The City of Portland’s Building Official released two new Building Official Determinations and revised one Building Official Determination and one Building Code Guide for use by property owners and developers in considering improvements to commercial buildings.
Building Code Guides and Building Official Determinations provide answers about the application of building codes. They can also outline optional alternatives to meeting the intent of building codes. Building Official Determinations are typically smaller in scope and address simpler questions. Code Guides provide a comprehensive alternative to a complicated set of code requirements.
The two new Building Official Determinations are:
- BOD 25-01: Helical Piles & Push Piers: This addresses the geotechnical investigation reporting and special inspection requirements for the use of helical piles (also known as helical anchors) or push piers as foundation support systems.
- BOD 25-02: Seismic Benchmarking: Portland City Code Chapter 24.85 requires seismic improvements based on cumulative changes from a building’s legal occupancy as of Oct. 1, 2004. This addresses whether additional seismic improvements are required if a commercial building was built under modern codes or has completed a seismic upgrade in the past.
The two revised documents are:
- Building Official Determination 17-01 was revised to include all stormwater facilities, not just drywells.
- Building Code Guide 18-10 addresses breweries and distilleries. It was amended to remove a list of definitions and other explanations of building and fire code requirements, some of which were out of date. It was also amended to reduce the scope of the code guide to exemptions and interpretations only.
Anyone with questions about the application of these guides is encouraged to schedule a free 15-minute appointment with a commercial building code expert.