Good morning, once again, my name is Natalie Fanny Gonzalez. Welcome to the Economic Development Committee work session. We're going to be very focused on the Department of Permanent Services. We have two items today. The first one that we're going to be discussing is a executive regulation, 1424, adoption of fire and life safety codes. With that, we're gonna kick it off to Department of Permit and Service to give us a briefing on this subject. Thank you. Good morning committee members. My name is Riria Sabakhan, Director of Department of Permit and Services. So we are here after months of preparation for adoption of development for adoption of Development and adoption of the latest building and fire codes as reference 13-24 is the Building code amendment and 1424 fire code Montgomery County as you know is looked upon as a role model and so it's very important that we get it right in terms of our adoption of local amendments. We basically follow suit to the state, particularly on the building code side. They have adopted the 2021 ICC codes and each jurisdiction, May 2023, was the actual date of adoption. And so each of the state's jurisdictions have a year to adopt. So we're a little bit behind, but we want to make sure we get it right. We work basically alongside our important stakeholders to internal and external to make sure we're coordinated, the no conflicts. And we of course had our public hearing last week. And that went well, nothing substantive came out of that. We had a few comments that were addressed through the industry. But we feel comfortable with what we're proposing as a rulemaking. So. Are you guys going to go over the packet for 1324? Sure. We want to start on the. 1324. So it's changed 24. I guess what can I just recommend I think we had a little bit of a context from DPS staff about an overview of the changes The most significant changes being to the IGCC the International Green Construction Code and the IECC Which is the International Energy Conservation Code those are the most substantive changes and that's what DPS commentary Or that's what DPS provided commentary on in the packet and I think that Mr. Boomer was going to potentially go over all of those. All right. Good morning, Council members. Thank you for your time today. So as was explained, there were significant changes in both the energy code and the green code in this code cycle and this stems from both the climate action plan that was passed several years ago and Bill 1322, which is the building decarbonization law that was passed about two years ago. So we worked with a nonprofit organization, New Buildings Institute, to commission a report based on the regulations and the climate action plan looked at our trajectory here at the state of Maryland and also within Montgomery County and published what we have labeled as the road map. So this looks at primarily the 21 code cycle adoption but also two code cycle adoptions out beyond that and what we determined were basically the suite of amendments that we're proposing now. So when it comes to the energy code, one of the things we've, we worked with also the Not only New Building's Institute, but the Department of Permitting Services Advisory Committee. We appointed a energy Engineer to that committee, and he put together a subcommittee of local experts to look over our amendments and make sure they were viable and functional within the industry here in Montgomery County and also the larger tri-state area. So some of the biggest elements that came out of this process, and they're all in the document. And what we did, it's hard to remember now, maybe six months ago, four to six months ago, is that we actually published all of our amendments on our website, and we provided commentary with the big amendments. So that's what the language you see in red. And we sent that out to local architects, engineering firms, interested parties, and offered what we call the road show, essentially an opportunity to sit down with any interested parties and discuss the amendments and how it would impact them and their processes in the building industry. We got a lot of positive feedback. We received no comments, formal comments, in either the written formal comment period or the public hearing period for this information. So I can go over a couple of the key ones that are related directly to the Climate Action Plan in Bill 1322. So the first significant amendment is the transition from IECC, which stands for the International Energy Conservation Code. Can you go over then? Can you also stay to section of the, that will be great. Thank you. Absolutely. So this is section C 401.2 application and it appears to be on page four of the PDF. And what we determined was that based on the road roadmap and feedback from the industry is that standard Ashre 90.1 is a preferred energy method for compliance. The very first question in the energy code is would you prefer to use Ashre 90.1 2022? And so we went ahead and just transitioned completely over to Ashre based on the feedback from the committee and from other experts in the industry. We also see majority of our new construction select 90.1 as their method of compliance so we felt like we were well within a reasonable set of parameters to make this transition. And so with that, we've essentially stopped using IECC, and we've now transitioned over to another standard, the Asher A90.1. And the amendments you see beyond this are directly related to the Asher A90.1 standard. And so one of the things that we're pushing for is a net zero energy code. So an additional element that should be talked on the front end of this is the the IRA grant that we applied for several months ago. And we will be finding out probably early January that will be awarded a $10 million dollar nine year grant through the Infrastructure Act to implement a net zero energy code in Montgomery County. So our office applied for this grant. We were accepted for negotiations. We worked through negotiations in about four weeks and submitted our final packet about a month ago and the internal Department of Energy process is happening right now and will be announcing that award letter in January. So we're very excited about that. You sound very confident that we are in fact giving this award. I tell people we're about 97.5 percent sure. So yes we're very happy. We're happy to see that. 90.1. 90.1 yet. Okay well happens if we don't get it. We have a number of three points. We have a number of seven point five percent share. We will still push forward with these targets. The net zero energy objectives. We just won't have the funding like we would if the IRA grant comes through. We have a lot of positive feedback from the Department of Energy. It worked. It seems to have gone very well. I could definitely talk on a little more. The chair picked up on where I want to drill down a little bit more on. And so we're all on pins and needles for a number of financial for a number of grants and funding opportunities from the federal government. And it's now December 2nd. And we have until January 20th at 11.59 AM, right, to get some of this money out. Just to following up on the $10 million IRA grant that you are 97% higher than 95% 97.5% positive that we're going to get. What is that $10 million going towards so that we can anticipate whether or not what that gap might mean? That's a big conversation. I would say the bulk of the money is towards what we're labeling as a technical assistance program. So right now in the grant, we have $5 million slotted to provide direct technical funding towards projects who have to comply with the energy code. These projects are, the focus is to support projects that fall within defined social equity groups. So nonprofits, faith-based, there's a series of predefined groups that's in the document. I'll put it up in a second. And then also the emphasis equity areas. So anybody who falls within those predefined areas would be able to access technical assistance program funding through the green bank to apply towards the energy code sections of their projects. So we understand that the energy code is ramping up and it's becoming increasingly more difficult and we hope to provide direct funding for folks to make sure that they can comply with the energy code. So we have a performance metric that we submitted within the, what's called the SOPO, the statement of performance objectives to the grant. It was a 105 page document. I can't go into too much detail or I'll also be talking the whole time. But that's again, 5 million of the 10 million and the other 5 million is spread out over education, outreach, a database, data analytics, and marketing for both commercial and residential. The only thing because I don't want to continue to ruptured you so I'm going to, that's okay. But the only thing I'm going to add is that, and I share this with the director last week, I'm hosting an event on Monday. The state of Maryland has money still for energy efficient projects, for home owners and also for small improvement, home improvement businesses. That means it's going to take place at 1030 Workstores Montgomery this Monday. The flyer is out, you have it. So we need to, like, it's great that we're looking for more money because we need it, but also we need help advertising in marketing since you touched the subject of the money that we already have that needs to get out of the door. In this case, it's from the state. I hear they have millions still available and that's why I'm doing this event. The flyer I'm going to share with all of you today, we just put it together on Wednesday. It's like, I'm going, you don't know. But anyway, we need to work closely to ensure that we're not just looking for the money that we're actually spending the money. So. So as soon as we receive the confirmation letter, which we hope will be within the first seven days of January, we will be moving with forward with the Office of Grants Management to start to execute our RFPs. We're already starting to build framework out on what we will be contracting and working on. And so tying all that back to the code amendments, it is critical that we transition our codes to performance-based codes. And so the second significant amendment within the proposed amendments is the transition from prescriptive, which is just a list of things you have to do if you're building new construction to a performance-based path, which is calculating energy use and onsite generation, and the goal is that over the next several code cycles of building will be net zero, meaning that it will produce as much electricity as it uses over the course of a year. And so this is our first massive critical step. It ties into the grant, it ties into the Climate Action Plan, and into Bill 1322. So this is our big launch point here. There are a lot of supporting amendments on that concept through the rest of the document, and I will jump down to the green code, the IGCC, the International Green Construction Code, which we have traditionally pushed through executive regulations separate from the building codes, but this is our first attempt to pull that into alignment and there's a lot of benefits to that. And you're on page seven. I'm going to let me find. Section 101.1. Is that where you are? Just want to make sure that you're on the same page. Yeah, I'm going to jump down, hold on here. Yes, it starts. Is that right? 8-7, right? 101, 111 section. All right, good. Thank you. So what we're trying to do is, again, try to pull that green code into alignment with the building codes. There's continuity. There's a lot of work that's done at the national level to make sure that all the codes are developed simultaneously. So we really don't want to have an older green code when we have newer building codes. And so this is our first attempt at correcting that error that's happened over the previous years. I would say that the most significant element, and I'm looking for it right now, is section, right, seven at one point, three mandatory provisions. So the green code applies to new construction, 5,000 square feet and larger. So it's a smaller subset of construction we see here in Montgomery County. Bill 1322, decarbonization is created to affect the energy source of new construction within Montgomery County, focusing on electrification. So what we've done here is we've introduced electrification ready language. So that's simply saying that a building has the ability to choose between sources such as natural gas and electricity. We're not requiring by any means for them to choose one of the two. They just must have both if they choose to install any natural gas They have to also have that electrical infrastructure now if they choose to go all electric Business is usual so you'll see a series of amendments here that align electric vehicle charging Energy storage systems Electrification of end-use appliances, so on and so forth. So that's the biggest takeaway in the green code. Just for context, just on the green code, you probably recall from a previous cycle. In this area, there's only a few jurisdictions that have adopted the Green Building Code, District of Columbia, City of Rockville. I think through the state, most recent adoption, you know, more Maryland jurisdictions will be adopted in this iteration. But it's a high performance code, you know, which is what a sub-homema was alluding to, which transitioned into more performance-based codes. And again, Montgomery County has looked upon as very role model status in terms of our very progressive and how we handle in terms of sustainability. So what we're doing with our green codes, not a lot of changes from a previous cycle, but just sprinkling of changes, as you see, indicated and read throughout. We have over the past several iterations removed elements that are redundant with other agencies within the county. So you see a repetition of those deletions. We've also traditionally used the green code to promote a more aggressive energy section or more energy elements. And this year we are pushing those more aggressive energy elements over to the energy code where they belong and we're focusing more on building performance outside of the energy portion in the green code this year and moving forward. So we anticipate some additional amendments over the next couple of code cycles in the green code, looking at alternative building materials, different design elements and some more of the non-quantifiable energy elements. So we're very excited about that. And so that really concludes the overview. I'm happy to answer any specific questions. Again, the technical assistance program, we are funding a pilot program to coincide with the 21 code adoption. And again, that is designed to help projects that we often see get caught in code cycle, sort of the machine of code cycles, or I'm sorry, review cycles. And so one of our performance metrics is for these projects to get to permitting as fast as their counterparts, especially with the underserved community. And so we're working with the Green Bank diligently to make sure that we have a good program. We have intelligent, capable channel partners, and they'll be more to come on that in the next few months. And that's all prior to the grant. Thank you. Again, I'll add to that with our energy codes, every cycle, and we still on a three-year cycle, the energy codes get more and more complex, so to speak, more efficient. And so it's equally important for us as a jurisdiction to make sure that our process, our procedures, and our regulations are set up so that it's not as onerous and that's why as Mr. Boma alluded to, you know, if the grant goes through, we'll be using that for technical assistance because we don't want to see applicants who don't necessarily have designers who are fully cognizant of some of these environmental instruments struggle through our process. So we'll have that assistance for them, you know, to help get through our primary process, particularly with these green building and energy requirements. Thank you so much for the presentation and a detailed report. I am hoping that you, once you get, you hear back from the federal government about that grant, you let us know via email, this status of that. And with that, I'm gonna open it up. If anybody wants to, we're gonna start with Councilmember Glass, and follow by Councilmember Sales, and then Councilmember Balkan. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Appreciate this conversation. I'll just say from the onset, having gone through the packet and looking through the regulatory changes, the proposed regulatory changes. Clearly this is all within DPS, but as we're already speaking about, this touches on a lot of other aspects. And so as we follow up, I would request that we have the next conversation whenever that might be as a joint T&E session, given there's already a majority of the T&E committee that is here, but because we're talking about green bank and green energy codes and all these other things. And so that's where I'm going to pick up my questions. So DPS is enacting and enforcing these code changes, but there's clearly a lot of interplay with the climate action plan, with building energy performance standards, even going so far as requesting resources from the Green Bank, which the T&E Committee, and I have been engaged for the last year in talking with the Green Bank about using their funding for implementation of building energy performance standards. So I don't even know what the capacity of the Green Bank to do additional work is because we know BEPS is the mountain we are trying to climb. This is important work, but we've spent the last year having no shortage of seven committee work sessions on building energy performance standards. So the big question I have is how do these interplay? And why is DPS tackling this regulation and DEP tackling building energy performance standards? I can quickly speak to the interaction. So I sit on the advisory committee for the BEPS and so I'm involved in that. Part of me. Integrated into the grant is discussions on the impact of codes for future BEPS projects because every project that we push a permit out for will eventually integrate into the BEPS program. And also every BEPS program project that has to make changes has to come to permitting. So we understand the coordination that must go on between the two agencies. The technical assistance program that we're proposing is actually modeled almost verbatim off of the BEPS technical assistance program. And so that has gone through their advisory committee and been vetted and approved in that format. So we understand the correlation between the two. And we're using their format in order to push our technical assistance program out. Why DEP enforces BEPS? I cannot directly speak to that. Well, let me rephrase that. So I know why DEP is enforcing BEPS, but why is DEP enforcing BEPS while DPS enforcing these other environmental regulatory policies? Sure. So again, we do work closely with the BEPS folks, Lindsey Shaw, and all their great team. We meet with them regularly. We've also worked with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which is a lab within the Department of Energy, to make sure that our code amendments align with VEPs requirements. And so that's actually a completely separate project that we're working on. And that's been provided free to us because Montgomery County is so progressive both with our energy code and with the VEPs program that PNNL, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, has essentially taken us on as a project so they can help us through our different growing pains, making sure that we're not asking something within codes that doesn't align with BEPS and vice versa. I note that on page three in the packet. So thank you for highlighting it. I was gonna add to it for PNNL. And so I'll direct an additional question to Director Savakhan. I mean, what should we make of the fact that different pieces of our infrastructure policy are being managed and led by different agencies? Well, between the BEPS, which we delegated, that authority to DEP, our responsibility lies in the administering and enforcing of the codes, building codes. And that's clear. We are pretty confident that they do align. There's no conflicts and we will do everything within our power to make sure that, you know, as permits come to us, there are no, you know, really, inherent conflicts with what's being handed out through the BEPS side of things. You know, we're just going to focus on the building, we're in the comments with green building and energy, and anything that comes on the maps. While we still have a role, it's primarily going to be a Department of Environmental Protection. Okay, I appreciate that. And they are taking on the bulk of the work. And as I noted, the T&E committees has spent the entire year of 2024 focused on this issue. I just wanna go back to some of the funding, the IRA funding that was mentioned, the 97.4%. Give or take, a little bit. So there's been lots of requests and anxiety over those requests from the federal government and I know the current administration is working in overdrive to get out all of that funding. There is funding that is also going to the Green Bank and that is from the greenhouse gas reduction fund. Those funds have been allocated for BEPS implementation. And so I'll just say that I am concerned should that money, should the $10 million from the IRA not get out. We will have to have another conversation about how we support these efforts because with BEPS we know supporting our building owners and property owners, commercial, residential, multi-family, supporting their efforts to make the green investments has been really important. And so we've identified more than $60 million that's coming from the greenhouse gas reduction fund, and we're going to earmark that all towards BEPs. And that's how we're going to move that forward. And so, again, not being polyanna-ish, but recognizing that there is a crunch time and there's a shot clock that has been imposed upon us by the American people. To get this funding out, we got to figure that out. So the last question I have regarding the funding, should we not get that funding? How does that affect any of these regulations or the implementation of them? Well, we definitely have started this goal prior to application of the grant. So this has always been a target for Department of Permitting Service in Montgomery County. So we'll continue to put the resources we have towards it. We hired two program managers in the last year to help develop some of the support programs and the outreach materials. So we'll continue to do that. It's going to be a lot nicer if we can put some grant money on it. We recognize that. And so we'll do our best to provide as much outreach as we can. And it will be a retooling and a different approach that we're going to have to think through. Luckily, we have three-year code cycles. So we have time. We don't have to turn this around in three months, so we'll kind of cross that bridge and we get to it, so to speak. I just want to note that some additional efforts that we have made within Department of Permitting Services in regards to BEPS is we really look at the codes as sort of hardware, right? We're giving you the equipment to hit your targets. And BEPS is really that sort of software analysis that comes in after and says that we give you the tools and you're actually doing what you're supposed to. So it's a lot of occupant behavior. It's a lot of education. There's tweaking involved. And so what we're doing on the code side is we're aligning ourselves with things like site energy and making sure that the language and the verbiage that we use in the codes transfer over to BEPS and that we set people up for success. So that's part of what the P&L research is doing and part of why we are so involved in the advisory committee steps and our folks talk regularly. It's an interesting way to frame it and I understand that context, so appreciate it. And again, I think as the chair noted, when we do, when you receive that notice that the $10 million has been deposited, please let us all know because we can all collectively sigh relief. We'll be celebrating. There we go. We'll do lots of public announcements. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Council Member Cells. Okay. I, I, I to share my colleagues' concerns about the, um, the funding. I know that, um, you mentioned, um, that outreach and, uh, notification processes are underway to the businesses that are going to have to implement some of these upgrades. Are these multilingual outreach and engagement materials? Absolutely. So, the grant part of the community benefits package is that some of the marketing money will be for multilingual. This is if we get the grant money. So nothing's been produced just yet. Not yet, but beyond that, we follow state and Montgomery County practices and provide those for folks who request. Okay, okay. I notice that the standard practice for the status to adopt new codes within 18 months after they're published by the ICC. It looks like the state adopted the 2021 codes 27 months after publication. Authorities having jurisdiction are then to adopt the state codes within 12 months, which for us would have been May of this year, but looks like we're a bit behind any reason? Well, sure. As I stated, we are behind the normal, you know, cycle scheduling for different reasons. With the building code, primarily, we were just going through making necessary corrections, based on some of the preliminary feedback. And then I would attribute some of that to just the entirety of the code development process, learning some of the nuances, just basic things, this submission back forth to Council. I'm sorry, counter executive office. And there was a lot of, I wanna say a lot, but considerable delays that I thought we could have had this out a few months earlier. But again, we're at a point right now, I call it the critical path where, you know, with the 24 codes already out in publication, we need to, it's in our best interest to either get this out adapted, otherwise, you know, you have a lot of jurisdictions across the country that are already looking at the 2024 codes. So it'll be a shorter cycle than normal, but we don't want to coming up on that point where we're potentially looking at a year to 18 months where Montgomery County is adopting this 2020 win code. But yes, we recognize the importance now of understanding the process and the timelines going forward, particularly with the 2024, which is going to be, you know, for us the bigger adoption. We've also reached out to the state. We have a standing meeting every three months to talk with them. After the new governor came in, there was a lot of turnover that occurred, and so it was part of their delay also. We're building good relationships with the folks that are in positions now, and so we again work closely with them on amendments, what we are proposing so they understand. And they've also been named as beneficiaries of the grant. So we're trying to include them to make sure that we have that open communication. Good, good, good. And I know we've talked about the funding concerns at the federal level. I also anticipate some regulatory changes from the incoming administration and our ability to maintain our commitment to the climate action goals that we set forth here locally. How will that impact our building standards? We have discussed that potentially, internally, especially where the grant is tied in. You can all, I don't wanna say anticipate, but we'd have to be prepared for any possible adjustments with the grant, you may wanna speak on like with the electrification. Yeah, I think probably the biggest hot button topic would be electrification and sort of the decarbonization aspect of it and so we looked into a crystal ball a couple years ago and thought this was going to be a challenge and so one of the things we did in this initial 21 code cycle is we talked a lot about ready and so we have not pushed all of our chips into the table quite yet. So we still have some wiggle room to work with folks to understand what the political landscape is going to look like over the next year. But it's a concern. And we're doing our best to tow the line. Okay. I had another question about the sprinkler system for the building codes with the proposed 2021 alignment with the IBC and NFV and FPA 101 Life Safety Code to include the sprinkler requirements for new bars, restaurants, and all public arages. How will DPS ensure consistency and enforcement of these upgrades, compliance? Great question, Councilmember. With anything else, we're going to make sure, obviously that's our charge to ensure that design is compliant. And that's when applications are submitted for alterations, new construction. We make sure that they're compliant at the front end. We verify, you know, doing construction and then it's patchy, our program manager on the FCC side. When projects are existing, you know, we continuously, you know, do our renewal inspections to make sure that they are being maintained properly. So. Okay. And then with regard to activities prior to building occupancy section, it mentioned a report, a commissioning report being directed to DPS. Oh, for commissioning. Yeah. How do you use these reports? What do they use for? Commissioning is really just making sure that the owner is getting what they paid for. It's early on in the green building iterations. It was probably difficult, you know, on the commissioning part because if you think about it, traditionally our roles, we stopped once we did our final inspection. We were essentially done where the commissioning process that goes on past, long past that stage, even when the tenants have moved in, they're still going in and verifying that the HVAC is doing what it needs to do. And so how do you address that where we, again, traditionally are done once we sign off on that final inspection at issue at UNO? This is where we're now trying to use that leverage to make sure that we can get the compliance we need to help ensure that the owner is getting what they essentially saw it out. The amendment that you're speaking on was more of a clarification amendment. It was not clear in the written language the commissioning was to be given back to the authority having jurisdiction for review even though it was implied and so we clarified that in the amendment. Okay, okay. All right. And that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Blalconn. Thank you. Going last, the questions I was going to ask have all been asked but I've got a bunch more. No. Just, so I really appreciate when you mentioned being ready, electrification ready. In working on BEPS, a lot of the feedback that we're getting is retrofitting and how difficult retrofitting and how expensive, significantly expensive retrofitting is. And so I appreciate the, these codes looking at that. Have you had a chance to look at the 24 codes, and are they going to be much different? From the energy, I can speak on energy in green. So I sit on several of the committees at the ICC level on the codes. And what we have done in this code cycle is essentially sort of leapfrogging to that 24 realm. We do not anticipate a significant change from the 21 to the 24, which is why this is so critical. This is our big jump here. The big metric that will be changing, energy efficiency always improves, so goes down. And we are going to be ratcheting up the renewable requirements over the several code cycle. So that will be the significant change we're going to see in iterations moving forward. The green code, we haven't really spent a ton of time on developing what that might look like. As it stands today, the 24 is not much different than the 21. Okay, great, super. And then from in that regard, when we look at compliance to prior to existing standards, and it's not a lot of significant changes, but there are changes. So the pain points that builders have now in compliance with existing codes, what do you perceive any additional pain points with these new codes? What are you thinking that they might need help with or education on? So the things that we've identified in the technical assistance program are focused around the performance metrics. So being able to run an energy model, a lot of folks have chosen prescriptive. Just give me the checklist and I'll meet it. And so we know that by asking for a performance, there's a gap there. And so we hope to fill that with the technical assistance program. Additionally, the commissioning requirements, we are strengthening them. And we utilize those to essentially be a second set of eyes in the field for us. And so commissioning requirements can often trip folks up. We've included commissioning in the technical assistance program. So those are the two big ones that we anticipate having issues with. And there's been some discussions just on data collection to try and identify where people are failing so that we can pivot to those issues. Yeah, I would say you would hit it there as far as understanding. Having our applicants understand their various compliance paths, you know, for the most part, people are one dimension, I think it's just the prescriptive and that's what I have to do. And for the past few cycles, you know, it's been made available other alternative options, particularly, you know particularly with the performance. We see that on the residential side quite a bit, even for commercial existing buildings, I think we need to do a better job of promoting our existing building code because we have, there's more relief for our commercial tenant buildouts and stuff like that to use the existing building code because of the various compliance paths, not just what you would see for new construction. So we've got to make sure that they're aware that, hey, here's a path that might make it easier for you on this existing space or building. So understanding all the compliance paths is one step towards making it easier for them to navigate the process. Thank you. And I think from the funding, the grant funding, the educational component of the industry is making this transition, which means that there's training that needs to happen. And the builder side, from a workforce development perspective. There are opportunities to make sure that our certification programs are keeping up to speed on that. So I think that's, appreciate all that. From the perspective of DEP and DPS partnering on how we move forward. I think it's just so important because while we have spent a year and we'll come back in January on it again, there are some changes from BAPS that will happen without DPS. But the major changes that will happen, you'll be involved from the permitting perspective. And it's just, it has to be seamless when moving forward. So I appreciate that you're personally involved in that. So because I think that that's where it's all well and good to have, to come up with the regulations, but compliance in terms of building code for the retrofitting I think is going to be critical. So I appreciate you being engaged on that. Last word from Councilmember Glass. Last word on this topic. So just picking up on the point that Councillor Balkham noted and appreciate those comments as well. I want to go back to the, I think it was Mr. Balmer who talked about the consultant during the communication work. When we have DEP actively working with green bank and our existing buildings, mostly the concerns are coming from condos and co-ops, right? That don't have lawyers and lobbyists who are looking into all of this for them. So they are trying to figure this out themselves. We're supplying them with material, the printed material. And you had mentioned some other printed material or information that might go out regarding some of these. Can you drill down a little bit more about what that public info might be? Because I'm thinking that streamlining is easier, and if there is either one website or one piece of material that can talk about building energy performance as a whole, whether we call it BEPS or call it any of these other regulations, having one place for anyone who owns or operates a building to go to for help would probably be the easiest way to move forward. Noted. I think that's critical. We haven't delved deeply into what the outreach and support materials would look like. In the grant, we have just earmarked, consider a lot of money for them and talked high level about what the intent is. But I, again, we're working with the EP closely. Our program managers talk weekly, they have lunch together. So they're always cooking up new ideas, so I agree. Well, I think that's a great point to you, Ray's, Councillor Mugles. I envision that consistent on the level, as you all know, with the guidance document that we're doing on the rest of our, it's important that we have a really, you know, a lack of a term robust document. And I just rely on the document itself, but starting from there with coordination with DP, and then of course, our key stakeholders. That's where it starts. It then of course are normal training sessions and outreach directly with them to make sure that they fully understand it. Particularly once you adopt, it's always important that you proactively connect with them to answer all questions and things of that sort. But yeah, that guidance document is pretty significant. you know, connect with them to answer all questions and things of that sort. But yeah, that guidance document is pretty significant. And I think that is a really good reference point, right? And again, appreciate the work of this committee and the chair for moving that forward. And if we could replicate that, I think that would be in the best of chances of everybody. So thank you. Great. Awesome questions. Thank you so much for your work. With not objection, we accept the Executive Regulation 1324 and without we're going to move on to the next and final item of the agenda, Executive Reg Election 1424. Pass it back to DPS. Good morning, again. Executive Brexit 14-24. That is. He's been accustomed up far. Code in the county, life safety. Essentially, the NFPA codes codes as we refer to them. One is the fire code, one on one is our Life Safety Code and then onto our alarms and sprinkler codes. We know that probably the most contentious thing over the past few years has been the sprinkler provision. We believe that that has been alleviated, you know, working again with key stakeholders like AOBA. I think we're fortunate in, at the far, state far marshal decision to address that whole and the medical hazard issue really resolve a lot of the concerns that were you know expressed by that group and others But I would prefer it over to patty at this point a patty one who can kind of guide you through you know the essential changes with our fire code Good morning, so as our director said, I'm Patsy Warnick, and I put together the Fire Go amendments for review. And essentially they are a catch up because we have not amended since 2015. So this is a couple cycles essentially behind. And we need to adopt them to align with both the building code and the rest of the state. Most of the other jurisdictions in the state are already on the 21 edition of the codes and we are still in the 2015. So that's difficult for our customers, the community, the design professionals to fish through the codes and try to adhere to the big gap in between the 2015 codes for fire and the 2018 and 2021 codes for building. So this would bring us up to the same level as the rest of the building department and make sure that we're all in alignment, not only internally but with the state. The biggest edit along the lines of electrification and those types of items, the climate action plan, we want to ensure that we are providing adequate fire protection for those systems, the Fred and G storage systems for electrical vehicle charging. I think we've all heard about electrical vehicle fires and other types of energy storage system casualties. And so it's important that in anticipation of those efforts, we make sure that we're providing adequate fire protection. So there's a good chunk of code in the amendments that was added. We worked with Virginia on, and it's in their state code. And so we've adopted it and are trying to adopt it as part of our code now. Aside from that, the majority of the amendments are to stay in conjunction with the State Fire Prevention Code. And so we copy their amendments. We have some local amendments, but they are continued continuations of previous amendments from prior adoptions. I'm trying to think what else is there in my paper? But that's the bulk of it. It's a lot for amendments, but it is fairly straightforward in where we got them. I think, thank you. I think the biggest thing as stated is, it's a little uncharacteristic for the county. You know, for whatever reasons, we did not adopt the last 2018 edition of the NFPA codes. So to get the county up to speed with this 2021 is a big first step. And as you can imagine, we are already preparing for the forthcoming 2024 and the states already started that process and we will follow suit but it's critical for the county to get up to where we need to be to have the latest, you know, as you know the things that we've been dealing with, you know, with these fires you need to have a strong, you know, fire code in place and enforcement mechanism there for us to do what we need to do in the county. I would just like to emphasize that, and he was mentioned in the memo, that the House bill 823, the Melonides bill, thank you so much to delegate Lourigh Chacudian, who let this fight on the side. The Council member, Council Vice President Kate Stewart, who are really involved in this particular bill at the state level so we can have updates that will save lives. Because at the end of the day, that's what we're talking about here. Are there any, just as we did in the previous item amendments that you want to highlight specifically? Other than the electrification section, that starts at 2200719 and that is the bulk of the electric vehicles charging and energy storage systems. The sprinkling ring is not a part of the amendments because it's unamended code. And so it's pristine code that didn't get, did not get amended at the state level. And we did not amend it locally. As you probably know, it's not being enforced at the state level and we did not amend it locally. As you probably know, it's not being enforced at the state level, but the Melanie Diaz Act is critical and we are going to make improvements and help community make improvements through that. It was a time frame of that is what's the process? Working on those regulations now actually. Well, that's a separate regulation. But we are, so we have 724 locally that we were talking, that is also a big part of this was the landlord tenant relations where folks have to, landlords have to come up with an emergency action plan and emergency evacuation plan. And we are essentially monitoring the number of 911 calls for, you know, fire services, fire events. And then working with those specific buildings to reduce those, so we're doing public education and outreach and trying to impact behavior at the, you know, at the tenant level and make sure that people are aware of the systems that are in their buildings and know what to do in case of an emergency, know who to contact and still can, all the steps and all the agencies that are part of a major incident if it were to occur? Is there a progress report on this that we can access to, especially when you mentioned a 911 calls? That's a quick one. How are we actually making sure that that's actually being improved? What we are, as part of 724, the emergency action plan bill that it got passed. We are putting together a separate method to regulation to detail the specifics of that program and then there will be- You don't have a time frame. One is up. We are working on that very actively right now and hope by the beginning of the year to have it too few folks. Oh perfect. Thank you so much. With that I'm going to open it up. Councilmember Balkum. Thank you appreciate that. So just from the perspective of do we have other regulations that are outstanding that are late or that we've missed an update? Sure, a great question. We do have the National Electric Code that will follow suit. I guess historically it has always been a separate track from the building code. I would imagine we will wrap that up within the next two, three months and be ready to submit for a proposed rulemaking. George, I don't know if you have any. Yes, there's a working group and they are making steady progress on that one. And I hope that in about two months, three more months, we will have the executive regulation in front of you, the proposed one, to adopt the National Electrical Code so that will bring new requirements for you to review and will coordinate with the building code as well, because all electrical requirements are in NEC, so would like to get to the same standard or higher standard than we have today. Now with the electrical code, that typically typically that's probably the least of the codes that's modified however given you know our charge with you know the decarbonization we are inserting you know a lot of you know changes you know again we speak to the ready you know EV ready and that's what a thing so So those are the types of amendments, you know, you're more likely to see prevalent in this coming cycle. And so you have a, thank you. Do you have a, I'm assuming you do a master list of all the regulations when they're supposed to be updated, what the deadlines are, that type of thing? I mean, everything essentially, you know, with 1324 and 1314, 24, that's everything minus the electrical code. And that's pretty much all of the things that we enforce as a department in terms of codes and standards. Yes, if I may. So we do keep a list on our website available to everyone of all the codes that are currently enforced and the executive regulations that match those. So we have that available to internally into customers. Okay. And that list goes back, way back many, many years so people can see what was adopted when and when the effective date was. So if somebody comes for a requirement and we have to go to a code with no, both of us, both parties will know what to look for. Okay. Appreciate that. I guess the reason I'm asking is that it's unusual that we in this particular code that we missed the update and just wanting to make sure that that doesn't happen again. for the electrical or- No, for the 1424, right? Because that's an unusual situation, I'm sure. And we don't need to rehash why it happened, just to make sure that it doesn't happen again. Stay on schedule with all of our code adoptions. It's very important. Great. Thank you. Councilmember Glass. Thank you, Madam Chair Ms. Warnock. Thank you for the discussion, the packet notes that you and your team have spent hundreds of hours working on this. I know it's a lot of details, labor intensive, and so appreciate you helping modernize and update and distill and comply with state rules. I just have a big picture question. Over the last number of years, at this time of year, residents have reached out to me, and I know colleagues as well, particularly residents who live in multi-family HOAs about changes to sprinkler codes, being told that the county is doing one thing, that the state wants another thing, and that we're trying to figure all of this out. And I've already received one inquiry seeing this on the agenda today, not necessarily knowing what it will lead to. What can you share with residents and leaders in multi-family HOAs that are decade-old about what this means for them, for their safety, and for their building finances. Sure. Right now we are 100% in alignment with this reg. We will be in alignment with the state and their efforts to improve where we can and the buildings that need it the most. We are not in alignment with the state, we are not enforcing it. The sprinklers that is in every building that need it. The Melanie Diaz Act helps substantially by adding quarter smoke detection, which is just an early warning, an early notification to both residents and the fire department. So those requirements will improve the situation dramatically. The sprinkler requirements, again, we are just going to, in accordance with the act, make sure that any building after built after 1974 is sprinkled. And then anything before 1974, make sure that they receive the court or spoke detection. So that is what the current bill states and that is where the state also is not enforcing it on every building. So we are doing what the state is doing and we are adding the Melanie Diaz Act. So we are I think making much needed improvements in these buildings of safety wise and it will be a great benefit although it can be costly and the sprinkling is the most expensive of these. We want to make sure that we are not impacting negatively the economic status of these communities and making sure that affordable housing stays in place. And so we want to make sure that we give anybody that is going to sprinkler time to do it so they can look into the reserves and do fundraising, whatever needs to be done. And we are also looking into fundraising. And so we want to work with these communities over time to let them install these sprinkler systems that will eventually be in place and benefit everybody. Thank you for that very straightforward response. Again, in compliance with the state and following state law and regulation with regard to all of this. Thank you. And Madam Chair, I have another question off topic. I don't know if we're wrapping up. Yes, sir. Okay. Another question that most of us have been on email chains about and I'll direct it to Director Sabakon. There is a property in East County, particularly in Clifton Road, that has a residential property that is being used for other activities. Can you share with us what the department has been doing and what more needs to be done to recognize the changing nature of this property. OK, you're referencing a property in East County that is doing, it has a use that is different from what is authorized. That's correct. I believe it is a single family home that has been retrofitted for religious purposes. And there you go. I'm guessing we have been actively pursuing this from an enforcement standpoint. I don't have to remember the specific address. It sounds familiar. ESAW. Good morning. So the issue with the cliff. Can you please introduce yourself? Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. Ison Muthazidi, the deputy director of the DPS. The issue with the cliff, and that's just like, you know, we weren't prepared for this. The issue is a new property owner has moved into the house. And the house is being converted into religious activity. So religious activity in the zoning ordinance it's allowed in any zones residential commercial. There is no issue. The issue with it is the change of use. So you go from residential to commercial now you have to obtain all the required building permit and you I know which we issue the notice of violation. So our commercial people issue the notice of violation that you have you have done a change of use you need to bring it into compliance you have to come and obtain all the required building permit we provide them 30 days by love we have to give them time ample time to come and obtain all the necessary documents. Also I believe they have done some franchise they placed some milling in the front of the property and we looked at it from the standpoint of does the disturbance require settlement control permit. It didn't qualify for that. We've been heavily involved I mean, I think it's a very important thing to do. I think it's a very important thing to do. I think it's a very important thing to do. I think it's a very important thing to do. I think it's a very important thing to do. I think it's a very important thing to do. I think it's a very important thing to do. I think it's a very important thing to do. I think it's a very important thing to do. of this. And like I said at this time that's what the issue is trying to bring it into the compliance from the standpoint of if they want to continue because not they have open to the public so it changed the whole use of the property. And so what happens when property owner changes the use without any of the, without acquiring any of the permits and the neighbors, the immediate neighbors are trying to deal with this situation. Yeah, it's unfortunate situation, but in accordance to our regulation, so you issue notice a violation. So if they want to continue the illegal activity, the issue citation finds other than that, it's the path if they don't want to comply to bring it into compliance is going the legal way, going through the district court, obtaining an abatement order to go ahead and, you know, to take further action against them, which if they don't comply with abatement order, you know, the rest of it, you know, you're not being in compliance with the judge's order and it could have all kinds of other involvement. Thank you. I appreciate the acknowledgement that it is an authorized activity, but right now it's in the court's hands, is that, well, right now it hasn't got to that level. I have to check. I can send you an email, bring you an update to all the council people sitting up there in regard to this property. Yeah, because it just, it became, we became aware of it like two or three weeks ago. So like I said, we gave them a 30-day notice. So I have to check to see even if they came in, put in an application to obtain the proper channel to obtain all the records. Let me add, if a owner or a property owner deviates from an authorized use, potentially, you could get into an unsafe or condemnation situation. For instance, from a fire has a standpoint, we see, you know, you know, a potential concern, you know, a conflict with fire has, or we have an structural overcrow, anything of that sort potentially causes to, you know, condemn or declare something unsafe. I don't know, you know, in this situation, we're at that level, but I'm just pointing out we have authority to move if we see something unsafe. And that would be good. This is an unsatisfactory situation for many people. I'm just wanting to make sure that you are acknowledging it, that you are working through it. There are rules, regulations, and legal avenues to pursue. But while all of that is happening, it is causing a lot of distress for the immediate neighbors and just wanted to hear from you what is being done. So I appreciate your comments. We have been in receive of communication from the neighbors. So just to let you know our code enforcement, people from a residential side, zoning enforcement, commercial enforcement, and also FCC, which parties in residential site, zoning enforcement, commercial enforcement and also FCC, which passes in charge of a sitting there. They have all visited the site. There's all kinds of activities from our site. So believe me, rest assured we are doing everything in our power to bring this matter into a closure. Thank you. Sounds like I don't know anything about this property, but it sounds like they need to be taken to court just saying With that let's go back to our actual last item With no objection we approved the executive regulation 1424 and Thank you so much for your time and for all your dedication to Montgomery County this committee's adjourned