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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04012004 BSC Minutes r City of West University Place A Neighborhood City ® Recycled Paper Building & Standards Commission Municipal Building, Bill Watson Conference Room 3800 University Boulevard Meeting Minutes April 1st, 2004 MEMBERS PRESENT: Bryant Slimp, David Flame (Arrived at 7:10 p.m.) John Ayres, Dr. Peter Benjamin, J. Denis Powers, Darryl Friday and Kevin McMahon. MEMBERS ABSENT: Brian Hoogendam and Muddy McDaniel. COUNCIL LIASION: Mike Woods, Mike Farley. STAFF PRESENT: Annette Arriaga, Dennis Mack and Jim Dougherty. GUESTS: Craig Hughes, David Eastwood P.E., Michael A. Skoller P.E., Robert Riquelmy and Les Albin. [Call to Order.] With a quorum, present Bryant Slimp called the meeting to order at 6:00p.m. 1. Notices, Rules, Etc. Bryant Slimp stated that the BSC voting alternate would be Kevin McMahon. 2. Meeting Minutes. John Ayres made a motion first to approve the workshop meeting minutes from the February 10, March 2, and March 11, 2004 BSC meetings. Kevin McMahon seconds the motion. John Ayres made a motion first to approve the meeting minutes from the March 6, 2004 BSC meeting. Dr. Peter Benjamin seconds the motion. AYES: Bryant Slimp, David Flame, John Ayres, Dr. Peter Benjamin, J. Denis Powers and Kevin McMahon. NOES: None. ABSTAIN: Motion passed. Minutes Approved. 3. City Council Goals. Bryant Slimp updated BSC on BSC actions towards Council and stated that he felt that Council was satisfied with the progress. Councilman Mike Woods stated that Bryant Slimp did a great job on presenting the goals to Council. Mike Woods added that he wanted to know the foundation failure rate possible starting from the year 1992. He wanted to know exactly how many foundation problems that West University Place was actually experiencing. Dennis Mack stated that he is currently working on a program that will work with the city's GSI system to extract the data from the system to list all of the homes that have had some type of foundation repair. Denny Powers asked what would be an acceptable foundation failure rate. Les Albin stated that there is clearly a lot of movement in the West University area. Bryant Slimp asked Dennis Mack if this type of report could be provided within two weeks or by the next BSC meeting. 4. Matters Relating to the Building Standard Commission Recommendations and Status Report. A) Update on 4029 Case Street. The resident Mr. Bruce E. Bowen had until March 3151, 2004 to remove all items from the house and have the house demolished. Dennis Mack stated that Daniel Paripovich is in the process of sending out proper notifications and 4029 Case would probably be put back on next month's agenda. No motion made. 5. Foundations. Bryant Slimp introduced the BSC guests, Mr. Michael A. Skoller P.E., who is with National Structural Engineering, and David Eastwood P.E., who is president of Geotech Engineering and Testing, Inc. Both have authored or co-authored several of the articles that BSC had been studying regarding soils testing and foundation design in the Houston area. Bryant Slimp asked for Jim Dougherty, City Attorney, to discuss the draft foundation ordinance changes that 3800 University Boulevard • West University Place, Texas 77005-2899 0 713066804441 0 www.westu.org r Building and Standards Commission Minutes April 1", 2004 Page 2of 3 BSC is considering proposing to council. Jim Dougherty stated that he has a proposed a re-draft of the foundation amendments. He also added an alternate version with an exception for old stock housing, drafted along the lines discussed in a BSC workshop meeting. Jim Dougherty asked for BSC to fill in the blanks. ("Old stock" would have to be at least ears old and have no more than % framed area). Regardless of which version is used, it would be a good idea to clarify if the new amendments are intended to apply to: (i) one story garages or accessory buildings, (ii) semi-enclosed garages or carports, (iii) additions to existing buildings, (iv) similar structures. The cost impact types of structures could be severe. Bryant Slimp asked for BSC to review the draft changes. He then asked for comments by Mr. Michael A. Skoller, P.E. and David A. Eastwood P.E., who are the authors of several of the articles that BSC has reviewed. Mr. Eastwood stated that he has been doing engineering in the Houston area for quite some time. During the past decade, depending on the soil-testing firm used, that recommendations for design of residential home foundations have varied quite a bit. Ile stated that he recommends standard procedures to conduct better Geotechnical exploration for residential projects in the West University area. He also stated that most of the West University homes are supported on drilled footing type foundations. Mr. Eastwood stated that he had reviewed various soil types in Houston, Bellaire and the West University Place area. He has studied the risks, heave computations, drilled footings depth's, various slab designs, elevation of environmental conditions etc. About 40% of the soils reports did not have a discussion on risks of using different types of foundations. For example, they did not discuss whether a structural slab was better than a slab-on-fill type foundation supported on piers. Again, this is extremely important because, by discussing the risk associated with each different type of foundation, the soils engineer brings in the architect, the structural engineer, the builder and the owner into the decision making process. Mr. Eastwood continued to discuss drilled footing depth and stated that an average pier depth in West University Place is 10.5 ft. Currently, he recommend piers to be placed to a depth of 12 to 15 feet in the Houston area where expansion soils are present. Mr. Eastwood described the different types of systems used and the cost associated with each. The foundation types used are Drilled Footings, Pier and. Beam, Structural Slab and Slab-on-Fill. 95% of the foundations on speculative houses built in the Houston area use post-tensioned slabs, with very low failure rates. Mr. Skoller of National Structural Engineering, Inc. discussed the engineering aspects and what considers from the soils report. Ile stated that he is part of the structural committee of the Foundation Performance Assn. of Houston that was formed to establish a set of standards and procedures for foundation construction specific to Houston soils. Ile stated that A LPE or his qualified delegate should visit each site and inspect the work during construction to confirm that the work is done in accordance with approved plans. This visit would also be used to confirm that the number and placement of piers or other footings is correct or acceptable given conditions encountered on site and that the size and depth of any piers or other footings is correct. Bryant Slimp thanked these men for their time and there in puts, stated that the there would be another foundation workshop scheduled in April and that the BSC would invite Mr. Skoller and Mr. Eastwood to the workshop. 6. Old Stock Housing. Bryant Slimp stated that Brian Hoogendam could not attend the BSC meeting due out of town travel, and stated that Old Stock Housing would be put back on next month's agenda. Item tabled. 7. Roofinu Materials. Dennis Mack stated that he would like some guidance on what BSC is specifically looking for in regards to roofing materials. Our current City Ordinance allows class (C) type of wood shingles. Dennis Mack stated that, as close as the houses are that he would recommend class (B) . Les Albin stated that he recommends class (A). Dennis Mack stated that he could allow class (A) as a standard in our community. Dennis Mack stated that he could amend the standard code schedule to make the class (A) roofing materials only applicable to the residential code. Dennis Mack stated that he would get with Jim Dougherty and draft the necessary modifications. i , Building and Standards Commission Minutes April 1", 2004 Page 3of 3 8. Sian Ordinance. Bryant Slimp stated that City Attorney Jim Dougherty met with Darryl Friday in regards to the amendments to the Sign Ordinance. Darryl Friday stated that Jim Dougherty answered all of his questions that he had in regards to the Sign Ordinance. A motion that the Building Standards Commission accept the proposed amendments to the current West University sign ordinance to allow compliance with Federal and State rules regarding signs, and to recommend to the West University City Council that the Building and Standards Commission supports the adoption of the sign ordinance modifications of April I 't, 2004 was made by Darryl Friday. John Ayres seconds the motion. AYES: Bryant Slimp, David Flame, John Ayres, Dr. Peter Benjamin, J. Denis Powers and Kevin McMahon. NONE: None. ABSTAIN: Motion passed. [Adjournment.] Denny Powers motioned first to adjourn. Kevin McMahon seconds the motion to adjourn. AYES: Bryant Slimp, David Flame, John Ayres, Dr. Peter Benjamin (left early at 7:05 p.m.), J. Denis Powers and Kevin McMahon. NOES: None. ABSTAIN: Motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m. PASSED THIS _DAY OF , 2004. Bryant Sl mp, hairm ATTEST: Ms. Annette R. Arriaga Development Servic *cetarryy