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Many of the same school board trustees and administrators who spend a great deal of time meeting and cultivating wonderful relationships with outside consultants fail to understand the critical importance of cultivating a similarly wonderful relationship with a city or building or code compliance inspector. If you are reading this and just hearing the term 'city building inspector' makes your blood pressure rise, you are the very person for whom this article is written.
Those of us who are old enough to remember construction projects in the 1970s and even into the 1980s recall the time when most school buildings were actually located on land situated outside any municipal building code authority. We operated in a weird world in which some buildings were required to meet stringent building code requirements while others, only a few miles away, could literally be built from match sticks.
That all changed when Texas enacted a mandatory building code for all public school buildings. But it was not a uniform building code. Some things are required statewide, but most everything that matters falls under the requirements of the city in which the building is to be located.
The problem with this is of course that many of these cities have never dealt with any project of the size or scope of the modern public high school. There is no regular building inspector or code compliance authority or even anyone who really understands the codes that the city council somewhere some time ago adopted to apply to everything from the new supermarket to the strip shopping center.
If you are going to be responsible to get some building built in your district, even if the city official in charge of building inspection and code compliance is the single most infuriating human being you have ever known, do not fail to make his or her acquaintance sooner rather than later, using diplomatic skills worthy of a United Nations Ambassador. You need him a lot more than he will ever need you.
Here are a few tips for what to do. While I don't recommend choosing an architect just because the firm has designed a building within the jurisdiction where your current building will be located, you should ask in the interview process what the architectural firms you are seriously considering are proposing to do to streamline code compliance and permitting issues.
It is important for you to get a good feel for the time the project or building is really going to take. Don't exaggerate the urgency of getting into a building, but from the day you start planning, make sure you make city building officials aware of the difficulties you will face and the blow to morale you experience if you don't move in at about the time you promised the community, particularly if it is a promised start at the beginning of the new school year. Many building officials, especially those who don't regularly deal with school district needs, don't understand why achieving a move-in when it was scheduled is such a devastating promise to break.
Last and perhaps most important is designating someone in the District, not just the architect, to become intimately acquainted with the city building code (pretty much all of it). Often, this review will result in the school administrator realizing the alleged applicable building code makes no sense, is hopelessly out of date or is missing altogether. This is because many small cities just adopt something, not having any real idea of what it says or applies to, and then it sits gathering dust for many years until someone actually reads it.
Know this: there is no standard uniform code that applies identically in two cities. There are always some minor variations, which can result in major delay if you are not aware of them.
I wish you the very best in your every school construction adventure.
Ms. Fowler will be speaking on this and other topics of interest on November 12, 2007 in Austin, Texas at the 5th Annual Practical Hands-On Facilities & Construction Advice for Community Schools & Colleges Conference, and on November 29, 2007 in Schertz, Texas at the Texas Association of School Business Officials' Bonds, Buildings & Beyond: Understanding the Process Conference.
If you have not
done so already, consider enrolling in
The Fowler Law Firm's Texas
Preventative School District and Education Law
Program ™. Send in the enrollment
form, which you can find at http://www.thefowlerlawfirm.com/TACS_Conference_2007/PreventativeProgramBrochure.pdf, to re-ceive more information
today!
The important
topic discussed above will be emphasized at the
Texas Association of Community Schools'
5th Annual Practical Hands-On
Facilities & Construction Advice for Community
Schools & Colleges Conference on
Monday November 12, 2007 in Austin, Texas. Please
visit http://www.thefowlerlawfirm.com/TACS_Conference_2007/EnrollmentForm.pdfto
enroll. We are filling up fast but
there is still time to enroll!
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This information is
provided by Laura S. Fowler, Attorney at Law with
The Fowler Law Firm PC. It is not intended as a
substitute for careful review by legal counsel of
your choosing. We would be most honored to assist
you in your every real legal need.
Contact Laura
Fowler at lfowler@thefowlerlawfirm.com
or
call (512) 441-1411.
As with any legal
issues, please consult your attorney with
questions.
