Significant changes to the 2018 International Building Code
The 2018 Significant Changes guides are available for the International Building, Residential, Fire, Plumbing, Mechanical and Fuel Gas Codes. This valuable series can help any code user save time by zeroing in on the most critical changes in the 2018 International Codes (I-Codes). The Code Council’s technical experts provide summaries, analysis and graphics for these changes making them clear and easy to understand.
2018 International Building Code
A modification to Section G103.6 (Watercourse Alteration) states that notification of a watercourse alteration should be given to all adjacent jurisdictions, not just those jurisdictions that will be affected.
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) regulations specify that communities notify adjacent communities when a proposal to alter or relocate a watercourse is received. When a local jurisdiction uses International Building Code (IBC) Appendix G, the current phrasing in Section G103.6 requires judgment to determine whether an adjacent jurisdiction is affected by a proposed watercourse alteration. Only with engineering analysis it is feasible to determine whether adjacent communities are affected.
Rather than require the analysis, the 2018 IBC provision is modified to align with the NFIP regulations to require that all adjacent communities are notified. This allows each community to check on whether it is likely to be affected by the change in the watercourse.
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