City of Bedford Planning and Zoning Department

City of Bedford, Indiana

city

1102 16th Street, Bedford, IN 47421

WHERE. The Planning and Zoning Department is on the second floor of Bedford City Hall, 1102 16th Street, Bedford, IN 47421, on 812-275-1631, open weekdays 8am to 4pm except holidays. Kevin Jones is Planning/Zoning Director and Justin Gilbert is Building Inspector and Code Enforcement. The general City Hall line, 812-279-6555, is a different desk. HOW. Applications are filed through online forms on the City's website: a Residential Home Building Permit application, a separate commercial application, and demolition and sign applications. The residential form asks for the owner, the applicant, the person responsible for payment and the general contractor ("If no contractor has been selected, type UNKNOWN"); whether the property is a personal residence or a rental; whether the work is new or remodel; a description of the work; square footage ("If remodeling, use square footage of proposed work area"); whether the site is in a flood plain, has sink holes or lies in a watershed; and the estimated cost and start date, with up to three supporting files. The form is explicit that "The Permit is not valid, and work is not permitted until signed and issued by the agent of the Planning and Zoning Department." MONEY. Non-structural residential remodelling over five hundred dollars is priced at twenty-five dollars and structural remodelling at ten cents a square foot with a fifty dollar minimum, and every fee doubles if work starts before the permit is issued.

STATE-SET. THE RESIDENTIAL CODE IN FORCE IS THE STATE'S, NOT A CITY EDITION. The rule is 675 IAC 14-4.4, the 2020 Indiana Residential Code. The Indiana State Building Commissioner's guidance of February 25, 2020, issued on Department of Homeland Security letterhead, states: "The 2020 Indiana Residential Code adopts, and amends, the first printing of the 2018 International Residential Code." It adds that "The 2020 Indiana Residential Code is in full force and effect statewide" and that "Local units of government are statutorily mandated to require compliance with the code." The state rule applies by its own terms. Bedford has published no statement of which edition it enforces, and its codified building code was not read for this record. Separately, IC 22-13-2-3(c) provides that "A city, town, or county may not adopt an ordinance that conflicts with or includes more stringent or detailed requirements than the commission's rules". Bedford's own documents point the same way. Its Planning and Zoning Department conducts plan review and inspects "for compliance with state and local law", and the City's residential permit application requires the applicant, as the person "responsible for obtaining a permit or permits as required in the City of Bedford Building Code", to certify that the plans are "identical to those released for construction by the Indiana Department of Fire and Building Services." WHAT THIS RECORD HAS NOT READ. Bedford's codified ordinances, including the building code that application names, are published only on a vendor site that refuses automated access, so the City's own building chapter, its adoption clause and any local administrative provisions in it have not been read for this entry. That does not put the residential code in doubt, since the state rule applies regardless, but it does mean permit scope and contractor rules are stated in this record only as far as the City publishes them directly. One vocabulary warning: "Class 2" in Indiana is a structure class, broadly one and two family dwellings, and has nothing to do with a fire, wind or impact class of roof covering.

Required — REQUIRED ON A SHINGLE ROOF, BY THE STATE RATHER THAN BY BEDFORD. The Indiana State Building Commissioner's guidance of February 25, 2020 sets out the provisions through which the 2020 Indiana Residential Code "regulates ice/water shield and drip edge", and reproduces Section R905.2.8.5, which reads in part: "A drip edge shall be provided at eaves and rake edges of shingle roofs. Adjacent segments of drip edge shall be overlapped not less than 2 inches (51 mm)." The same section requires the drip edge to extend at least a quarter inch below the roof sheathing and at least two inches back up onto the deck, and continues: "Drip edges shall be mechanically fastened to the rood deck at not more than 12 inches (305 mm) o.c." The word "rood" is a typographical error in the published guidance, quoted as printed; it plainly means the roof deck. The section closes: "Underlayment shall be installed over the drip edge along eaves and under the drip edge along rake edges." The guidance adds that "the 2020 Indiana Residential Code governs all Class 2 residential construction" regardless of local enforcement practice. Bedford could not remove or vary the requirement, because IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city from an ordinance that conflicts with or is more stringent or detailed than the state rules. About drip edge

Not required — NOT REQUIRED BY THE TABLE IN LAWRENCE COUNTY, BUT THE MANUFACTURER'S INSTRUCTIONS CAN STILL REQUIRE IT. Indiana replaces the model climatic table with its own, one row per county: 675 IAC 14-4.4-5 reads "Delete TABLE R301.2(1) and the corresponding footnotes and substitute to read as follows". Row 47, Lawrence, carries "No" in the column headed Ice Shield Underlayment Required. The State Building Commissioner's guidance of February 25, 2020, which reproduces that table, explains what the No means. Sections R903.1, R904.1 and R905.1 require roofing to be installed in accordance with the manufacturer's installation instructions, so there are counties where the barrier is always required and counties "in which it is required only when the roofing manufacturer's written installation instructions require it". Lawrence County is in the second group. Read the shingle manufacturer's published instructions for the product being installed: if they call for an ice barrier, the code requires it on a Bedford job, and the warranty may depend on it too. Bedford could not add a requirement of its own, because IC 22-13-2-3(c) bars a city from an ordinance more stringent or detailed than the state rules. About ice & water barrier

NOT SETTLED BY ANYTHING THE CITY PUBLISHES, AND THE COST OF GUESSING WRONG IS STATED. The City's Planning and Zoning fee schedule carries no roof or re-roof line. Its residential building and improvement categories are new construction; "Remodeling requiring structural, electrical or plumbing changes", at ten cents a square foot with a fifty dollar minimum; and "Remodeling (over $500) not requiring structural, electrical or plumbing changes", at a flat twenty-five dollars. So the schedule prices non-structural residential remodelling over five hundred dollars, and a tear-off that replaces decking or framing would sit on the structural line instead; but it does not say whether the City classes a like-for-like re-roof as remodelling at all. The permit requirement itself sits in the City's codified building code, which is published only on a vendor site that refuses automated access and was not read for this record, so whether a re-roof needs a permit in Bedford is not answered here. What the City does say, twice and in capitals on the same page, is "PERMIT FEES WILL BE DOUBLED IF WORK IS STARTED WITHOUT FIRST OBTAINING A PERMIT". Ask the Planning and Zoning Department on 812-275-1631 before the tear-off, not after.

115 mph. Indiana replaces the model Table R301.2(1) with its own county-by-county table at 675 IAC 14-4.4-5, reproduced in the Indiana State Building Commissioner's guidance of February 25, 2020. Row 47, Lawrence, gives 115 in the column headed Wind Speed (MPH), and all ninety-two county rows carry the same figure. The rest of the Lawrence row reads seismic design category B, ground snow 20 psf, 24 in the foundation column, winter design temperature 9 degrees F, decay Slight to Moderate, termite Moderate to Heavy, weathering Severe, ice shield underlayment required No, air freezing index 1500 or less, and mean annual temperature 52.6 degrees F. Bedford publishes no design criteria of its own and cannot vary these by ordinance under IC 22-13-2-3(c). Exposure category stays a site-by-site determination under Section R301.2.1.4, which Indiana amends at 675 IAC 14-4.4-4: on a subdivision or master-planned community, the exposure category for an individual structure "shall be based on the site conditions that will exist at the time when all adjacent structures on the site have been constructed", provided their construction is expected to begin within two years.

7.00% in Bedford, the Indiana state sales and use tax rate, with no county or municipal add-on. The Indiana Department of Revenue's county tax page, which sets out the taxes Indiana counties do levy, states: "The sales tax for the entire State of Indiana is 7%." So neither Lawrence County nor the City adds a percentage to a materials invoice, and 7.00% is the full rate.