine imposed on conviction to be recorded as a lien on the property until paid. An appeal of a building official's decision goes to the Board of Appeals within ten calendar days.

LOCALLY ENACTED, AND THE OPERATIVE INSTRUMENT IS THE BUILDING CODE ORDINANCE OF BANNOCK COUNTY, ORDINANCE NO. 2020-07. It was adopted on 29 December 2020 by Resolution Number 2020-133, signed by all three County Commissioners and attested by the Clerk, and it "HEREBY REPLACES AND REPEALS BANNOCK COUNTY ORDINANCE 2017-09". Its Section 400 sets the effective date: the ordinance "shall be recorded and shall be in full force and effect on January 1 of the year after its passage, approval and publication as provided by law", which the County states as January 1, 2021. Section 104, Applicability, lists the codes that make up the Bannock County Building Code "for the purpose of regulating the erection, construction, enlargement, alteration, repair, moving, removal, conversion, demolition, occupancy, use, height, area of buildings and structures in all unincorporated areas of the County": the 2018 International Building Code; the "International Residential Code (IRC), 2018 edition, parts I-III and part IX"; the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code; the 2018 International Existing Building Code; the 2018 International Solar Energy Provisions; the 2018 International Swimming Pool and Spa Code; the 2018 International Wildland-Urban Interface Code; the 1994 Uniform Code for the Abatement of Dangerous Buildings; and ANSI 117.1, 2003 edition. The County's Planning & Development page publishes the same list as its current codes. Roofing sits in Part III of the residential code and is inside the County's adoption. THE COUNTY IS IN STEP WITH THE STATE AND CANNOT RUN AHEAD OF IT. IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03 adopts the "International Residential Code, 2018 Edition ... Parts I, II, III, and IX of the 2018 Edition for one (1)- and two (2)- family dwellings", and Idaho Code 39-4116(2) requires a local government that issues building permits and enforces building codes to adopt the Idaho residential code parts I-III and IX by ordinance while barring it from adopting provisions of a later International Residential Code edition the Idaho Building Code Board has not adopted. Parts IV through VIII, the energy, mechanical, fuel gas, plumbing and electrical parts, are not part of the Idaho residential code under Idaho Code 39-4109(1)(b), and the ordinance says the same thing from the local side: Section 301(B) refers "All sections and references to fuel gas, mechanical, plumbing, and electrical" to Idaho Code as regulated by the State. Which edition governs a particular job is settled by statute: Idaho Code 39-4116(6) provides that "Permits shall be governed by the laws in effect at the time the permit application is received."

Required — Ordinance No. 2020-07, the Building Code Ordinance of Bannock County, was read in full and its list of amendments to the 2018 International Residential Code does not touch Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies; IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03, the State of Idaho's own amendment list, does not touch it either. The base 2018 International Residential Code drip-edge requirement for asphalt shingle roofs, Section R905.2.8.5, therefore applies unmodified in the unincorporated county. Confirm the flashing detail and the fastener spacing against the shingle manufacturer's printed instructions as well, which the code makes binding. About drip edge

Required — BANNOCK COUNTY ANSWERS THIS IN ITS OWN TABLE, AND IT ANSWERS WITH A DIMENSION RATHER THAN A YES. Ordinance No. 2020-07 modifies the residential code's Table R301.2(1), Climatic and Geographic Design Criteria, and the County's version carries a column headed "ICE BARRIER UNDERLAYMENT" whose entry is "24 inches". The model table asks only whether an ice barrier underlayment is required and takes a Yes or a No; Bannock instead states a figure, which is the County answering that the barrier applies in the unincorporated county and naming the dimension it wants. Because the County's amendment list does not touch Chapter 9, the ice barrier provisions of the adopted 2018 International Residential Code otherwise apply as written. The table does not say from what point the 24 inches is measured, so confirm the measurement and the required extent up the slope with the Building Division and against the adopted code before ordering material, and check the shingle manufacturer's printed instructions as well. Note that this figure is a Bannock County entry and not a state one: the State of Idaho makes no entry in this table at all, so a neighbouring jurisdiction may well answer differently. About ice & water barrier

Not required — BANNOCK COUNTY PUBLISHES ITS INSPECTION SEQUENCE ON A CARD, AND THERE IS NO ROOF STAGE ON IT. The County's own Building Inspection Card, which is posted on site with the approved plans and which the County describes as "the minimum code inspection items", was read in full and carries six stages: Pier and Footing, Foundation Stemwall, Framing, Insulation, Drywall and Final. Each stage lists the specific items the inspector checks, and the word roof does not appear anywhere on the card. The three sign-off lines are APPROVED TO POUR, APPROVED TO INSULATE and APPROVED TO COVER, and none of them gates a roof covering. The roof structure is seen inside the Framing Inspection, which checks stud size and spacing, top plates and truss ties, but the card sets no separate inspection of the deck, the underlayment or the dried-in roof before the covering goes on. THE ENACTED CODE DOES NOT ADD ONE EITHER. Ordinance No. 2020-07, the Building Code Ordinance of Bannock County, was read in full, and its Section 303 list of amendments to the 2018 International Residential Code touches the code's inspection section exactly once: it replaces Section R109.1.3 with a floodplain provision authorising the building official to require documentation of the lowest floor elevation in areas prone to flooding. No amendment in the ordinance creates a roofing inspection. IDAPA 24.39.30, the Idaho Building Code Board rules, adds none either. WHAT TO DO ON A JOB: a reroof does need a permit in the unincorporated county, and the card is written around a house build, so when the permit issues ask Planning & Development Services which of the card's stages your job will carry. Inspections are booked on the County's inspection hotline, 208-236-7090, with at least 24 hours' notice; a permit must be issued and active before an inspection can be requested, and the County does not take requests for a specific time of day.

Not required — No impact-resistance mandate applies in unincorporated Bannock County. Ordinance No. 2020-07, the County's current building code ordinance, was read in full, and neither its list of amendments to the International Residential Code nor its list of amendments to the International Building Code contains any reference to UL 2218, to a Class 4 or Class IV impact rating, or to FM 4473. Neither list touches Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies, at all. IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03, the State of Idaho's own amendment list, read in full, contains no such reference either. So neither the County's nor the State's adopted code imposes an impact-resistant roof covering requirement. Do not confuse this with the fire and wind ratings that do appear in roofing work: an impact rating is UL 2218, a fire classification is Class A, B or C under ASTM E108 or UL 790, and a wind rating is ASTM D3161 or D7158. The only test standards the County writes into its residential amendments are ASTM E 119 and UL 263, in the replacement Table R302.1(1) for exterior walls, and both are fire-resistance tests. An insurance discount for impact-rated shingles, where a carrier offers one, is a matter between the homeowner and the insurer and is not a code requirement.

BANNOCK COUNTY SETS NO SIZE, AREA, DOLLAR OR TEAR-OFF-VERSUS-OVERLAY THRESHOLD FOR ROOFING WORK, AND ITS PERMIT TRIGGER IS WRITTEN AROUND THE VERB, NOT THE TRADE. The County's own handout, "Do I need a building permit?", states: "Building permits are required for constructing, enlarging, altering, repairing, moving, demolishing, or changing the occupancy classification of a building or structure." A reroof is repair or alteration of a structure, so it is inside that sentence. THE EXEMPTIONS, READ IN FULL, AND NONE OF THEM IS ROOFING. The same handout lists what it calls Other Exempt Structures, and the list is short: flag poles; fences 7 feet high or less; retaining walls 4 feet or less, measured from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall; playground equipment; detached decks under 200 square feet and less than 30 inches above grade; swimming pools under 5000 gallons and less than 48 inches deep; and an accessory structure used as a tool shed, child playhouse or similar use that is under 200 square feet and under 12 feet high. The handout then names three things that "Always needs a building permit": habitable space, a communication tower and a photovoltaic system. Every item on the exempt list is a class of structure; not one is a class of work, and roofing appears nowhere. The County adds that even where no building permit is required "a development permit would still be required." THE ORDINANCE ITSELF NARROWS THE MODEL CODE'S EXEMPTION LIST RATHER THAN WIDENING IT. Ordinance No. 2020-07 Section 303 makes exactly two changes to Section R105.2, Work exempt from permit: it replaces item 7 under the Building subheading with "Prefabricated swimming pools that are not greater than four (4) feet (one thousand, two hundred nineteen (1219) mm) deep", and it adds "11. Flag poles." No roofing item is added. AGRICULTURAL BUILDINGS ARE THE ONE REAL CARVE-OUT. Section 105 exempts agricultural buildings on land actively devoted to agriculture as described by Idaho Code 39-4116(5) and 63-604, provided they are not places of human habitation or places where agricultural products are processed, and provided agriculture is the primary use of the land and the site is not in a platted residential subdivision; they remain subject to County zoning placement requirements. That mirrors Idaho Code 39-4116(5), which makes the agricultural exemption mandatory on every Idaho local government. THE STATE ADDS NO ROOFING EXEMPTION EITHER, and do not rely on the hundred-square-foot roof repair figure that appears in the Idaho state building code rules. It sits inside the definition of "Minor Alteration", which that rule says "is used for the purpose of administering annual permits" -- a blanket permit issued to state agencies for work on buildings they already own or operate. It is not a permit exemption for a homeowner or a roofing contractor anywhere in Idaho.

THE COUNTY SETS ITS OWN WIND FIGURE, AND IT PUBLISHES IT IN TWO DIFFERENT BASES IN TWO DIFFERENT PLACES. The enacted instrument is the shorter of the two. Ordinance No. 2020-07 modifies the residential code's Table R301.2(1), and under WIND DESIGN the County's version carries a Speed (mph) entry of "115 Vult" and a Topographic effects entry of "No". Separately, the County's Planning & Development Services page publishes its design criteria in a longer form and states the wind figure as "90 mph - 3 second gust / 115 mph - ultimate". DO NOT CONVERT BETWEEN THE TWO AND DO NOT MIX THEM. An ultimate design wind speed and a nominal or allowable-stress-design wind speed are two different bases for the same wind loading, and a design method, a product approval or a fastening schedule written for one of them gives the wrong answer if fed the other. Use the figure whose basis your method or your product listing asks for, and if the two must be reconciled for a particular job, ask the Building Division which one it is checking against. The rest of the County's own Table R301.2(1) reads: ground snow load per the County's revised Table 1608.1, which is banded by site elevation; topographic effects No; seismic design category D0; weathering severe; frost line depth 36 inches; termite slight to moderate; winter design temperature 7131 HDD; ice barrier underlayment 24 inches; air freezing index 2000; and mean annual temperature 45 degrees F. One deletion is worth knowing because it sits in the wind provisions: both the State of Idaho, at IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03(d), and Bannock County, in its own amendment list, delete Section R301.2.1.2, Protection of Openings, which is the model code's wind-borne debris opening protection section. Bannock also deletes Figure R301.2(6). Those are window and door provisions rather than roofing ones.

NEITHER BANNOCK COUNTY NOR THE STATE OF IDAHO MODIFIES THE MODEL RULE. Ordinance No. 2020-07 was read in full, all fifteen pages and all four of its numbered parts. Its Section 303 is the County's complete list of amendments to the 2018 International Residential Code, and the items are: the exception under R101.2; R104.10.1; item 7 and a new item 11 under R105.2; R109.1.3; Table R301.2(1); Figure R301.2(6); R301.2.1.2; Table R302.1(1); R302.13; R303.4; the exception under R313.1; R313.2; the exceptions under R314.2.2; the exceptions under R315.2.2; R322.1.10; R322.2.1; subparagraph 2.1 of R322.2.2; Tables R403.1(1), R403.1(2), R403.1(3) and R403.4, replaced by a new Table R403.1; and R403.1.1. Not one of them touches Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies. IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03, the Idaho Building Code Board's own list of amendments to the 2018 International Residential Code, seventeen items, contains no Chapter 9 amendment either. So the base 2018 International Residential Code recover-versus-replacement rule applies here unmodified. Base-code rule, 2018 IRC Section R908.3.1.1, Roof recover not allowed: a roof recover is not permitted where the existing roof or roof covering is water soaked or has deteriorated to the point that it is not adequate as a base for additional roofing; where the existing roof covering is slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile; or where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering. One existing layer may be recovered; a second forces a full tear-off. A local Idaho amendment to this rule would be unusually visible: Idaho Code 39-4116(4)(d) lets a county amend this part of the residential code only by ordinance, on a recorded finding that "good cause" for building or life safety exists and that the amendment is "reasonably necessary", after a public hearing noticed in the official newspaper with at least thirty days' written notice to the local chapters of the industry bodies listed in Idaho Code 39-4109(5). Bannock County has made no such amendment.

NO LOCAL ROOF-DECK RULE, BUT A LOCAL SNOW LOAD THAT DECIDES THE STRUCTURE UNDER IT. Ordinance No. 2020-07, read in full, contains no amendment to Chapter 8, Roof-Ceiling Construction, which carries the residential code's roof sheathing provisions, and none to Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies. IDAPA 24.39.30.600.03, the State of Idaho's own amendment list, leaves both chapters alone as well. The base 2018 International Residential Code roof sheathing and decking requirements therefore apply unmodified, along with the shingle manufacturer's printed installation instructions, which the code makes binding. WHAT THE COUNTY DOES SET IS SNOW LOAD, BY ELEVATION BAND, AND IT IS STEEP. The ordinance deletes the model Table 1608.1 and substitutes its own Table 1608.1, "SNOW LOAD REQUIREMENTS FOR BANNOCK COUNTY", and the County's residential Table R301.2(1) refers the ground snow load to it. Site elevation below 4600 feet: ground snow load 44 psf, roof snow load 35 psf. 4600 to 4999 feet: 50 and 40. 5000 to 5399 feet: 63 and 50. 5400 to 5799 feet: 75 and 60. 5800 to 5999 feet: 88 and 70. 6000 to 6399 feet: 100 and 80. 6400 to 6799 feet: 113 and 90. At or above 6800 feet: 125 and 100. The table's own footnote adds that "For purposes of determining roof live loads, the County Building Official may consider qualified snow load studies as determined by a licensed professional engineer. No reduction below 35 pounds per square foot (psf) is permitted." Establish the site elevation before designing or re-decking, and note that the whole county floor is 35 psf of roof snow load whatever a study says. The other structural figures the County sets in its own Table R301.2(1) are a frost line depth of 36 inches, seismic design category D0, weathering severe and termite exposure slight to moderate.

6.0% -- the Idaho state rate, with no local add-on. Idaho Code 63-3619 imposes the state sales tax "at the rate of six percent (6%)". Idaho has only two kinds of local sales tax, and neither reaches roofing work in Bannock County. The first is the resort-city local-option tax, which Idaho Code 50-1044 confines to a resort city "with a population not in excess of ten thousand (10,000)"; the Idaho State Tax Commission publishes the list of cities that levy one, and in any event a county has no such authority. The second is an auditorium-district tax. Bannock County contains one, the Pocatello-Chubbuck Auditorium District, and it does not touch a roof: the Tax Commission states that an auditorium district "can charge a local sales tax only for short-term lodging (30 days or less) within their district boundaries", adding that the tax also applies to nonsleeping rooms such as meeting rooms. Idaho counties levy no sales tax at all. HOW A ROOF IS TAXED, WHICH MATTERS MORE THAN THE RATE: the Tax Commission's contractor guidance states that "Idaho sales tax law says contractors are the consumers (end users) of all the goods they use. As a result, they must pay sales tax on all purchases", and it names roofers among the contractors it covers. The roofer pays the 6% on materials at the supply house; the homeowner's invoice carries no sales tax line at all, on materials or on labour, because "a contractor doesn't charge sales tax to the customer" and the tax is absorbed into the bid. The Commission adds that "if sales tax is charged on the bill, the customer can refuse to pay it." A customer's own sales-tax exemption does not carry over to the contractor. A roofer who also sells material he does not install is a retailer for that part and must separate it on the invoice.