HARRY SMITH Some disagreement
Regulators will be taking a closer look at a section of the new building code that designates Cape Cod as a high-speed wind zone.
The Board of Building Regulations and Standards has formed a task force to examine all the requirements for hurricane-resistant construction in Massachusetts. The task force, which will include a member of the Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Cape Cod, is expected to meet for the first time on July 23.
“They’ve asked for our input. I think that’s an excellent sign,” said Elizabeth Kovach, a member of the builder association and co-owner of Windswept Custom Homes in Dennis.
Kovach was one of several Cape builders who attended a public hearing in May to urge the board to establish a task force to reassess a code section that classifies the Cape and Islands as a region that can get winds of 120 miles per hour and greater.
Builders fear the new classification will drive up housing costs. Under the new designation, homes on Cape Cod would have to include more expensive windows with special glazing to withstand such high-speed winds, as well as undergo a more labor-intensive and costly framing process.
The new code also adopted a different method for measuring wind speed. The new method takes into account three-second wind gusts, instead of longer sustained wind speeds. Under the previous code, the Cape region fell under a 90 mile-per-hour sustained wind speed.
Builders argue that the changes are unnecessary and are largely driven by the catastrophe computer models used by the insurance industry to forecast which regions are at risk of being hit by catastrophic storms and hurricanes. Those models are being challenged, according to builders.
Board members have said they recently agreed to change the 120 mile-per-hour designation for the Cape to a 110 mile-per-hour designation. But Kovach pointed out that the board has said it intends to reduce the wind speed but hasn’t officially changed it.
“We would like them to follow through with the intent to change the wind speed,” Kovach said.
If the board does make the change, regulators can then create wind-borne debris regions, according to Kovach. Homes built in wind-borne debris regions face stricter construction standards, including the need for more expensive impact-resistant window glazing.
“If they [board members] follow through with their intent, the issue is wind borne debris. We need, number one, to determine if there are going to be wind-borne debris regions,” she said. “And, number two, where are these regions going to be?”
‘Property Protection’
Harry Smith, a member of the Board of Building Regulations and Standards who is chairman of the newly formed task force, said wind-borne debris regions have been defined as areas located 1 mile inland from the coast or shore, and there is some disagreement about whether those areas have been accurately defined.
Bourne-based builder and former board member Thomas Donovan said under that type of definition, five towns on Cape Cod would be classified as wind-borne debris regions. The designation would make housing in the region unaffordable, he added.
“I’m hoping that the task force will come to realize that the amount of protection will not warrant the $30,000 to $40,000 price increase on a 1,700-square-foot house,” he said.
The board issued the seventh edition of the building code in April. The new edition, based on the International Residential Code, is in effect concurrently with the sixth edition through October. Until then, builders who want to pull a permit can indicate under which code they’re operating.
Some builders argue that the wind-borne debris designations aren’t necessary because the Cape and Islands will not experience Category 4 and Category 5 storms – the most severe types of hurricanes. Category 4 hurricanes have winds between 133 and 155 miles per hour, while winds exceeding 155 miles per hour have been recorded in Category 5 hurricanes.
“We’re not going to get the hurricanes that they’re talking about,” said Donovan.
The Cape region has experienced three Category 3 hurricanes, according to Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist and public affairs officer with the National Hurricane Center. The most severe hurricane to hit the region was Hurricane Esther in September 1961, he said. That storm had 110-knot winds.
Donovan said the high wind-speed designation has been driven by insurers who are seeking to reduce their losses. “This isn’t about life and safety; it’s about property protection,” he said.
The task force will provide recommendations to the board, which is likely to hear them at its November public hearing, according to Smith.
“The first meeting will be very telling as to what direction the rest of the meetings will go in,” said Smith. “We’re going to try to have about three meetings and put everything together.”
In addition to Smith and a member of the builder association, the task force will include representatives from the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives, and the office of the state’s insurance commissioner.
The task force also is expected to have a registered structural engineer familiar with the American Society of Civil Engineers’ wind loads; a member of the state’s insurer of last resort (the Fair Access to Insurance Requirements plan); a Cape Cod building official or inspector; a person with expertise in local meteorological conditions on the Cape and Eastern seaboard; a person with expertise in local ocean effects on hurricane behavior in Massachusetts; a citizen concerned with housing costs and affordability; a citizen concerned with the cost and availability of home insurance; and an insurance industry professional.
